Patriot fans, we know exactly what you’ll be doing today with the Patriots on a bye and apple picking season over.

Christmas shopping, tree shopping, etc. Forget it, guys. You’re toast.

But your New England Patriots certainly aren’t. The rest of the AFC is collapsing, and does anyone think Bo Nix can outplay Drake Maye in a potential AFC Championship Game?

Think about the incredible AFC turn of events after the season past the quarter pole.The Ravens, Chiefs, and to some extent the Bills, are nowhere near what we thought they’d be. The Chargers? Flawed. The Steelers? Aaron Rodgers looks ancient, he should have hung it up when he tore his Achilles. Cursed by the Jets, at the moment he signed the contract and that curse followed him to Pittsburgh.

Jacksonville is flawed. Indianapolis has an injured Daniel Jones as its QB, and even a healthy Jones isn’t something to bet the farm on. Houston has a fabulous defense, but is limited on offense.

Who’s left? Who has looked as good, albeit against mostly sub-par competition, than your New England Patriots? Does anything support the fact that the first month of the season – especially the first couple of weeks – is a total crapshoot than the fact the 2-10 Raiders beat the Patriots at Gillette on Opening Day?

Here’s the deal, folks. If the Patriots end up the No.1 seed in the AFC, they’d have only to beat one of those above pretenders and then a challenger just a tad better than the divisional round opponent at Gillette.

And you know where that would take them. Unbelievable.

Meanwhile, speaking of unbelievable, here’s this week’s picks with no Patriots game involved:

BILLS 27, BENGALS 24

This one’s at Orchard Park, otherwise we might go the other way. Josh Allen vs. Joe Burrow, and the reason the Bills are only 8-4 is they need more around Allen.The reason the Bengals are 4-8 and holding out delusional playoff hopes are their defense is n’t good and Burrow missed a lot of the season. Bills win to set up a semi-biggie at Gillette next Sunday.

DOLPHINS 23, JETS 17

We’re sponsoring Miami’s push to try to get a playoff berth. If they win this, they’ll be 6-7 and we can say they have a chance. But they have to cure their feeble play in cold weather.

TEXANS 17, CHIEFS 16

The Chiefs obviously aren’t the same, and the Texans are rounding into form on defense and will chase Patrick Mahomes all over the place. With a win, Houston becomes The Team Nobody Wants To Play in the playoffs if they get there. And guess what? Chiefs aren’t making the playoffs. Not happening.

RAVENS 24, STEELERS 14

The most alarming thing about the Ravens plunge into mediocrity is their defense. With the Steelers, it’s their offense as usual. Something has to give and we think the Ravens will succeed at home. What happened to these teams?

PACKERS 30, BEARS 24

We keep picking against Da Bears and we’ll do it again, but they did a great job in smothering the Eagles. But can they beat another solid contender on the road two weeks in a row? Just going with the odds and the home team at Lambeau.

BRONCOS 20, RAIDERS 13

Yeah it’s in Vegas, and nothing comes easy for these Broncos. Still hard to believe the Raiders beat the Patriots back on Sept. 7, exactly three months ago. Who knew?

EAGLES 27, CHARGERS 17

L.A. hasn’t exactly taken the next step under Jim Harbaugh we all thought it would. Sure, they’re 8-4, but does anybody fear the Chargers these days? Add to that the injury to Justin Herbert’s non-throwing hand and the team everyone loves to hate wins. Fly Eagles Fly. Ugh.

Enjoy that shopping. Get us something good, OK?

LASTWEEK: 5-2

SEASON: 60-31

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