The Patriots are going to try to get back on the right track after getting pushed around 25-17 in Pittsburgh last weekend.  The Patriots are 3-0 in Foxboro this year, as they have outscored their opponents 85-58 at home.  The Giants have won 2 games in a row and they are 2-1 on the road so far this season.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the ball:  The Patriots are likely going to air it out tomorrow against a Giants’ D that is giving up 225.1 yards passing per game this year.  The Giants have 26 sacks already this year, so look for the Patriots to keep the game of the shorter variety and let their receivers get yards after the catch.  Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez all excel at getting yards after the catch, so this is a good matchup for Tom Brady and his offense to get back on the right track.  The Giants are giving up 130.1 yards rushing per game and 4.7 yards per carry this year, so look for BenJarvus Green-Ellis to be much more involved in the offense than he was last weekend against the Steelers.

When the Giants have the ball:  The Giants are going to also air it out tomorrow with Eli Manning taking aim at a Patriots’ D that is allowing 323.1 yards passing per game so far this year.  The Patriots should double WR Victor Cruz and make Manning beat them throwing the ball to WR Mario Manningham and TE Jake Ballard.  Brandon Jacobs is likely getting the start at RB for the Giants tomorrow, so the front seven of the Patriots are going to have to tighten up the chinstraps.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 31, GIANTS 27

The New England Patriots are invading Heinz Field tomorrow against a team they have owned recently.  Tom Brady is 6-1 in his career against the Steelers and he is 4-1 at Heinz Field.  The Patriots are coming off a bye week, so they have had two weeks to prepare for the Steelers.  The Steelers have won three games in a row, but cupcake time is officially over tomorrow for them.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the ball:  The Steelers’ defense is vastly overrated this year.  They are giving up 4.5 yards per carry and QBs have a 81.0 rating against them.  The Patriots will likely be pass heavy in this game, with Tom Brady taking a lot of short drops to negate the Steelers’ pass rush.  It doesn’t hurt the the Patriots have a lot of tough guys (Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski and Deion Branch) who don’t mind catching short passes and taking hits while getting yards after the catch.  The Patriots will also likely give the ball to BenJarvus Green-Ellis quite a bit to keep the Steelers’ D honest.

When the Steelers have the ball:  The Patriots’ defense has been pretty awful this year.  They could be in trouble tomorrow.  But, I’m sure that Coach Belichick will have some new wrinkles for the Steelers tomorrow, as he has had two weeks to get ready for them.  The Steelers might decide to run the ball a lot in an effort to keep the ball away from the Patriots.  That means the front seven (which has played better against the run as of late), will have to deal with Rashard Mendenhall.  The Patriots will also only likely go after Ben Roethlisberger with the front seven against the awful O-Line of the Steelers.  If they can get pressure on Roethlisberger, he will make mistakes with the ball.  But the Patriots will have to give help over the top to whoever is covering Mike Wallace as he is a true game breaking WR.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 38, STEELERS 27

The New England Patriots have been rolling this year and they always play well at home.  The Cowboys have had two weeks to get ready for the Patriots and their defensive co-ordinator came up with an outstanding game plan to stop Tom Brady last year when he coached the Browns.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the football:  The Patriots are going to try to mix in the run just enough to attempt to keep the Cowboys’ D honest.  The Cowboys are only giving up 61.8 yards rushing per game and 3.1 yards per carry so far this year, so it makes perfect sense to turn Tom Brady and his receivers loose this Sunday.  The Cowboys have issues in the secondary, so look for Brady to throw to whoever has the mis-match.  Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez are all outstanding targets for Brady.

When the Cowboys have the ball:  The Cowboys are a passing team, plain and simple.  Tony Romo has made more than his fair share of mistakes when opposing a team with a good pass rush.  With that in mind, look for the Patriots to blitz far more often than usual in this game.  WRs Miles Austin, Dez Bryant and TE Jason Witten are going to be big time matchup problems for the Patriots’ secondary.  The Patriots hope that their front seven can handle stopping Felix Jones and the rest of the Cowboys’ RBs tomorrow.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 31, COWBOYS 27

The New England Patriots lost two out of three games against the Jets last season and they are going to be out for revenge tomorrow afternoon.  The Jets have lost two games in a row (both on the road) by a combined score of 68-41.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the ball:  The Patriots will likely be balanced offensively like they were last weekend against the Raiders.  RBs Stevan Ridley and BenJarvus Green-Ellis are going to be taking aim at a Jets’ D that is suddenly soft against the run as they are giving up 130.5 yards rushing per game and 4.2 yards per carry so far this year.  Tom Brady has only been sacked four times this year, so I expect that he’s going to have time to throw the ball.  Jets’ CB Darrelle Revis is likely to be on Wes Welker all day long, but that won’t stop Brady from throwing the ball a lot to him.  Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, Deion Branch and Chad Ocho Cinco will also help out in the passing game as Brady will be looking at attacking the mis-matches in the secondary.

