Patriots: Berth will be difficult

Will final playoff push deliver spot?

AMHERST, N.Y. - Usually by now the Patriots already know they're playoff bound and they're playing for nothing more than postseason positioning or the polishing of their final record. This time the final regular-season game represents a hard-earned opportunity to make the playoffs.

The dramatic conclusion to a soap opera-like regular season will come today in Buffalo, where the Patriots (10-5) need a win over the Bills to put themselves in position for a playoff berth. Even with an 11-5 finish, the Patriots will have to scoreboard-watch once 4:15 p.m. rolls around, and the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens take the field, to find out if they'll make the playoffs for the sixth straight time.

If the Patriots finish 11-5, they can clinch a sixth straight AFC East division title if the archrival New York Jets also upend the upstart Dolphins or those teams tie. New England can slip in via a wild-card berth with a victory and a loss or tie by the Ravens, who host the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Patriots also can make the playoffs with a tie against Buffalo and a loss by either the Dolphins or Ravens.

"Usually for us we've known what our season outlook was by now," said left guard Logan Mankins. "This year is a different year for us."

It has been a different year - and a difficult one - for the Patriots.

Their season began with the loss of franchise quarterback Tom Brady just 15 offensive plays in. That set the tone for a season that has had more than its share of injuries and adversity. But somehow a team that has lost 14 players to season-ending injured reserve, including Brady, safety Rodney Harrison, and linebacker Adalius Thomas, and has been forced to use 43 starters, including recycled linebackers Junior Seau and Rosevelt Colvin, still has a chance at the playoffs.

"Yeah, it's tough. We've had a tough year. We've battled," said safety James Sanders. "We're in the position where we still have a chance, and that's all you can ask for, so after everything we've been through as a team it's great to know we still have a chance."

The Patriots created that chance by winning three straight games under playoff-like pressure. In the process, they have played some of their best football of the season, putting up 40-plus points in back-to-back blowout wins over the Raiders and Cardinals to set up today's "one-game season," as coach Bill Belichick has called it.

The good news is that in such a crucial contest the Patriots are playing an opponent they have mastered in a month they've dominated. The Patriots have won 10 straight over Buffalo, dating to 2003, and 11 straight in the month of December, dating to 2006.

But Buffalo (7-8) will be highly motivated to send the Patriots home for the season.

"This is definitely going to be a lot tougher challenge than what we've had in the previous weeks," said running back LaMont Jordan. "Buffalo got off to a strong start [5-1]. I think the one thing they can hang on to for the end of the season is, 'Hey, let's go knock the Patriots out of the playoffs and at least end our season on a good note.'

"We know those guys are going to come and play us hard, and they're going to try to win the game."

Jordan, who spent the last three seasons in Oakland, pigskin purgatory, has a refreshing take on the Patriots' playoff plight.

"I'm happy, man. I'm playing in a meaningful game the last week of the season, and it's a great feeling," he said.

"I'm having fun. I'm enjoying it. I know when it's all said and done the only thing we can do is worry about this game. I'm excited to hopefully get a win and then just sit back and see what happens."

Blessed with a playoff birthright (or berthright), Patriots fans shouldn't pout or be paranoid about the motivation of Eric Mangini and the NFL schedule-makers or about possibly being the first 11-5 team since the NFL went to six playoff spots per conference in 1990 not to get in.

(Since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978, only one team has finished 11-5 and not made the postseason. The 1985 Denver Broncos were beaten out for the fifth and final playoff spot by the Patriots, who got in by virtue of a better record against common opponents.)

In lots of locales across the league, they'd love to be able to say that in the final game of the season a playoff berth is a possibility. When Brady went down on Sept. 7, most Patriots fans would have quickly signed up for such an opportunity.

"We know there are a lot of teams and players that wish they could be in our position and they're not," said Mankins. "They're probably packing their bags right now, getting ready to go home. We're happy to have a chance to get into the playoffs."

A chance, that's really all you could have hoped for once Brady went down, or Harrison was lost for the season in the sixth game, or Thomas broke his right forearm in the first meeting with Buffalo, or Pierre Woods, Thomas's replacement, broke his jaw three games later against Pittsburgh, or when linebackers Seau and Colvin came out of semi-retirement to play the final four games of the season.

"All you can ask for is an opportunity," said Sanders. "We have that, and we're going to go there and play hard, hopefully come out on top, and then hopefully everything else will take care of itself."