The top-seeded Patriots earned a first-round bye for the eighth straight year, meaning they’ll sit out Wildcard Weekend before opening postseason play in the AFC divisional round.
Their quest to become the first team since the 2004 Patriots to repeat as Super Bowl champions begins at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13, at Gillette Stadium. They’ll either face the No. 4 Kansas City Chiefs, No. 5 Tennessee Titans or No. 6 Buffalo Bills. [...]
The top-seeded Patriots earned a first-round bye for the eighth straight year, meaning they’ll sit out Wildcard Weekend before opening postseason play in the AFC divisional round.
Their quest to become the first team since the 2004 Patriots to repeat as Super Bowl champions begins at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13, at Gillette Stadium. They’ll either face the No. 4 Kansas City Chiefs, No. 5 Tennessee Titans or No. 6 Buffalo Bills.
In the meantime, the Patriots will put their time to use this week focusing more on themselves than their future opponent with an emphasis on shoring up weaknesses.
Returning kicks, converting on short yardage and, despite the success they had in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets, stopping the run and getting off the field on third down are undoubtedly areas that will receive attention.
“I think this week’s a little bit more about us, about doing the things that we can do better, about each individual player and coach trying to look for areas of improvement for himself or his group or what he does,” coach Bill Belichick said on Tuesday in a conference call. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to apply that in some way to whoever our next opponent is.
“There are a lot of things that if we do better it doesn’t really matter who the opponent is. There are just things that we need to understand better, or execute better, or just practice and get a better timing and maybe relationship, or things like that on those plays.”
This marks the fifth straight year and sixth time in the last seven years the Patriots will play Saturday in the divisional round. Four of those games were in prime time, including last year’s 34-16 win over the Houston Texans.
Should the Patriots advance to the AFC Championship Game, it would give them an opportunity to get a head start on preparations. Belichick, though, downplayed any competitive edge, citing the fact the Patriots went into Pittsburgh and beat the Steelers in Week 15 despite having one fewer day to prepare after playing at Miami on Monday night.
“I mean, if you win, which is a big if, it gives you a few more hours than a team that played a little bit later,” he said. “But I guess that’s about it. … I think at this time of year, a few hours of preparation one way or the other, as we saw when we played Pittsburgh, I certainly don’t think those things are insurmountable ever, but definitely not at this time of year.”
Tickets available
An extremely limited number of tickets for the Jan. 13 divisional-round game will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday.
There is a limit of four tickets per person and they’re available only through ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000. They will not be sold at Gillette Stadium.
A Visa debit or credit card is the sole means of payment.