When the Jets have the ball:  The Jets are saying that they want to get back to feeding the ball to LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene in the running game.  The Patriots are giving up 108.8 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry, so look for Greene and L.T. to get their fair share of rushing yards in this contest.  The Patriots don’t have much of a pass rush, so Mark Sanchez is going to have time to throw the ball.  TE Dustin Keller, WR Santonio Holmes, WR Plaxico Burress, Derrick Mason and LaDainian Tomlinson could each hurt the Patriots in this game.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 27, JETS 20

The New England Patriots are averaging 540.3 total yards of offense per game so far this year, which is leading the NFL by a wide margin.  The problem with the Patriots is the defense as they are also giving up a stunning 468.7 yards of offense per game, which is by far the worst in the NFL.  The Raiders have the same strengths (a good offense) and weaknesses (a bad defense) as the Patriots do.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the ball:  The Patriots are going to do what they do best in this game and that is throw the football.  Tom Brady has only been sacked three times so far this year, but the Raiders are going to be blitzing a lot this weekend as they have 10 sacks already this year.  Look for Brady to cut up the Raiders’ secondary with short passes to Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, Deion Branch and Danny Woodhead.  The Patriots will also likely have success on the ground when they decide to run the ball as the Raiders have given up 120.3 yards per game and 5.8 yards per carry so far this year.  BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Stevan Ridley and Danny Woodhead will all get a few carries in this game.

When the Raiders have the ball:  The Raiders are a running team, so they are going to feed the rock to gamebreaking RB Darren McFadden.  Michael Bush will also get some carries as he is move of a sledgehammer type of RB between the tackles.  QB Jason Campbell has been a game manager for the most part for the Raiders, but he lit up the Bills throwing the ball.  He has the capability of pounding the ball down the field to speedy WRs like rookie Denarius Moore.  He will likely have plenty of time to throw the ball too as he has only been sacked 2 times this year.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 35, RAIDERS 34

Both of these teams are undefeated and they have done it with offense as the Bills have already scored 79 points this year while the Patriots have scored 73.  This should be a high scoring shootout in New York this weekend.  But, the Patriots have won 15 games in a row against the Bills and they swept them by a combined score of 72-33 last year.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the football:  The Patriots rushed for 417 yards (208.5 avg) in the sweep over the Bills last year.  They might come out pounding the ball a little more than usual against a Bills’ D that is giving up 119.0 yards rushing per game this year and 5.0 yards per carry.  BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead both played well against the Bills last year.  Don’t think for a minute though that Tom Brady and his gang aren’t going to be chucking the ball all over the field too.  The Bills only have two sacks so far this year, so Brady is going to have a lot of time to throw the ball.  Look for Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Rob Gronkowski to all have solid games for the Patriots this Sunday.  This could be the game that the Patriots start throwing the ball to Chad Ocho Cinco due to Aaron Hernandez being out due to injury.

When the Bills have the ball:  The Patriots are going to want to stop Fred Jackson and force Ryan Fitzpatrick to beat them throwing the ball.  That might not make a lot of sense due to how Fitzpatrick has started this year but he only threw 2 TD passes against the Patriots last year to go with his 5 interceptions.  The Patriots have six sacks already this year, so I see them trying to blitz more than often to force Fitzpatrick into making some mistakes.  WRs Stevie Johnson, David Nelson and TE Scott Chandler have been effective this year, so the secondary is going to get challenged this Sunday.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 37, BILLS 20

The New England Patriots are going to be in for a fight tomorrow against the Chargers.  But, the Patriots have won 28 straight regular season home games and Tom Brady has been there for all of them.  He must protect this house!  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the ball:  I look for the Patriots to get BenJarvus Green-Ellis a lot more involved in the game tomorrow.  The Chargers gave up 159 yards rushing and 6.1 yards per carry against the Vikings last weekend.  Danny Woodhead is also going to be heavily involved in this game as he could cause matchup problems for the Chargers when he goes out for passes out of the backfield.  The Chargers only gave up 28 yards passing last week, so it will be interesting to see how Tom Brady attacks them.  I don’t think he’s going to change a thing.  TEs Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez will probably be covered by safeties Bob Sanders and Eric Weddle.  The Patriots will like those matchups due to the size advantage that they will have.  WRs Deion Branch, Wes Welker and Chad Ocho Cinco are also going to get a lot of looks from Brady tomorrow.

