The Patriots’ seven-game winning streak was halted when they lost to the Colts in Game Two of the critical 15th week of the NFL Saturday night. New England attempted to bounce back from a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but thanks to rival NFL MVP Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis secured a much-needed victory 27-17.
Just like Thursday night’s Western AFC Champions League battle in which the captains outplayed the Chargers in overtime, the result of the Patriots Colts competition has ripple effects on the conference supplement’s image.
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Starting from a Patriots perspective, here’s what this all means:
NFL game photo: How the Patriots’ loss affects the Homeland, East Asian races
The Patriots (9-5) fell to the No. 3 seed in a conference playoff behind the Chiefs (10-4), who beat the Chargers to start Week 15, and the Titans (9-4), who play against the Steelers on Sunday. The Patriots will return to second place for Week 16 if the Titans lose, because the Patriots defeated Tennessee in Week 12.
Should the Titans and current fourth seed, the North’s leader Ravens (8-5), beat the Packers on Sunday to match the Patriots’ record, the Patriots would remain No. 3 due to his 7-2 conference record.
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While the Patriots won’t drop from the top spot in East Asia in Week 15, they will see their top-flight lead slip down to one game if the No. 7 Billers (7-6) beat the Panthers at home as expected on Sunday. Although the Patriots retain a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Bills for the time being after beating them in Week 13, the two teams will meet again in New England in Week 16. Those back by breaking the tie in class.
The Patriots still have about an 80 percent chance of winning the score since the game is at their home ground, and they stay close to at least closed. But getting the first and second seed in the Asian qualifiers is an even bigger challenge now.
NFL game photo: How Colts win affects wild card, South Asian races
The Colts (8-6) have already had a profitable week out of Week 15 as they improve their playoff chances. They jumped to fifth in the conference and top place for the wild card before the shipper (8-6) because the Colts hold a cut-off record in the conference (7-3). The Colts also have a head-to-head tiebreaker on the 7th banknote, which they beat in Week 11.
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Indianapolis now has a solid chance of returning to the playoffs – better than the 75 percent – but what about its chances of catching up with Tennessee in the south? Except for a tie, the Colts will finish Week 15 one game behind the Titans or remain two games behind them. Unfortunately for the Colts, they lost their head-to-head tiebreak to the Giants long ago; They were swept up in the season series, falling in weeks 3 and 8.
The chances of the Colts to win the class are close to none. The Giants will need to collapse due to a poor schedule. The Colts have an exceptional chance of finishing fifth and improving their position in the 2020 wild card category by two points. This will be the team’s third playoff in four seasons under coach Frank Reich, each with a different midfielder (Andrew Lack, Philip Rivers and Carson Wentz).