The Patriots were able to downplay the significance

FOXBOROUGH Tytus Howard Jersey , Mass. (AP) — of their defeat at Miami in Week 14 mostly because of the crazy final play it took for the Dolphins to grab the victory in the closing seconds.But after showing multiple shortcomings in its 17-10 loss at Pittsburgh on Sunday , New England suddenly looks nothing like the dominant force it’s been at this point of the season in most years.The Patriots are still in position to earn their 10th consecutive AFC East title. But with two games left in the regular season, New England (9-5) enters Week 16 as the No. 3 seed in the AFC behind Kansas City and Houston.While much can still change before the postseason, it’s left the Patriots facing the possibility of having to open the playoffs in the wild-card round for the first time since 2009. The Patriots have never started the postseason on the road during the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady era.New England finished 3-5 on the road this season after Sunday’s loss. The Patriots have also lost consecutive games in December for the first time since Weeks 15 and 16 of 2002. That was also the only season Brady has missed the postseason after starting at least two games.The good news for the Patriots is that they play their final two regular-season games at home, beginning with Sunday’s matchup with Buffalo (5-9) before closing their schedule on Dec. 30 against the New York Jets (4-10).Whether home or away, Patriots receiver Julian Edelman believes they have plenty of time to figure things out despite losing the past two games.“We’re definitely confident,” he said following Sunday’s loss. “We have a group of guys who work hard. We have a coaching staff that puts us in great situations and puts great plans together, we just gotta go out and really focus on the little things. It starts with snapping the ball and not having penalties. If we do that, we’ll get better.”What Edelman was eluding to was the season-high 14 penalties for 106 yards that New England was called for in Sunday’s loss, which included five false starts. The mishaps negated long gains by the offense and led to five consecutive punts after scoring its lone touchdown.The biggest mishaps occurred in the fourth quarter.Trailing 14-10 and facing third-and-8 on the Pittsburgh 13 Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey , Brady completed a pass to Rob Gronkowski to the Steelers 5. But the play was negated by a holding penalty on Marcus Cannon. Pushed back to the 15, Brady was forced from the pocket and threw an off-balance pass toward the sideline that was intercepted two plays later by Joe Haden.Then on its final possession, New England drove to the Pittsburgh 11 before a holding call on Shaq Mason pushed the team back to the 21. With no timeouts, Brady ended the game with three consecutive incompletions.“We just gotta play better football,” center David Andrews said Monday. “We can’t do things to hurt ourselves.”There are just as many concerns about the defense.The Patriots held Pittsburgh to 17 points, but they continued to have trouble stopping the run. Steelers rookie running back Jaylen Samuels had a season-high 142 yards on 19 carries. New England has allowed at least 104 yards rushing in each of its five losses this season.Coach Bill Belichick said the Steelers’ success was a result of their execution instead of anything Pittsburgh did schematically or fundamental deficiencies on his team’s part.“We always try to play with good fundamentals and technique, so that will never change,” Belichick said Monday.Still, it’s becoming a recurring theme and an area of concern for a defense that ended Sunday’s games ranked 17th in the NFL, allowing 116.2 yards per game on the ground.Safety Duron Harmon said their effort against the Steelers is a sign they must find a way to play better to get where they want to be in January.“We could’ve done some things better that could’ve helped them not score 17 points Ugo Amadi Jersey ,” he said Sunday. “We gotta look at it this way, we’re a team there’s been times we gave up 42 points and our offense did enough for us to win. We gotta be able to do that.” The chase to Atlanta is on.The regular season is over and there are 12 teams remaining in the run to the Super Bowl. And at the top of the AP Pro32 poll, the new year starts right where the previous one ended.The New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears, the top three seeds in the NFC, retained their top three spots in the final AP Pro32 poll of the season.New Orleans received 11 of the 12 first-place votes for 382 points in balloting Wednesday by media members who regularly cover the NFL. New Orleans will open the playoffs at home in the divisional round on Sunday, Jan 13.“The Saints lost in Week 1 and Week 17, both at home,” said Ira Kaufman of Fox 13 in Tampa, Florida. “In between Devin White Jersey , Drew Brees and company established themselves as the team to beat in the Super Bowl chase.”The Rams, who also finished 13-3 in the regular season, will start their postseason at the Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 12. The Bears will close wild-card weekend when they host the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles on Sunday.The next six spots in the poll are all taken by the AFC’s playoffs teams.The Chiefs, who have the AFC’s top seed, are No. 4. Kansas City, which received the remaining first-place vote — from John Czarnecki of Fox Sports — has won the AFC West for three consecutive seasons. Patrick Mahomes, who finished with 5,097 yards and 50 TD passes, will try to get Kansas City its first home playoff win since the 1993 season.“MVP front-runner Patrick Mahomes finished a brilliant first season as a starter with 50 touchdown passes L.J. Collier Jersey ,” said Newsday’s Bob Glauber. “With home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs, is a Super Bowl berth next?”The Los Angeles Chargers and New England Patriots finished in a tie at No. 5 in the poll.The Patriots, who won the AFC East for the 10th straight season and 15th time in the past 16 seasons, are the No. 2 seed in the AFC. They are trying to reach their ninth Super Bowl in the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era. They are also trying to become the first team since the 1990s Buffalo Bills to return to the Super Bowl after losing it the previous season, and the first since the 1992 Bills to make a third successive trip to the big game.The Chargers, despite finishing with the same record as the Chiefs at 12-4, lost the tiebreaker and are the No. 5 seed in the AFC. They will head to Baltimore to face the AFC North champion Ravens on Sunday. The Ravens are No. 9 in the poll.AFC South rivals Houston and Indianapolis are Nos. 7 and 8 in the poll. Those teams will open the postseason in Houston on Saturday when they meet for the third time after splitting their previous meetings.“Just wish they had another WR,” Czarnecki said of the Texans. Houston’s DeAndre Hopkins finished second in the NFL with 1,572 yards, but the depth took a hit when Demaryius Thomas was lost for the season with an Achilles tendon injury.Seattle and Dallas Johnathan Abram Jersey , who meet Saturday night in Texas, are 10th and 11th in the poll. The Seahawks and Cowboys both finished 10-6. They met in Seattle in Week 3, when the Seahawks won 24-13.The team that made the biggest climb from the first poll, which was released before the season started, was the Bears, who started out at No. 28 and finished at No. 3. And the team that had the biggest drop was the Jacksonville Jaguars, who began at No. 7 and ended up at No. 28.The Arizona Cardinals, who finished with the worst record in the NFL at 3-13 and have the No. 1 pick in April’s draft, were a unanimous choice for last place in the poll.