Familiar Territory

The Patriots clinched the AFC East for the 10th straight season after a 24-12 win at home against the Bills.

Despite offensive struggles in the passing game, the Patriots got the ball moving on the ground early to take an early lead on a pair of touchdowns from Sony Michel and James White.

Julian Edelman hauled in Tom Brady’s lone touchdown pass, putting together an incredible effort on a 32-yard catch and run to extend the Patriots lead in the second half.  The win clinched the division for the Patriots, and they would clinch a first-round bye with a win next week against the Jets after the Texans lost to the Eagles in Week 16.

Some Patriots were decked out in their AFC East championship gear taking celebratory photos. Others were huddled in the equipment room to watch the final moments of another game with massive playoff implications.

Dont’a Hightower was caught in no-mans land.

Hightower was in the bathroom, removing tape so he could soon join his teammates and pose with their AFC East champion hats and T-Shirts. And he was wondering how it was all unfolding in Philadelphia.

“I can’t believe I’m rooting for the (expletive) Eagles right now,” Hightower said.

At that moment, the Patriots’ path to a coveted first-round bye rested on the leg of Philadelphia kicker Jake Elliott. That’s not a fun place to be. Elliott had already botched an extra point, which is why the Eagles trailed the Texans, 30-29.

Then Hightower heard the cheers.

A group of jubilant Patriots — including Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Julian Edelman — charged out of the equipment room. Cordarrelle Patterson ducked out of the training room and shouted, “Hell yeah!”

Jake Elliott: Good from 35 yards out.

The Patriots are once again the No. 2 seed in the AFC.

Truthfully, the Patriots’ reaction to the assist from the Eagles was far more entertaining than anything that transpired in their game yesterday. With Josh Allen slinging the ball all over the field (and often 10 yards out of the field of play), the Bills stood little chance. The Pats defense put the clamps on Buffalo, eliminating the rushing attack and forcing three turnovers. The re-tooled New England offense, moving forward without suspended receiver Josh Gordon, dominated one of the league’s best run defenses for an insane 273 yards on the ground. It marked the most rushing yards by the Patriots in a single game since 2008.

The passing attack sputtered, as Tom Brady completed only seven passes to wide receivers and tight ends, but the outcome was never in doubt.

When the Pats arrived in the locker room following their 24-12 victory, there was plenty of suspense waiting for them. The Eagles, who shredded the Patriots for 41 points in Super Bowl Bowl LII and gloated all offseason, had the ball at their own 11-yard line with 1:59 remaining, trailing by one point. To claim the AFC’s No. 2 seed, the Patriots needed a Texans loss in Week 16 or 17. This obviously represented their best chance.

“Shout out to Nick Foles,” Patriots safety Duron Harmon said at the beginning of his post-game interview.

Harmon didn’t get in front of a TV for the end. Instead, he followed the game-winning drive from his phone.

“Just refreshing, refreshing, refreshing,” Harmon said. “It was third-and-10 at one point, and I see (Foles) throw the 30-yard bomb to Alshon (Jeffery). Literally, I was just refreshing, refreshing like, ‘All right, c’mon, Nick. Give me some of that magic that we saw last year.’ ”

Foles completed two deep passes on separate third-and-10s, setting up Elliott’s game-winning kick as time expired.

“Think about the last two years: Nick Foles plays his best ball in December,” Harmon said. “We’ve seen that in the Super Bowl. We saw it leading up to the Super Bowl when he had to take over for the Eagles at the quarterback position last year. We know what type of player he is. He’s doing it all over again.”

Considering their road struggles and their uneven offense, the Pats find themselves in a favorable position. As long as they take care of the reeling Jets in next Sunday’s regular-season finale, they’ll have a first-round bye for the ninth straight year. They don’t have a great passing attack by any means — Rob Gronkowski was held without a catch yesterday — but the defense is trending in the right direction. On the heels of the Miami calamity, they held the Steelers to 17 points and the Bills to 12.

“We’re definitely making the right strides,” Hightower said. “We’ve just got to continue to build on it, not take a step backward, continue to build on the identity that we have now.”

What exactly is the identity? Hightower said they’re a fast, aggressive defense that swarms to the ball. They’re a ground-and-pound offense that will make tweaks each week. Oh, and they’re Eagles fans.

Enormous Eagles fans. “It’s just fun, like we were able to be fans of the game for a little bit, cheer for somebody other than ourselves,” Harmon said. “(But) we know what time it is. End of December. Last game of the year. We need to be playing great football right now. No matter what seed we’re going to be, it’s all about us. It definitely is good to get some help from other people, but at the end of the day I’ll take this group of guys versus anybody, anywhere, at any time.”