Throwbacks this week, too.

[Mark Farinella]

Sunday's game at Gillette Stadium against the Tennessee Titans (4:15 p.m.) will be another one of those "AFL Legacy Games," with the Patriots wearing red throwback uniforms and the Titans donning the oil-derrick helmets of the Houston Oilers, which they were until 1997.

In fact, this will be another week of nonsense in which the Patriots will be called "the Boston Patriots" in the team's press releases and other notices, and there may be a few "Houston Oilers" references thrown in ... although the Patriots don't really play a team from Houston until Jan. 3, at Reliant Stadium against the Texans. I noticed that CBS did not follow suit in its broadcast on Sunday, and continued to call the team "the New England Patriots" throughout.

As I said before, the "Boston Patriots" monicker rubs me the wrong way in so many ways. I'm also picking up a bit of displeasure on the part of the team's fandom that the Pat Patriot logo and throwbacks have been jinxing the Patriots, now 3-2 and not playing terribly well.

I agree, the white shirts looked awful. But the team playing inside them was worse. I guess we'll know it's a jinx, however, if the red-clad Patriots find a way to lose to the 0-5 Titans on Sunday.