Patriots Week 6 Rooting Guide: Who to Back Beyond the Jets Game

The Patriots rooting guide Week 6 begins with the obvious: New England hosts the New York Jets on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, chasing a third straight win. But Week 6 contains 14 games in all, and the other 13 carry varying degrees of consequence for New England — some tied to draft picks, some to tiebreakers, some to the AFC East race, and some to nothing much at all.

Draft picks drive several preferences

The earliest window belongs to Houston and Jacksonville, who meet Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET. Patriots fans should side with the Texans. The reason is a conditional sixth-round pick connected to the Marte Mapu trade, which can be affected by how Houston fares.

New Orleans’ trip to the New York Giants at 1 p.m. ET matters for a different reason: New England owns the Saints’ 2026 sixth-round pick. A Saints loss would improve the position of that selection, so the Giants are the preferred team.

Two other 1 p.m. games shape picks through records. In Baltimore at Cleveland, root for the Browns, whose pick is based on a worse record. In Tennessee at Indianapolis, root for the Titans for the same reason.

Strength of schedule and tiebreakers

Chicago at Atlanta (1 p.m. ET) falls into the strength-of-schedule category, with the Bears the preferred side. Dallas at Green Bay (8:20 p.m. ET) follows the same logic: back the Packers.

Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay (1 p.m. ET) is a little less intuitive. The Buccaneers are an NFC team facing an AFC opponent, but a Tampa Bay win could hurt New England’s strength of victory and schedule tiebreakers. Even so, the guide favors the Buccaneers.

Chasing Buffalo in the AFC East

The Patriots trail the Bills by one game in the division. That makes Buffalo’s trip to Las Vegas (4:25 p.m. ET) a natural rooting interest: a Raiders win would open the door for New England to pull level by Sunday night.

Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City (4:25 p.m. ET) is a long shot worth monitoring. A Chargers win would be an unlikely upset, but it is the preferred outcome.

Where the impact is minimal

Carolina at Philadelphia (1 p.m. ET) carries no direct Patriots impact. Arizona at Los Angeles Rams (4:05 p.m. ET) offers only limited impact. Washington at San Francisco on Monday at 8:15 p.m. ET is similarly low-stakes for New England.

One game is already settled. Seattle at Denver was played Thursday, and the Broncos won 17-14 in overtime.