Tom Brady, Patriots Not Going To Worry About Pursuit Of No. 1 Seed

The prospects of the New England Patriots obtaining the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs appeared grim following their last-second loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 14.

But things changed in a hurry after the Los Angeles Chargers stormed back from 14 points down to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on “Thursday Night Football.” The loss dropped the Chiefs to 11-3, just one game ahead of New England in the loss column. The Chargers now also sit at 11-3.

While the Patriots, who visit the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, now have a path to the top seed in the conference, quarterback Tom Brady isn’t going to focus too much on the Patriots’ potential playoff seed.

“I think we just worry about honestly what we can control and that’s it,” Brady said Friday, via ProFootballTalk. “It’s just us playing and whatever happens, happens. Coach (Bill Belichick) has always said it’s not where we play, it’s how we play. We’ve just got to take care of business on our end. This is a big one, this is a tough one and we’re going to have to play really well.”

New England can wrap up its 10th consecutive AFC East title Sunday, but that relies on the Pats playing better away on the road, where they have been a dreadful 3-4 in 2018.

In order for the Patriots to get the No. 1 seed and secure home-field throughout the AFC playoffs, the Chiefs and Chargers both would have to lose one more game and New England would need to win its remaining three regular-season games. It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility, but Brady and Co. will have to take care of business in the Steel City before they can even begin to think about hosting an AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium.