Patriots coach Bill Belichick indicated Monday morning that the team will now divide its time over the next few days between taking a chance to do some self-scouting, as well as looking ahead to their next potential playoff opponent.
On a conference call, Belichick said that it'll be "combination of both things," but "where the emphasis will fall is still to be determined." Belichick said that logistically, it'll be a lot like the regular season, where the advance scouts will look at the potential opponents, while the coaching staff handles what's on tap for the week.
"That's what we'll talk about as a staff here [Monday]," Belichick said. "I think that heading into this weekend, today, we'd be getting ready for a game this coming Sunday, and we were prepared to do that. But that's not the case right now, so we'll kind of re-evaluate right now and go from there."
With their win over the Dolphins on Sunday and the Texans' loss to Indy, the Patriots moved up to claim the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff picture. As a result, they'll have wild-card weekend off. If the Texans beat the Bengals, it’ll be a rematch of New England and Houston in the divisional round. If Cincinnati wins, the Patriots will host the winner of the Ravens-Colts game. Regardless of the opponent, that game will be Jan. 13 at 4:30 p.m. at Gillette.
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