Outside of the L.A. Rams, which appear to be the consensus top team in the NFL, there are a lot of teams bunched up underneath, including your New England Patriots, the only team with 10 wins.
But key injuries and schedule — it’s been easy — have the Patriots as one of the unpredictable teams among the NFL elite in the AFC.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens appear to be in position to again make some loud noise in January.
The Patriots and Broncos, currently the top and second seed respectively, appear to be headed toward an overall record of 13-4, at worst.
The Indianapolis Colts, while still near the top in the AFC at 8-3, have a much tougher schedule ahead with six difficult games.
In Week 12 of the “I Beat Burt” contest, the Patriots point total (26) — the first tiebreaker — was a key factor for the winners.
I had 10 winners out of the 13 games. All but one of the winners were within one point of the first tiebreaker.
One entry, Lorna Vaughn of North Andover, had the Patriots with 24 points but won the second tiebreaker (amount of correct picks) because she had picked all 13 games correctly.
Congrats to Mrs. Vaughn and her great week.
Week 13 has only 12 games — we don’t include Thursday/Thanksgiving games — which means it won’t be easy.