Telegraph Sports Reporter Tom KIng.

Here’s a different take, New England Patriots fans:

Your football team has really done you a favor.

What, you say? By having a dismal sub-.500 season?

Well, it’s possible that when today ends there could be an 11-5 team in the AFC that does not make the playoffs. Remember when that happened to New England in 2008, the year of Tom Brady’s Wounded Knee?

Wouldn’t that have been more frustrating?

Maybe, maybe not. But the weaknesses to repair may not have been so glaring. The Jets and the Patriots are two teams who could very well be in this same situation this time next season, depending on how the off-season goes. Things can change drastically in the NFL from one year to the next.

But as always, the Patriots under Bill Belichick will live in the moment.

“I want to do the best that I can to prepare our team to give us every opportunity to perform well (today),” Belichick said the other day. “So all your questions bout some other year and going forward and all that, we’ll deal with that in due time.

“But right now I really want us to try to go out and perform well (today, and that’s really what everybody’s trying to do here, which that’s what I want and that’s what I expect and that’s what I respect about this group is the way they approach things like that.”

But this is a day when you can be fooled. You can be tricked into thinking that a good showing today vs. the Jets means all Patriot things have been cured. A lot of other teams will be hit with the same situation.

It’s been a different year, almost amazingly so. The league has now made it through 17 weeks and we’ll see how the postseason goes – a postseason without the Patriots.

Here’s the final picks for the regular season:

PATRIOTS 27, JETS 13

It was a great game in the Meadowlands but this one will have a strange feeling. There’s no drama as the Jets are already out of the Trevor Lawrence chance and after Friday night may be looking at Justin Fields with that No. 2 pick. Sam Darnold, anyone?

BILLS 24, DOLPHINS 13

Too bad the ‘Fish don’t have FitzMagic to bail them out today, because Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t quite look like the answer with his inability to seemingly sling the ball downfield. Miami misses the playoffs.

BROWNS 24, STEELERS 7

Good grief, the Steelers are basically throwing up the white flag. They looked like world beaters two months ago and now they’re happy with possibly the third seed and a veteran great QB who reclaimed his magic just in time a week ago but likely won’t take them too far. And now Joe Haden is out with COVID. Browns rule.

WASHINGTON 30, EAGLES 14

Hail to the, well, Washington Football Team, who will be champions of the NFC Least. Alex Smith will start for them tonight at quarterback, and the Eagles are sitting, it seems, half their roster.

RAMS 17, CARDINALS 14

A shocker. The Rams are starting John Wolford, who has never attempted a regular season pass in the NFL. But he may give that boring offense more life than the injured Jared Goff, and the Cards’ Kyler Murray is hurting, too, although he’ll likely play. We say Rams pull this one out and love their former AAF star QB.

PACKERS 30, BEARS 17

Da Bears have had a good run of late, which may goad them into making the wrong decision to try to hang on to Mitch Trubisky. This game may help them avoid that, as the Pack will try to wrap up the top seed in the NFC and knock Chicago out of the playoffs at the same time.

COWBOYS 27, GIANTS 13

Good grief the G-Men are bad on offense. Daniel Jones foolishly announces he can’t run (although there was a clip from practice that showed he could move OK), but even if he can the Cowboys have made great strides the last few weeks with a real QB. OK, it’s Andy Dalton, but what the heck.

LAST WEEK: 4-3

SEASON RECORD: 74-37

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

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