Bengals lose to Steelers; Patriots retain #2 seed for the moment

Photo from Bleacher Report

Cincinnati Bengals fans were probably celebrating the Patriots loss to Miami like we were celebrating the Broncos loss to the Chargers on Thursday. That is, until they lost to the Steelers and came back down to Earth. Much like us Pats fans did after we lost to Miami.

That's because Cincy blew the chance to move ahead of us for the #2 seed like we blew the chance to move into top spot last night at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

Pats fans, breath a sigh of relief, at least for the moment. We still have a first round bye for the time being. Emphasis on "for the time being." Of course, if we were to stumble again and the Bengals win, they would overtake us for the 2nd seed in the AFC playoff picture.

So, what needs to happen for the Patriots to retain the #2 seed?

The simple answer is WIN OUT.

Even if Cincinnati wins out, the Pats would still finish ahead of them (12-4 vs. 11-5). However, if the Patriots split the last two games and Cincinnati wins out, then they would hold the tiebreaker over the Pats, so they would get the two seed. So the simplest answer would be just win the last two games against the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills.

Unfortunately, it's not that easy with all of the Patriots injury problems. As the last drive of the game yesterday highlighted, the Patriots have glaring weakness on offense - their red zone play without Rob Gronkowski.

I was thinking they would punch the ball in yesterday, but a few overthrown balls and an interception later, I was wrong. The Pats are going to have to keep in mind that Gronk isn't coming back and make the necessary adjustments. Part of that is other receivers stepping up, i.e. Julian Edelman. Also, we need a more balanced attack. We can't rely on the right arm of Tom Brady too much, so the running backs need to do more. As we saw yesterday, we can't win if we can't run the ball effectively. Legarrette Blount was our leading rusher with 47 yards on only 11 carries - that can't happen.

On defense, we need to force turnovers, which is what made us successful (relatively) in the past. In the past couple of years and in the first half of this season, we've given up a lot of yards, but the Patriots were always a threat to force an interception or a fumble. I know, that's easier said than done, but we need to start forcing turnovers again.

So there you have it. If we want to get the #2 seed and the first round bye, that's what needs to happen.

Twitter - @ConorJF1016
@PatriotsLife