After starting the year off 10-0, the New England Patriots have now lost their last two consecutive games. A two game losing streak certainly won't end any team's season, but the Patriots are in some big trouble given the circumstances.

The most obvious reason is injuries. As good of a head coach as Bill Belichick is, you just can't keep coaching around these key injuries. The last two losses have been direct correlations of major injuries. The game against the Denver Broncos turned when Chris Harper muffed a punt. Why is that critical? Because Harper was in the game for an injured Julian Edelman. Against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Patriots receivers were absolutely dreadful with many dropped passes, a lot coming from Brandon LaFell. Again, without Rob Gronkowski and Edelman, Tom Brady does not have his top two targets to throw to.

The Patriots fell in the standings dramatically over the weekend.

Robert Kraft's squad went from the No. 1 seed all the way down to the No. 3 seed in the AFC. That's extremely critical because only the top two seeds in each conference receive a bye week, and only the top seed gets home-field advantage. The Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos and Patriots are all 10-2, but the Patriots are the odd ones out per NFL rules. The Broncos defeated the Patriots last week to get the tie-breaker, and the Bengals have a superior conference record.

The Patriots need home field advantage dearly, and that's non debatable. We haven't seen the Patriots win a single road playoff game since the 2006-07 season when they defeated the San Diego Chargers. It's been almost 10 years since the Patriots won a road playoff game. The last five times the Patriots have made it to the Super Bowl they were the No. 1 seed in the AFC with home field advantage and a first round bye week. Even the miracle 2001-02 Patriots were a No. 2 seed with a bye week. The last time the Patriots played a road playoff game, they lost to Peyton Manning and the Broncos in Denver.

Can the Patriots win it all as the No. 3 seed? Franchise history says no. The Bengals and Broncos will play each other in Week 16 with huge playoff implications. As it stands now, Patriots nation will be rooting for the Bengals to win that game.

On the positive side for the Patriots, they're down but not out despite the fact that they don't control their own destiny in the standings. Multiple injuries have hindered success over the last two weeks, but many of these injuries aren't season ending. Both Gronkowski and Edelman are expected to return in time for the playoffs, and Danny Amendola appears to be healthy. Defensively, Jamie Collins is back from his mystery illness, and Dont'a Hightower has been upgraded to "questionable" against the Houston Texans on Sunday Night. So again, the Patriots have a lot of injuries to key players, but many of them will return when the games really matter in January.

Obviously the Patriots have to win against the Texans next week, a game that will be on Sunday Night Football. It will be on the road, and the Texans defense is no joke. Three of the last four games for the Patriots will be on the road.

 Follow Damon Salvadore on Twitter @DamonSalvadore1