Patriots rooting guide for NFL Week 2

And just like that, the second week of the 2026 NFL regular season has arrived. The New England Patriots will enter the action on Sunday with a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers , one of 16 total games on the menu between Thursday and Monday.

Here's who to root for in the 15 contests not featuring Drake Maye and company.

Detroit Lions (1-0) at Buffalo Bills (1-0): Go Lions! The Patriots' biggest division rival started the season with a win. Naturally, a follow-up loss especially to an NFC side would be the preferred outcome. It happening at the first game at Buffalo's new state-of-the-art stadium would be the cherry on top. | Prime Video

Carolina Panthers (0-1) at Atlanta Falcons (0-1): Go good game! Neither team is on the Patriots' schedule or in any other way directly tied to the team. | FOX

New Orleans Saints (0-1) at Baltimore Ravens (1-0): Go Saints! While a Saints win would negatively impact the sixth-round draft pick the Patriots will get from them next year — shoutout Ja'Lynn Polk — it is the preferred outcome with the 2026 season in mind. | CBS

Minnesota Vikings (1-0) at Chicago Bears (1-0): Go Bears! With both on New England 's schedule, the tiebreaker goes to the team that has a more valuable Patriots draft pick tied to its fortunes. A Vikings loss would be good news for the seventh-round selection obtained as part of the Walter Rouse trade. But why not root for the Vikings then? Because the highest of the Patriots' two fifth-round picks — including the Bears pick received for Garrett Bradbury — will go to Philadelphia anyway via the conditions of the A.J. Brown move. | FOX

Cincinnati Bengals (1-0) at Houston Texans (0-1): Go Texans! The pick acquired through the Marte Mapu trade would suggest rooting for Cincinnati, but the desire for a close AFC playoff race forces us to go with Houston in this one. | CBS

Green Bay Packers (0-1) at New York Jets (1-0): Go Packers! NFC team over Patriots division rival. Easy choice. | FOX

Cleveland Browns (0-1) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-1): Go Buccaneers! Another case of picking the NFC team over AFC team. | CBS

Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) at Tennessee Titans (0-1): Go Eagles! We are going NFC over AFC yet again, because there are no ties to the Patriots in this game as well. | FOX

Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) at Denver Broncos (0-1): Go Broncos! The game does not matter in terms of the Patriots' strength of schedule, but a Denver win would put both teams at 1-1 as opposed to one pulling away in the AFC playoff race. Sure, New England has to beat them both this year, but the rivals cannibalizing wins against one another is still the preferred outcome. | CBS

Las Vegas Raiders (1-0) at Los Angeles Chargers (0-1): Go Chargers! Both teams are on the Patriots' schedule, so we are going with the one with the worse record. The Raiders might ultimately turn out to be the worse team this season, but until there is actual proof of that we are playing it safe. | CBS

Seattle Seahawks (1-0) at Arizona Cardinals (1-0): Go Seahawks! This pick is solely made with the Patriots' strength of schedule tiebreaker in mind. | FOX

Washington Commanders (0-1) at Dallas Cowboys (0-1): Go good game! Neither team has any direct ties to the Patriots, meaning that the result matters only marginally at this stage in the season. | FOX

Miami Dolphins (0-1) at San Francisco 49ers (1-0): Go 49ers! Once again, we are picking the NFC team over the Patriots' division rival. | FOX

Indianapolis Colts (0-1) at Kansas City Chiefs (1-0): Go Colts! The Chiefs are on the Patriots' schedule, but as mentioned above the preferred outcome is their AFC rivals taking wins off of one another. | NBC

New York Giants (1-0) at Los Angeles Rams (0-1): Go good game! Neither the Giants nor the Rams have any direct ties to the Patriots' fortunes this year or in the 2027 draft, so there is no use in picking one over the other in this game. | ESPN/ABC