The Patriots are now like a college football powerhouse. If they go 13-3, fans rend their garments about the three losses, and anything less than a Super Bowl results in weeks of Boston-area navel-gazing. As usual, they are odds-on favorites to earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. As usual, everyone south or west of Hartford, Conn., is rooting against them. And as usual, nothing of real consequence will happen to the Patriots until sometime in January.