In most years, reaching Thanksgiving meant three things: football, turkey and the countdown for the Patriots to clinch the AFC East. Since Tom Brady missed the 2008 season, the Patriots have won their division by one, three, five, five, four, three and two games.
But this season, through Week 11, the Patriots have just a two-game lead in the AFC East over the surging Dolphins, winners of five-straight games, and it could get a little tighter thanks to the coaching job done by Adam Gase and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
This isn’t to say the Patriots’ reign atop the AFC East is in danger, because their schedule down the stretch—28th-most difficult according to FootballOutsiders.