New England Patriots: 5 observations from lackluster night in Houston

5. Looking up to Baltimore

Let’s start with the ramifications of Sunday night’s 28-22 loss to the Houston Texans.

In dropping to 10-2, the New England Patriots have slipped to the No. 2 seed in the AFC behind the Baltimore Ravens who defeated the San Francisco 49ers in what many see as a Super Bowl preview.

With how the Patriots looked against the Texans and how they were run over by Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Week 9, that is certainly how things are trending, especially now with the AFC now running through Baltimore.

There is still a lot of football left and a lot of things that can happen, but next week’s showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs is very important for the New England Patriots if they hope to regain that No. 1 seed.

It’s simple, another loss will make that road more difficult and it will also bring them back to the pack with teams like the Chiefs and Texans.  It will also make thing rather interesting in the AFC East with the surging Buffalo Bills staying on pace as they are now just one game behind.

Simply put, the Patriots have to figure things out on offense, or they could suddenly find themselves fighting for even that No. 2 spot.

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have certainly been here before, but are teams at the top of the AFC more primed to knock them out and keep them out?

The next few weeks will tell the story.