1. New England Patriots
Wow, the Patriots being on a “must win” list is quite a surprise, right? Well, when the most dominant franchise for the last two decades starts their season 1-2, something is wrong. Their two losses have come against the Jaguars and oddly, the Detroit Lions. Add in a Week 1 game against the Houston Texans that was much closer than it needed to be, and the Patriots so far have not looked like themselves.
This weekend the Patriots host the division leading Miami Dolphins who are a miraculous 3-0 heading into Week 4. If the Patriots are unable to beat the Dolphins and fall to a 1-3 record, people may start to actually freak out. Headlines will read “The Patriots Era is Finally Over” or something similar, and that would be a horrible look for the franchise as they already deal with enough media drama surrounding Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
A win against the Dolphins would be enormous for the Patriots for multiple reasons. First and foremost, it would end their two-game losing streak and would get them back to .500. Second, it would bring their division rivals back down to Earth, and hand them their first loss of the season. Finally, as mentioned, a win would help erase the notion that the Patriots have lost their way and are on their way to a rebuild.
A loss would make matters worse, so the easy option is to just, win? Obviously Belichick will have an ace up his sleeve and will put on a coaching clinic at the expense of Miami’s head coach Adam Gase. Brady will surely have his best game of the season, and the Patriots will be “back.” Right?