What Pats Loss To Jets Means

The New England Patriots battled back from as many as 14 points down Sunday, but ultimately fell to the New York Jets 26-20 in overtime at MetLife Stadium.So what does the loss mean for New England's shot at home field advantage throughout the playoffs?

Well, as of now, the Pats have three losses which ties them with the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincy does not play until tomorrow night at Denver but a loss to the Broncos could give the Pats a bit more breathing room.

New England still controls their own destiny, however, as even if Cincy wins out in their last two games, the Pats just need to beat the Dolphins next week to win home field. Both teams would finish with three losses, but New England would get the one seed nod because of strength of schedule.

More good news for the Pats is that the Dolphins are not a particularly intimidating foe. Miami's 18-12 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday marked the team's third straight defeat and at 5-10 and the bottom of the AFC East, they pose little threat to put a spirited effort on the field in Week 17.

The one down side for New England is that, while the Dolphins aren't a truly threatening opponent, the Pats will not get the luxury of resting all of their key players next week. The hope was to win in New York than create a three week break for most of the key players and guys returning from injury as they could have skipped the final regular season match, then would have had a first round playoff bye.

Now they'll have to throw guy like Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and the like into action on Sunday, at least for the first half, to try to pin down a win and that ever-important home field advantage.

Here are the stats from the Jets game.