The New England Patriots are set to take on their Week 14 matchup, the Arizona Cardinals, on Monday night with their season possibly hanging in the balance.

The Patriots have lost their last two games to drop to 6-6 as their playoff hopes have taken a major hit with the loss. Monday presents them a good opportunity to either keep swimming as they take on a 4-8 Cardinals team that seems to be in distress, but a loss might raise bigger questions about the future of the Patriots.

Here are four bold Patriots predictions for their Week 14 tilt against the Cardinals.

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4. One of DeVante Parker or Nelson Agholor has a big game, as well as one of Hunter Henry or Jonnu Smith

The Patriots will be without Jakobi Meyers, who's their leading receiver this season, in their Week 14 clash. While that's certainly a blow, they can overcome it – and they have multiple times this season.

Mac Jones' two best games this season arguably came with Meyers either out or playing limited snaps. That's because Parker and Agholor stepped up in those respective games. Parker had a dominant 156-yard performance against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3 and had an 80-yard game against the Minnesota Vikings on Thanksgiving day. Agholor had six receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings, too.

And while you might say that those performances came against two of the league's lesser pass defenses, well, the Patriots will again face one of the league's worst pass defenses on Monday. Entering Week 14, the Cardinals hold the 25th passing defense and passing defensive DVOA in the league.

Arizona has actually faired well this season against opposing offenses' top option at receiver, allowing just 50.4 receiving yards per game on 7.9 targets to such receivers. But it struggles against its opponents' other receiving options. The Cardinals are 24th in passing DVOA against non-top two receiving options and 30th in passing DVOA against running backs and tight ends.

So, it's possible that one of Parker or Agholor gets bottled up and the other has a big game. Henry should be able to have a solid performance, too. Smith could play a factor in the quick game as the Patriots will likely have to work their way around a battered offensive line situation and, of course, Rhamondre Stevenson's proven to be an asset in the passing game.

3. The Patriots will be able to contain Kyler Murray the scrambler

New England got torched by dual-threat quarterbacks on the ground earlier this season. Lamar Jackson had 107 rushing yards against the Patriots and Justin Fields scampered for 81 against them a few weeks later.

However, the Patriots appeared to have turned a bit of a corner since Fields ran all over them in Week 7. Zach Wilson ran for just two yards in the first Patriots-Jets matchup and while he had 26 rushing yards on three scrambles in the second one, the Patriots sacked him four times on 29 dropbacks in that game.

Last week, Josh Allen rushed for 23 yards on five scrambles, showing more signs of progress in that area.

Murray's obviously been known to do damage with his legs for much of his four-year career. However, he rushed for just 31 yards on six scrambles in his lone meeting against the Patriots so far in 2020.

New England's pass rush has also improved throughout the year. It's no longer solely dependent on Matthew Judon, who was second in the league in sacks entering Week 14 with 13. Josh Uche has seven sacks in the Patriots' last four games while Deatrich Wise has pitched in 6.5 this season.

The Patriots have been disciplined and more effective in their pass rushing this season as the year's gone along, which bodes well for this prediction on a favorable matchup against a quarterback that can scramble.

2. New England will struggle with one of Arizona's receivers, but not DeAndre Hopkins

After putting up solid performances through the first 10 games of the season, Jonathan Jones and Jack Jones struggled over the last two weeks as they went up against arguably the league's two best receivers in Justin Jefferson and Stefon Diggs.

New England takes on another elite receiver this week in Hopkins, however, the All-Pro has struggled against Bill Belichick in his 10-year career. In seven matchups against the Patriots, Hopkins has caught 34 passes for 458 yards with zero touchdowns. On per game basis, that averages out to just a little less than five receptions for 65.4 yards per game.

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Hopkins also doesn't really have the speed that Diggs and Jefferson have, which seemed to be the big issue for the physical Joneses. Someone who does have speed and might present a matchup problem for the Patriots though is Marquise Brown. The fourth-year receiver shined earlier this season in his first six games with his new team before suffering a foot injury that cost him five games. However, he came back in the Cardinals' last game before the bye week and had six receptions in their loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

So, Monday's game will mark just the second time Hopkins and Brown will play together. New England might throw extra help with whoever's covering Hopkins, which might also allow Brown to play well against a secondary that's not really equipped to matchup against his speed.

1. The Patriots ride their best offensive performance with Mac Jones this season to a win

No Meyers, no Damien Harris, a battered offensive line, and an offensive coaching situation that seems to be a wreck.

Yet, I my bold Patriots prediction is still that the Patriots' offense will have their best game of the season in Week 14, at least with Jones at quarterback. That isn't really saying much as most would probably agree that the Patriots have only had two good offensive performances with Jones at quarterback so far this season – and he threw three interceptions in one of those games.

But they do have some things going their way. They face a Cardinals defense that's struggled as much as their offense has. In fact, we might have the opposite of an “unstoppable force vs. immovable object” situation at play as the Patriots' offense and the Cardinals' defense both rank last in red zone efficiency. Something's got to give, right?

But this is usually the spot the Patriots do well in and where Belichick thrives the most: facing inferior coaches whose teams are in distress. The Cardinals have a fair amount of talent on their side and might be far more talented than the Patriots. However, if you've watched their “Hard Knocks” season so far, they're clearly a dysfunctional team and Kliff Kingsbury looks like a coach that only has a few games left at his current job.

I like the Patriots to win by a score of 27-20.