Patriots' Rooting Guide for NFL Playoff Implications of Week 18

The New England Patriots need four results to go in their favor to jump from the No. 5 seed to the No. 1 seed in the AFC. 

New England needs to beat the Miami Dolphins on Sunday and then hope for three other results to go its way. 

The Patriots only have to worry about three of the four teams in front of them. Bill Belichick's team does not need Cincinnati to lose because it would have the common games tiebreaker over the AFC North champion. The Patriots beat the New York Jets, Los Angeles Chargers and Cleveland Browns. Cincinnati suffered defeats to all of those teams. 

Broncos over Chiefs

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

New England has a rooting interest in the first game on the Week 18 slate. 

The Patriots need the Denver Broncos to spring an upset over the Kansas City Chiefs to hopefully start the domino effect that leads to the No. 1 seed. 

Kansas City experienced some hiccups on the road this season, including its Week 17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. 

The Chiefs needed overtime to beat the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Week 15, and they fell to the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans earlier in the season. 

Denver is nowhere close to the quality of the playoff contenders that beat Kansas City, but it may have a vulnerable team in front of it. 

The Broncos will play with nothing to lose, and they have the potential to put the Chiefs defense under pressure with the running back tandem of Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams. 

A Denver victory would allow the Patriots to turn their rooting focus to two AFC teams on Sunday afternoon. A Kansas City win ends New England's hopes of earning the No. 1 seed. 

Jets over Bills

John Munson/Associated Press

The Patriots need some help from within the division to move up the AFC standings. 

The New York Jets must beat the Buffalo Bills in order for the Patriots to have a shot at winning the AFC East and earning the top spot in the conference.

A Jets victory in Buffalo sounds far-fetched, but we are talking about a team that led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for quite some time in Week 17.

The Jets have shown improvement under Robert Saleh in the last month, as they were competitive with the Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins. 

New York could have revenge on its mind at Highmark Stadium since the Bills trounced it back in Week 10 by a 45-17 score line.

The Week 10 result is why Patriots fans should be scared of trusting the Jets to pull off a victory away from MetLife Stadium.

No matter how unlikely a Jets win sounds, the Patriots have to root for their divisional rival to at least land a divisional title with a victory of their own. 

Texans over Titans

John Hefti/Associated Press

New England has a rooting interest in the first game on the Week 18 slate. 

The Patriots need the Denver Broncos to spring an upset over the Kansas City Chiefs to hopefully start the domino effect that leads to the No. 1 seed. 

Kansas City experienced some hiccups on the road this season, including its Week 17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. 

The Chiefs needed overtime to beat the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Week 15, and they fell to the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans earlier in the season. 

Denver is nowhere close to the quality of the playoff contenders that beat Kansas City, but it may have a vulnerable team in front of it. 

The Broncos will play with nothing to lose, and they have the potential to put the Chiefs defense under pressure with the running back tandem of Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams. 

A Denver victory would allow the Patriots to turn their rooting focus to two AFC teams on Sunday afternoon. A Kansas City win ends New England's hopes of earning the No. 1 seed.