New England Falls To Number 2 Seed

The New England Patriots have officially fallen to the number two seed in the AFC, after the Denver Broncos knocked off the San Diego Chargers, 27-20 this evening.

This means that the Patriots will not have home field advantage throughout the postseason, as long as Denver is around.

So if both the Broncos and the Patriots advance to the AFC Championship game, it will be played in Denver.

Both New England and Denver finished the regular season at 12-4, but the Broncos get the nod for the top seed thanks to their overtime, home win over the Pats back in Week 12.

Looking toward next week, the Pats will join the Broncos on a bye, as they watch the wild card round unfold. The two games the teams will be keeping an eye on will be the three seed Cincinnati Bengals hosting the six seed Pittsburgh Steelers and the four seed Houston Texans hosting the five seed Kansas City Chiefs. The winners of those games will advance to New England and Denver for the Divisional round, with the team with the highest seed remaining heading to play the Pats and the team with the lowest seed heading to Denver.

All in all, the Pats have to be a bit disappointed that they are not the top seed and don't have guaranteed home field advantage throughout the playoffs. If they can regain their health and get guys like Julian Edelman and Sebastian Vollmer back on offense, they should be able to get back close to where they were prior to the Edelman injury. A healthy Patriots team, with multiple weapons at Tom Brady's disposal should still be considered the team to beat in the AFC, at home or on the road.