Power Rankings: Patriots Ranked in Bottom-Half of League Following Ugly Week 6 Loss
The New England Patriots found their second loss in three weeks, losing to the Denver Broncos at Gillette Stadium 18-12 in Week 6. That has the six-time Super Bowl champions slipping into the bottom-half of Sports Illustrated's Week 7 power rankings.
Following their Week 5 bye, the Patriots were ranked 12th in the power rankings. This week, they are ranked 17th, right behind the 4-2 Cleveland Browns (16) and right in front of the 3-3 Carolina Panthers (18).
Here is what the MMQB's Mitch Goldich had to say about New England's ranking this week:
Several teams have had their seasons derailed by COVID-19, but few have been impacted more than the Patriots, who had their schedule moved around, lost several key players, lost significant practice time and lost their starting QB for some time. Cam Newton returned to the lineup Sunday, but it felt like a long time had passed since the opening weeks of the season when he made even non-Patriots fans seem to soften and find joy in an exciting new chapter in Foxboro. Not many people want to have sympathy for Bill Belichick or Patriots fans this year (and he wasn't necessarily asking for it), but the coach had a fair point when he spoke about a lack of practice time after the loss to Denver. I expect them to get back on track.
The Patriots may get back on track in the near future, but their next matchup doesn't help their case.
In Week 7 New England will face the San Francisco 49ers, who looked like the 2019 version of themselves last week. They were ranked No. 15 in SI's Week 7 power rankings. Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns against a re-surging Los Angeles Rams squad that only had one loss entering the game.
If the Patriots don't want to fall way behind in the AFC East (they are currently third in the division behind the Bills and Dolphins) they need to find a way to beat San Francisco at home Sunday afternoon. Otherwise, they'll fall to 2-4 and have quite a hole to climb out of with 12 games left, five of which are divisional games.
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