AFC Playoff Picture
What the heck. We don’t really need to wait for the Patriots to roll the Ravens tomorrow night, do we? Didn’t think so.
- The Patriots are headed for a first round bye and home field throughout the playoffs. Surprised you, didn’t I? Indianapolis (10-2) is in line for a first round bye. Pittsburgh could conceivably catch the Colts, but looking at the schedules, I don’t think so.
- The Steelers and Chargers look pretty secure as the division winners to play in the wild card round. The Chargers are pretty much locked in. The Steelers have bigger hopes, but they will probably have to win out to stay out of the wild card round. It still may not be enough.
- The Jaguars (8-4) look like the first wild card team. The Jags still have to play to Pittsburgh, but 11-5 looks about right for them.
- The final wild card position will come down to Tennessee (7-5), Cleveland (7-5) or Buffalo (6-6). With Tennessee playing San Diego next week, Cleveland playing the Jets and Buffalo playing Miami, things could really get tight. And Cleveland plays Buffalo the following week, so the loser of that game will likely be on the outside looking in.
This final spot could very well come down to tiebreakers between Tennessee, and winner of the Buffalo/Cleveland game in two weeks. My feeling is Cleveland is the odds-on favorite to make the playoffs right now, but this one will come down to the final weekend.
Here are the remaining schedules of Tennessee, Cleveland and Buffalo.
Tennessee: San Diego, at Kansas City, New York Jets and at Indianapolis.
Cleveland: at New York Jets, Buffalo, at Cincinnati and San Francisco.
Buffalo: Miami, at Cleveland, New York Giants and at Philadelphia.
