slides: 5 Good Things That Happened To The Patriots This Weekend

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

GoLocal Worcester Sports Team

The New England Patriots (5-2) beat the rival Jets 27-25 on Thursday Night at Gillette Stadium and now are in the midst of having ten days off to rest, and figure out how to deal with the loss of Jerod Mayo on the defensive end. While they were relaxing, the rest of the NFL was playing on Sunday and what came out of it was, for the most part, positive for the New England Patriots and the rest of their season.

One division rival brought in a potential locker room problem, another division rival lost both of their starting running backs to injury for extended time, another AFC opponent has lost two of their last three, giving the Pats an advantage when it comes to playoff seeding and the team the Patriots are hosting on Sunday have found some turmoil in their locker room. This has happened before and this has been said before over the years, but it seems like even when they don't play, the Patriots still win.

Check out the five good things that happened for the Patriots this weekend while they were relaxing.

Related Slideshow: 5 Good Things That Happened To The Patriots This Weekend

The New England Patriots were off this weekend after beating the Jets 27-25 on Thursday Night. But as usually seems to happen, even when the Pats are not playing, they still win. Here are five good things that happend for New England this weekend.

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Fred Jackson Goes Down

Division rivals the Buffalo Bills have lost veteran running back Fred Jackson to a groin injury. Jackson does not need surgery but is expected to miss about four weeks.

Fred Jackson has 55 rushing attempts for 239 yards and one rushing touchdown so far this season. He also as 33 receptions for 261 yards and one touchdown.

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Jets Trade For Harvin

The day after being beat by the Patriots, the New York Jets acquired Percy Harvin from the Seahawks for a 2015 conditional draft pick that could turn into a fourth round pick.

Harvin has 22 catches on the season, half of those coming out of the backfield, and averages six yards per catch which is fewest in the NFL. Harvin has been a problem in the locker room in Seattle who had been looking to move him for a couple of weeks before the Jets got him.

If he causes problems in New York, this could be a disaster for the Jets who are paying him $7 million for the rest of the season.

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Cincinnatti Loses Again

After starting 3-0, the Bengals have lost two of their last three games, and the one they didn't lose, ended in a tie. Bengals drop to 3-2-1 on the season. This helps the Patriots with playoff seeding as with the tiebreaker in hand, the Pats are now in the driver seat to get a higher seed then the Bengals.

Having to play the Bengals in New England is much easier then having to play them in Cincinnatti.

Pats have huge games against the Colts and Broncos coming up

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C.J. Spiller Out For Year

As if losing Fred Jackson for four weeks was not enough, the Bills also lost C.J. Spiller for the entire year with a broken collarbone and is expected to have his season ending surgery on Monday.

Spiller has 69 rushing attempts for 287 yards and no rushing touchdowns on the season. In the air, he has 14 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Bryce Brown, who hasn't played a game yet this season, is expected to get most of the carries for the Bills.

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Chicago Implodes

The Patriots next opponent is the Chicago Bears and on Sunday they lost their third straight home game and five of their last seven, losing 27-14 to the Dolphins.

After the game, star wide receiver Brandon Marshall called out and criticized quarterback Jay Cutler for "unacceptable" play in regards to making the same mistakes over and over and then not making adjustments.

Guard Kyle Long called out the fans for booing them off the field after the loss. He has since apologized for those comments. Chicago is 3-4 on the season and in the midst of some turmoil coming into Gillette on Sunday.