Gallerie » The New England Patriots have approached the

final week of the regular season with a postseason-like focus.No Youth ArDarius Stewart Jerseys , really. A first-round bye through the AFC playoffs is on the line Sunday, so they insist they’re not taking their game against the lowly New York Jets lightly.“It’s a one-game season,” running back James White said. “We’ve got to play our best football this week.”The Patriots have not played during wild-card weekend since the 2009 season, when they were blown out 33-14 by Baltimore. They also failed to make it to the Super Bowl the other two times under coach Bill Belichick (2005 and ’06) that they played during the opening weekend of playoffs.So, New England wants a win, which would clinch the franchise’s 13th first-round bye in AFC playoffs since 2001, the most in the NFL during that span. The Patriots (10-5) would also earn a bye with losses by Baltimore, Houston and Tennessee on Sunday.But they’d prefer to take care of business themselves against the Jets (4-11).“I mean, for us, this is a playoff game, so we just worry about what we can control,” safety Patrick Chung said.There’s also an outside shot New England could clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win — which would be its 500th in the regular season — combined with losses by Kansas City and Los Angeles Chargers.Speaking of Gillette Stadium, Tom Brady and the Patriots are the only team in the NFL without a loss at home (7-0). They could complete an undefeated home regular season for the seventh time since 2002 with a sixth straight victory in the series with the Jets.“It’s always tough when we play these guys, home or away,” White said. “They’re going to come in ready to play no matter what their record is. We’ve just got to play our best football — which we haven’t done yet and which I’ve said a lot this year. I think we all know that we can play better in general and maybe that’s enough motivation for us to go out there and play our best.”The Jets’ playoff hopes vanished months ago and this is expected to be Todd Bowles’ final game as coach. New York failed to reach the postseason in any of Bowles’ four seasons and needs a victory to just match the team’s 5-11 records of the last two seasons.Bowles’ bunch could have some extra motivation: spoil the Patriots’ plans.“It would be awesome,” left tackle Kelvin Beachum said. “But that’s not what it’s about. It’s about pride and about finding a way to get a win.”Here are some other things to know when the Jets and Patriots face off in Foxborough:BRADY’S BUMMERBrady is coming off his worst performance of the season with his 48.3 passer rating in a 24-12 win over Buffalo his lowest since throwing four interceptions against Indianapolis in 2006.He has 25 touchdown passes, his fewest since also tossing 25 during the 2013 season. But the 41-year-old Brady has no plans to step away from the game anytime soon. In his weekly radio spot with Westwood One Sports Radio on Monday, he said he fully intends to play beyond the end of his contract in 2019.“I absolutely believe I will ArDarius Stewart Jerseys Stitched ,” Brady said. “I know I’ve talked about it a long time. I have goals to play not only next year, but beyond that.”THE END?All indications are that Bowles will be fired by the Jets sometime after the clock hits zero on the scoreboard Sunday.Bowles has mostly declined to discuss his job status or his future, despite the speculation swirling for weeks, and his family has inevitably been exposed to.“My private life will remain private,” Bowles said. “I don’t insulate them from anything. My kids go to school and they’re tough minded, they can take care of themselves and the Mrs. can take care of herself. We understand where we are and I’ve got no problems with my family.”SOARING SAMJets quarterback Sam Darnold is playing the best ball of his young career to cap his rookie season.He was 24 of 35 for a career-high 341 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions last Sunday in New York’s overtime loss to Green Bay. In the three games since returning from a foot injury, Darnold is 64 of 97 (66 percent) for 764 yards and six TDs with just one INT.“You just want your quarterback to be the most consistent player on the field,” Darnold said, “and that’s what I try to strive to be every single week.”DOUBLE TROUBLERookie Sony Michel and James White have been dynamic presences in Brady’s backfield.Michel needs 119 yards rushing to become just the sixth Patriots running back to reach 1,000 under Belichick, and fourth rookie to do so — joining John Stephens (1988), Curtis Martin (1995) and Robert Edwards (1998).White needs seven catches to become the 10th running back in NFL history with 90 or more in a season.MANY HAPPY RETURNSJets return specialist Andre Roberts , selected last week for his first Pro Bowl, had a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Packers.He’s the first player in franchise history — and 16th in the NFL since the merger — with TDs on a catch, kick return and punt return in the same season. He also joined Leon Johnson (1997) as the only players in team history to return a kick and a punt for a score in the same season. