The New England Patriots severely hurt their playoff chances Thursday night when they lost to the Los Angeles Rams. But the Patriots' postseason hopes still are alive if they win out with a lot of help.
The Patriots were scoreboard watching along with their fanbase Sunday with the weekend off after Thursday's loss.
"We're very aware of what's going on in the football world," Patriots defensive end Deatrich Wise said Monday. "We definitely know who needs to do what and what.
"But we can't focus on that because we're not them, and we're not in their team locker room. We should just continue doing what we need to do about winning games and trying to improve every week."
Winning games definitely is the first step. New England would be helped Monday night if the Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens.
The Patriots need to win out and have three of these five scenarios play out to make the playoffs:
— Browns lose each of their final four games
— Colts or Titans lose each of their final three games
— Dolphins lose at least two of their final three games
— Raiders lose at least one of their final three games
— Ravens lose at least two of their final four games
The Patriots need to focus primarily on beating the Dolphins in Miami on Sunday, however.
