The NFL announced yesterday that both the Jets-Dolphins and Ravens-Jaguars games have been moved to 4:15 p.m. The Pats play the Bills at 1 p.m., and assuming they win, they won't know their postseason status until about three hours after they finish up at Buffalo.

The Patriots need the Dolphins and/or Ravens to lose - or the Dolphins and Jets to tie - if they're to reach the playoffs for the sixth straight year. If New York wins at home against Miami, the Pats will be AFC East champions at 11-5 and host either New York or Baltimore in a wild card game.

Failing a Dolphins loss, if the Ravens lose to the Jaguars, the Patriots will claim the final wild card slot and a matchup with AFC East champion Miami to open the postseason.

Regardless of how the Patriots do against the Bills, the Jets still will have something to play for. If New York beats the Dolphins and the Ravens lose, the Jets win the tiebreaker for the wild card.

There are a lot of permutations, but the Patriots, unsurprisingly, are going to spend the week focusing on their own performance.

``Rather than being a fan and cheerleader, the best thing we can do is go out there and play good Football on Sunday in Buffalo,'' coach Bill Belichick said. ``Without that, nothing else will matter.''

The Patriots are 6-2 in season finales under Belichick, with the losses coming to the Dolphins (2000, '05).

Slater steps up

A couple of weeks removed from a fumble against the Pittsburgh Steelers on a kickoff return that marked the low point of his rookie season, wide receiver Matthew Slater saw extensive action as a safety in the second half of Sunday's 47-7 victory against the Arizona Cardinals at Gillette Stadium.

Slater even contributed to a Brandon Meriweather strip sack, blitzing from one side while Meriweather came at the Cardinals from the other.

``The way they blocked it, their five linemen took our five linemen and the one back in the backfield took one safety,'' Belichick said. ``(The back) ended up taking the safety to his side, which was Slater, and Meriweather was free on the other side. I think if the safeties would have been reversed, (the back) would have still blocked the guy to his side.'' . . .

Belichick noted that the wind was not nearly the factor the team initially thought it might be.

``That's not uncommon,'' Belichick said. ``The forecast usually isn't exactly what it is, anyway. Sometimes it's close, but sometimes it really isn't.''

High praise

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is as impressed as anyone with the transformation of quarterback Matt Cassel from Tom Brady's backup to borderline Pro Bowler.

``It's a tribute to him,'' McDaniels said. ``The kid has worked extremely hard since he's been here. I have been with him all four years. He never complained. He never did anything other than come to work and prepare hard even though he knew he wasn't going to play while Tommy was starting. He is ready every week. What a tribute to him that it has paid off. He has been able to progress, and the thing that he never really had before was the game experience.

``Now he is getting an opportunity to show what that means to him as a player. Some of the things that he made mistakes on earlier in the year, he has fixed and corrected. Now he is going out there and playing really good Football.''

Read the Patriots Point After at bostonherald.com.