Good morning and Merry Christmas Eve. The Patriots return home for the next two weeks to take on Cincinnati today and the Dolphins next week. Our normal Sunday column is a day early this week since tomorrow morning is Christmas Day.
The Bengals are peaking at the exact right time, winners of six in a row, and still have a shot at the AFC’s #1 seed, so they are coming into Foxboro motivated to keep their winning streak going.
After the game debacle in Las Vegas, with the Patriots allowing two touchdowns in the last minute, the team had to have been mentally crushed on the plane ride home.