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NFL Week 18 2021: 3 teams on upset alert this Sunday

By Mike Phillips

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 02: Rhamondre Stevenson #38 of the New England Patriots scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium on January 02, 2022 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 02: Rhamondre Stevenson #38 of the New England Patriots scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium on January 02, 2022 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – JANUARY 02: Kristian Wilkerson #17 of the New England Patriots celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown in the third quarter of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium on January 02, 2022, in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – JANUARY 02: Kristian Wilkerson #17 of the New England Patriots celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown in the third quarter of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium on January 02, 2022, in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images) /

2. NFL teams on upset alert in Week 18 – New England Patriots

The wait is over for long-suffering Patriots fans as their one-year postseason drought was broken with an emphatic 50-10 win over the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Bill Belichick deserves a ton of credit for blending together a group that largely didn’t play together last season as a result of COVID opt-outs, creating a dangerous foe for any AFC playoff opponent this month.

There is a lot on the line for New England on Sunday as the AFC East title remains up for grabs. The Buffalo Bills have the tiebreaker thanks to a better division record than New England, but the Patriots could still snag the title if they win while Buffalo loses to the New York Jets.

The unfortunate part of the division-only scheduling for Week 18 is that New England has a much tougher matchup than Buffalo with a trip to Miami to take on the 8-8 Dolphins. FanDuel has set the Patriots as 7-point favorites in this matchup but the Dolphins are a very live underdog.

Miami had been one of the hottest teams in the league prior to losing to Tennessee last week, a result that helped eliminate the Dolphins from the playoffs. Head coach Brian Flores will have his team ready to play spoiler against New England, something they did in 2019 by shocking the Patriots in Foxboro to deny them a first-round bye, which could be troublesome considering the Patriots’ historic difficulties playing well in Miami.

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