The general consensus is that New England will show up in the Super Bowl to represent the AFC. They’re the No. 1 seed in the AFC, and they’ve gone 3-0 against Peyton Manning at Foxboro since he joined Denver (the No. 2 seed).
But New England is far from a lead-pipe lock. Since they lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl following the 2007 season, in fact, the Patriots have gone only 4-3 in playoff games at home, with two losses to the Ravens and one to the Jets.
As luck would have it, they'll open the playoffs at home against Baltimore next week. The Patriots have played the Ravens three times at Foxboro and have gone 1-2 in those games (and easily could have lost the third).
| Patriots, home playoff games | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Ravens 33, Patriots 14 | |
| 2010 | Jets 28, Patriots 21 | |
| 2011 | Patriots 45, Broncos 10 | |
| 2011 | Patriots 23, Ravens 20 | |
| 2012 | Patriots 41, Texans 28 | |
| 2012 | Ravens 28, Patriots 13 | |
| 2013 | Patriots 43, Colts 22 | |
—Ian Allan