The New England Patriots desperately need a win to keep pace in the AFC playoff race, and luckily for them, they have a favorable matchup in Week 14.
New England will soon travel West for a "Monday Night Football" showdown with the Arizona Cardinals, a team that's 4-8 with a minus-57 point differential. The Cardinals own the NFL's second-worst home record at 1-6, and they've also lost seven of their last eight meetings with the Patriots.
In fact, the last time the Patriots lost to the Cardinals on the road was in 1991. Back then they were the Phoenix Cardinals.
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If the Patriots want to keep that win streak going, they'll need to show significant improvement offensively. New England's offense scored just one touchdown with 242 total yards and a 3-of-12 mark on third down in a 24-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills last Thursday. It was a new low point for the Patriots offense, one that included quarterback Mac Jones yelling at people on the sideline.
The Patriots defense will be under the microscope, too. Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is one of the best at his position in picking up yards on the ground and evading sacks with great mobility. New England has struggled to defend these types of quarterbacks of late, including Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
New England Patriots
The Patriots should win this game, and they are 1.5-point betting favorites. But you never know with this team. Pretty much everyone expected them to beat the lowly Chicago Bears at home in a Week 7 Monday night game and Chicago instead dominated 33-14.
Which way are experts leaning in this Patriots-Cardinals matchup? Here's a roundup of Week 14 picks.
Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk: 27-17 Patriots
Albert Breer, Sports Illustrated: Patriots
Bill Bender, Sporting News: 23-19 Patriots
Gregg Rosenthal, NFL.com: 23-20 Patriots
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: 24-21 Patriots
Bleacher Report NFL Staff: 24-21 Patriots
Seth Wickersham, ESPN: Cardinals
Dan Graziano, ESPN: Patriots
David Hill, New York Times: Patriots -1
Sheil Kapadia, The Ringer: Patriots -1.5
FiveThirtyEight's model: Cardinals have 56 percent chance to win