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Von Miller acknowledges he’s no draft guru and is far from any kind of expert when it comes to quarterbacks. Well, except for sacking them, of course.But the Denver Broncos star linebacker knew there was something special about Sam Darnold long before the New York Jets made him the No. 3 overall pick.“I don’t know nothing about drafting a quarterback or anything like that Youth Darron Lee Jerseys , but I thought he was the No. 1 pick, for sure,” Miller said. “I thought he was the best offensive player in the draft.”The Jets sure thought so, even if the teams ahead of them took guys on offense ahead of Darnold. Cleveland made quarterback Baker Mayfield the No. 1 overall pick, while the Giants went with running back Saquon Barkley with the next selection.The Jets pounced on Darnold when their turn came up, and Miller can’t blame them.“Baker Mayfield was the No. 1 pick, and rightfully so,” Miller said. “But in my opinion, watching everything, from a pass rusher’s point of view, I just felt like (Darnold) was the No. 1 pick in the draft. He wasn’t the No. 1 pick, but he’s definitely playing like it.”Well, not quite. But Miller will get a chance for an up-close evaluation Sunday when the Broncos (2-2) travel to MetLife Stadium to take on Darnold’s Jets (1-3).Darnold had a terrific NFL debut with two touchdown throws in New York’s win at Detroit, but has struggled a bit in the three games since — all losses — along with the rest of the Jets’ offense. He has just two TD passes in that span and four interceptions, although he didn’t toss one last Sunday at Jacksonville.“As a team, I feel like we are really close, and for me personally I feel like I’m just on the edge,” Darnold said. “I’ve just got to continue to find completions Darron Lee Jerseys Stitched , hit my guys deep when they’re there. It’ll come, it’s just a timing thing. It’s going to click one of these games, I know it is.”This might be a tough week to get things going, though. Especially while facing a defense led by Miller, who has four sacks and two forced fumbles this season.And, Darnold realizes Miller will be looking to add to those totals — despite all the high praise.“It’s pretty cool that he said it,” Darnold said. “It’s definitely very humbling, very flattering, but at the same time, we’re going up against him. … I’m just going to go out there and we’re going to handle him the way that we need to and go about our business that way.”Here are some other things to know about the matchup between the Broncos and Jets:ON THE CASEBroncos quarterback Case Keenum had three touchdown passes in Denver’s 27-24 season-opening win against Seattle.He has none in the three games since.Keenum, who signed a two-year, $36 million deal with Denver in March, is the first Broncos QB since John Elway in 1986 to go three straight games with at least 20 throws and no TDs.SKIDDINGThe Jets are looking to snap a three-game losing streak and avoid their fourth four-game skid under coach Todd Bowles.New York ended last season by losing four in a row, and also dropped that many twice in 2016 — with the team finishing 5-11 both years. Bowles is in his fourth season with the Jets and the heat has been turned up a bit under his seat. New York is 1-7 in its past eight, and 3-12 in the past 15.ON NOTICEThe Broncos are coming off their first loss in 66 home games in which they held a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, and nobody is spared criticism over Denver’s Monday night meltdown in a 27-23 loss to the Chiefs.“We need more from our main guys on both sides of the ball,” coach Vance Joseph said of the Broncos’ cratering in crunch time.And from the coaches.“The bottom line is in this league in tough games, we have to be our best as coaches when it matters Womens Quinnen Williams Jersey ,” Joseph said. “You can call a great game for 3½ quarters, but for half a quarter when the game is on the line, we have to be our best. That is my job to help our players pull these games out.”BUTT OUTKeenum said he was encouraged by the way Jeff Heuerman played Monday night (four catches for 57 yards, both career highs) after Jake Butt blew out his left knee at a special teams practice last week, depriving the Broncos of their top tight end for the rest of the season.Keenum said he thinks Heuerman can be the kind of safety valve he’s had at that position at other times in his career, such as last year in Minnesota with Kyle Randolph.“Yeah, I think Jeff’s a great player. I think he showed it the other night that he’s in the right place at the right time, big target and he’s hard to tackle,” Keenum said. “So, a guy I’m excited to get the ball to more and more.”WIPE OUTIf Jets running back Isaiah Crowell gets into the end zone, all eyes will be on how he celebrates.He was penalized and given a stern talking to by Bowles after he celebrated his second TD run of the game by wiping the ball against his rear end and firing it into the stands. Crowell ended up getting fined $13,369 by the NFL for unsportsmanlike conduct.“It won’t happen again,” said Crowell, who didn’t score at Jacksonville last Sunday — but got an endorsement deal from a company that sells a toilet paper alternative for men.