FOXBORO  –  The temptation to think about what could be is certainly there.

But the 7-3 Patriots know better than to get ahead of themselves and think about a possible postseason bye in January.

After all, they have to look no further than Cincinnati to see what can happen.

At the same time they were taking care of business against the Jets at Gillette, the Bengals were in the process of falling apart to the hapless Oakland Raiders, losing 20-17, in a finish that could only be described as jaw dropping. The Bengals led 17-10 only to surrender 10 points in the final minute of the game.

“No, not really,” Belichick said when asked Monday if he thought about the positive impact the Cincy loss had on their playoff position. “We don’t really care about that. Right now, we’re just thinking about New Orleans. That’s the only thing we can do anything about. Every week, we come in here and there will be a surprise for us, like there has been in the last 11 games in the season, that will happen every week.

“One week, we are cheering for one team to win and the next week we’ll be cheering for the same team to lose the next week because the standings will change and things will happen. Really, I don’t get caught up in that too much. I don’t think our team does. Right now, what we need to focus on is what we’re doing, the team we are playing, New Orleans. I don’t think there is any better team in football than New Orleans. That’s a plate full right there. Let everybody else worry about their own problems. We’ve got enough of ours,” he added.

Think the Patriots loss the week before was bad? The Bengals fell to 7-3, falling below the Patriots and Chargers in the AFC standings, dropping a contest to a team that is in complete disarray.

“I’m not trying to pay attention to the standings, really,” Sunday star Leigh Bodden said. “We just got to pay attention to us.”

Funny thing about Cincinnati. Bodden remembers when he was playing for the Browns in 2007, they controlled their destiny at the end of the season, needing only to win in Cincinnati and at home to San Francisco to clinch the playoffs.

Then the Bengals beat them 19-14 and all of sudden they needed help, which they didn’t get and wound up on the outside looking in with a 10-6 record.

“I remember in Cleveland we were kind of in the playoff hunt, but we had to hope other teams lost because we didn’t take care of our business,” Bodden recalled on Monday. “So, that’s something that teams want to do, and you just want to take care of your business and not worry about what anybody else is doing. You just continue to win and everything will take care of itself.”

It’s the Patriots now who have the chance to take care of business down the stretch, with a reward of a week off if they do.

And Bodden said there was a good lesson in learning to be self-reliant.

“Yeah, there definitely is,” he added. “You can’t depend on other people; you have to take care of your business and not worry about hoping teams lose or doing anything like that. So if you win the games that are important in the AFC, usually in division games, you’ll get in no matter what.

Bodden said he certainly sees a big difference between here and Cleveland in terms of approach in the locker room.

“Yeah, the attitude is just about us,” Bodden said. “It’s about paying attention to us and trying to win these division games, putting it in guys’ heads. I think, guys, we have enough veterans on this team that know and have been around. They know to know that we have to take care of business and you have to win the AFC games.

“Bill, from the beginning of the year, he stressed it, because last year they were 11-5 and they didn’t make the playoffs. That’s because some of those early AFC losses and division losses, so that’s something he stressed and talked about and everybody has that attitude in the back of their mind. We just have to continue to keep that in our mind and not worry about anything else.”

Now all Bodden, Belichick and the Patriots care about is getting their first true road win.

“That’s another important thing because we’re on the road,” Bodden said. “Say you do make it to the playoffs and you don’t get home field advantage, then that’s one thing you’re going to have to do is win on the road. So it’s definitely important to win on the road and get that under your belt and try to play good away. Sometimes it’s hard because your fans aren’t behind you; you don’t have your fans. At times you have an edge when your fans are not behind you. It’s hard to start off fast when you’re away because of the crowd. That’s one thing we need to do is start fast and finish fast.”