Patriots’ Week 16 game vs. Ravens flexed to Sunday Night Football

This can mark the second time this season that Maye, Mike Vrabel, and the Patriots will probably be featured on Sunday Night time Soccer.

New England took on the Buffalo Payments at Highmark Stadium on Oct. 5 in a nationally-televised showdown — because the Patriots got here away with a dramatic 23-20 win in opposition to their AFC East rival. 

New England will tackle the Payments as soon as once more this Sunday at Gillette Stadium, with the Patriots offered with an opportunity to clinch the AFC East for the primary time since 2019 in the event that they beat Josh Allen and Buffalo for the second time this season. 

Given the stakes concerned in that divisional showdown in Foxborough on Dec. 14, some puzzled if that 1 p.m. kickoff would even be flexed into one other featured timeslot. However the NFL opted to keep Patriots vs. Bills as the top afternoon game for Week 15 and as a substitute elevated Patriots vs. Ravens the next week. 

Whereas New England might clinch the division with a win in opposition to Buffalo, there ought to nonetheless be loads on the road on Dec. 21 in Baltimore. 

The Patriots’ path to a fruitful playoff run could be far simpler if the staff secures the No. 1 seed within the AFC and a playoff bye. However Vrabel’s staff wants to complete the 12 months sturdy to beat a Denver Broncos membership that presently sits atop the convention with the identical 11-2 report.

The Ravens, in the meantime, is likely to be combating for his or her playoff lives on Dec. 21 after they play host to New England. It’s been a tough 12 months for Lamar Jackson and Baltimore — with John Harbaugh’s group dropping to 6-7 on the 12 months after dropping to the Steelers on Sunday. 

Regardless of the intrigue of Maye battling in opposition to one other high QB within the league in Jackson, Vrabel and Co. aren’t trying forward — not with a bout with Buffalo and Josh Allen subsequent on the docket. 

“We’re simply attempting to play for the championship that we now have obtainable this week, and I feel it’s an excellent testomony to our gamers which have put us on this place to have the ability to do this,” Vrabel mentioned of the Payments Monday. “Once more, that’s not going to be straightforward. This can be a superb soccer staff. There’s a motive that they’ve gained this division 5 years in a row. Plenty of respect for them. 

“They’re by no means out of it, by no means down, and so they could also be down, and similar to final week, it’s a soccer staff that understands that anyone’s going to make a play. After which the quarterback goes to offer them an opportunity to the very finish.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author protecting the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Purple Sox for Boston.com, a job he has held since 2023.