Ah, a Sunday in December.

Yes that must mean a big New England Patriots game to tune in to, right?

Nope, they played Thursday. Too bad; there’s a pandemic so it’s not a great idea to go out and hit the hot Christmas shopping spots.

Well, maybe a good chance to check out a couple of the teams the Patriots might play in the playoffs, right?

Well…….

No, if you’re watching some of the games today around the NFL, you’re going to see how the other half lives.

The better half.

It’s a strange feeling. The Patriots returned from their week-long, two-game stay in La-La Land early Friday with a 6-7 record. The playoffs, while mathematically possible, are a real longshot as the Patriots trail the teams ahead of them while not in the top seven by at least two games.

So what will we do? We’ll see the cream of the crop in the AFC, a category that these Patriots simply aren’t a part of any longer. Hard to fathom.

We’ll watch the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs tangle. The Dolphins are next Sunday’s Patriots opponent and are brilliantly coached by former Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Flores’ New England defense held the powerful Rams offense to just three points in the Super Bowl two years ago. L.A. was the team with the powerful defense the other night.

Now the Dolphins were opening day fodder for the Patriots a very long three months ago. But oh how things have changed, right?

And we all know the AFC now belongs to Pat Mahomes and Kansas City. This could be a tough one for Patriot fans to watch.

The Sunday Night game may be tough to watch, but that’s what we do on Sunday nights, right? We’ll see the 11-1 Steelers and the 9-3 Buffalo Bills. Right now, if we had to venture a guess, it looks like one of those two are going to be in the AFC championship game against the Chiefs.

See there you go. Four teams that are head and shoulders above the Patriots. A couple of years ago, there weren’t any.

If you really want to punish yourself, you’ll watch Tom-pa Bay against Minnesota. Yeah, how’s that letting Tom Brady go working out, Bob Kraft and Bill Belichick? Everyone was crowing after that Cam Newton-led Patriots win over the Dolphins and then watched Brady’s Bucs lose to the Saints. Well the Bucs aren’t an NFC powerhouse but at least they have a quarterback who can throw the darn football.

Whether it’s due to injury or eroded skills, it’s obvious Newton can’t.

And today as we all watch Mahomes, Tua Tagovailoa (or Ryan Fitzpatrick), Ben Roethlisberger, Jared Allen, and Tom Brady (and even his opponent, Kirk Cousins), we’ll be screaming.

They are all quarterbacks who right now you’d definitely rather have start for you than Cam Newton.

Sunday’s not a fun day.

In December, it used to be.

Tom King may be reached at @Telegraph_TomK on twitter, or tking@nashuatelegraph.com

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