When the Chargers have the ball:  Mike Tolbert and Ryan Mathews combined for 80 yards rushing and 131 yards receiving against the Vikings last weekend.  The Patriots’ front seven is going to have to go all out to stop them while also putting pressure on Philip Rivers when he drops back to pass.  The Patriots have to get pressure on Rivers, or he has potential to torch the secondary really bad.  WRs Vincent Jackson, Malcom Floyd and TE Antonio Gates all have huge advantages over the smaller secondary of the Patriots.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 41, CHARGERS 38

The Patriots swept the Dolphins by a combined score of 79-21 last year.  It will be interesting to see if the Dolphins put up a fight or lay down once again on Monday Night Football with the whole nation watching.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the ball:  The Patriots are going to attack the Fins’ D right when they come out of the locker room.  The Dolphins better hope that Cameron Wake, Jason Taylor and Koa Misi can get to Brady or he’s going to pick them apart.  The Dolphins secondary is no match for Wes Welker, Chad Ocho Cinco, Deion Branch, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski.  The Patriots will also mix in quite a few power runs from BenJarvus Green-Ellis and they will likely flip the ball a few times to Danny Woodhead on sweeps and passes in the flat.

When the Dolphins have the ball:  The Patriots’ front seven should be able to contain RBs Reggie Bush and Daniel Thomas.  The Patriots hope that they get a good pass rush going because if Chad Henne has time to throw the ball, he could do some damage as Brandon Marshall, Brian Hartline and Davone Bess is a pretty impressive trio at WR.  Not of them are big time gamebreakers though and that’s good news for the Patriots as Sergio Brown and Patrick Chung are going to be the starting safeties this year.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 31, DOLPHINS 13

The New England Patriots are chomping at the bit for Sunday afternoon in Foxboro.  The Jets keep running their mouths trying to build up their confidence while the Patriots are just fuming inside.  The Patriots punished the Jets 45-3 on December 6th in Foxboro which is where the game will be played this weekend.  The Jets won the first meeting between these two teams 28-14 in New Jersey on September 19th which is why they likely have confidence coming into this game.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the ball:  Tom Brady is going to come out throwing the ball against the Jets this weekend.  Brady threw for 326 yards with 4 TD passes against the Jets the last time these teams met.  Brady will spread the ball around in this game throwing it to Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Brandon Tate, Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez and Danny Woodhead.  That will make it downright impossible for the Jets to key on anyone.  BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead gave the Jets’ D all kinds of issues in the last meeting so look for the Patriots to get the ball in their hands both running the ball and catching passes.

When the Jets have the ball:  The Jets are going to come out running in this game so Jerod Mayo & Company are going to have to take the fight to LaDainian Tomlinson & Shonn Greene.  If the Patriots can stop the Jets’ running game and force Mark Sanchez to throw the ball with his ailing right shoulder, the Patriots are going to win this game.  WRs Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes, Jerricho Cotchery and TE Dustin Keller are going to make some plays but so are the CBs and safeties of the Patriots.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 30, JETS 23

The Patriots are on a 7-game winning streak and they have already clinched the best record in the AFC.  I don’t look for the first teamers to play very long this Sunday after Wes Welker tore his ACL in a meaningless game last season in the same kind of situation.  Still, the Patriots destroyed the Dolphins 41-14 earlier this year in Miami and they are 7-0 at Gillette Stadium so far this year.  The Dolphins are 6-1 on the road and they will be looking for some revenge this Sunday.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Patriots have the ball:  I don’t see the Patriots changing the gameplan much this Sunday….just the players.  I look for Tomy Brady & Co. to play around 1 quarter and then call it a day.  Brian Hoyer has been a mop up man to this point in his career so it will be interesting to see how he responds in this game.  If Hoyer has time to throw the ball, I think he can make some plays against a Dolphins’ D that is allowing 201.8 yards passing per game.  The Patriots will also likely run the ball a lot in this game in an effort to control the clock and protect the defense.

When the Dolphins have the ball:  The Patriots are going to have to get a good pass rush on Chad Henne, because they are allowing 262.0 yards passing per game.  If Henne has time to throw the ball (which he likely will), he’s going to be able to hit Brandon Marshall and Davone Bess down the field.  The Patriots also must key on the Dolphins’ running game as Ronnie Brown & Ricky Williams are a nice combo.

PREDICTION:  DOLPHINS 27, PATRIOTS 17