It's a little quiet here at work so I thought I would do a brief write-up on what teams we should be cheering for this week to help our playoff chances. It's a jumbled mess in the AFC right now thanks to the AFC North benefiting from playing both the AFC South and the NFC South. Below are notable games during week 13 and who we should be rooting for in these games along with the Dolphins on Monday night. San Diego (7-4) AT Baltimore (7-4) Looking at the Ravens' schedule, they appear to have a manageable schedule to reach the playoffs if they can get past the next two weeks without too much harm. The Ravens will take the field against the Dolphins, Jaguars, Texans, and Browns after the Chargers and it's easy to point out two games that the Ravens should win (Jaguars, Texans). We need the Ravens to drop to 10-6 at the very least and that means rooting for the Chargers. San Diego's path to the playoffs is far more difficult as they face the Packers and Patriots at home then travel to San Francisco and Kansas City to finish off the season. It's very easy to see the Chargers dropping all of these games but let's hope they can at least win this one for us. Cleveland (7-4) AT Buffalo (6-5) I know it'll be hard to root for the Bills on Sunday but we really need them to knock off the Browns. The Browns don't have a cakewalk schedule with the Colts, Bengals, Panthers, and Ravens looming however they are a far bigger threat than the Bills. The Bills still have to play the Broncos, Packers, Raiders, and Patriots so best case scenario in Buffalo appears to be 8-8. We'll have to cheer on our AFC East foes for just one week this season to put our playoff hopes in better position. New Orleans (4-7) AT Pittsburgh (7-4) This is an obvious answer here but once again we'll have to watch the Saints on Sunday hoping that they can knock off a team from the AFC North. The Saints have yet to defeat a team from the AFC this year after losing to the Browns, Bengals, and Ravens. We could use some help from Drew Brees this week to knock the Steelers back further in the playoff picture. Pittsburgh's remaining schedule is at Cincinnati, at Atlanta, Kansas City, and Cincinnati. Cincinnati (7-3-1) AT Tampa Bay (2-9) Another obvious answer with the Buccaneers and you can't help but think that this is the most unlikely scenario to happen as the Buccaneers have been pretty underwhelming to say the least. The good news is we never know if good Andy Dalton or bad Andy Dalton shows up so hopefully the Buccaneers defense can force some turnovers early and steal a win from the Bengals. Cincinnati's remaining schedule is Pittsburgh, at Cleveland, Denver, and at Pittsburgh. Denver (8-3) AT Kansas City (7-4) This game is shaping up to play right into Denver's hands. Peyton Manning is back after steamrolling our Dolphin defense and proved why he shouldn't be doubted as one of the greatest of all time. It's a primetime game where the weather will be relatively warm considering it'll be in Kansas City late in November. We need to be huge Denver fans as they play four teams in the next four weeks with playoff hopes (Kansas City, Buffalo, San Diego, Cincinnati). Kansas City's remaining schedule is at Arizona, Oakland, at Pittsburgh, and San Diego.
Understatement. 9-7 hasn't been a "for sure" entrance into the playoffs in the past 10-15 years to start with but this year seems like some 10-6 teams could be on the outside looking in.
Any Patriots loss would also be a good thing. Though the scenario is not a likely one (most scenarios are "not likely" at the moment because there are so many possibilities), there is one scenario that could leave us screwed over in a tiebreak with the Buffalo Bills. The Bills play the Patriots in Week 17 and if the Patriots maintain at least a one game lead over the Broncos through Week 16 they will have locked up homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. That would mean that they probably won't risk players like Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork and Rob Gronkowski in a meaningless game against the Bills. That would hand the Bills not only an easy victory, but an easy DIVISION victory, and a COMMON OPPONENT victory. It would mean that if the Bills had somehow managed to beat the Packers (in Buffalo), they could have a tiebreak over Miami even if we go 10-6.
Call me crazy, but if New England can drop their next two and Miami can win their next two, that December 14th game will be for 1st place, no?
This is all the fault of the crappy NFC South. All the AFC North teams got to play all the NFC South. That's 3 or 4 guaranteed wins for each of them!
I don't know about rooting for Buffalo. While your reasoning is sound, they do have the same record as us and I'd feel better if they lose and we beat the Jets. While we do own the tiebreaker if we beat the Jets twice, I'd rather not take the chance of splitting with the Jets, losing to NE and then having Buffalo get in with the same record as us. It's a tough call either way, but I think I'm rooting against them.
You're right, the logic is there...but Cleveland still has Indy and Cinci to deal with. So I just don't see either of these teams as a post-season threat to us, even though they're technically ahead at this point. If we win 4 of 5, I'll take my chances at 10 wins.
I think the Bills can win against the Browns, but I don't think any of the other teams you listed in bold print will win today. I think the Chiefs will beat the Broncos fairly easily on their home turf.
Winning our games is crucial. The rest should fall into place after that. Although it's been a while since th Fins have been in the playoff talks, it always seems like we need help from other teams. Scoreboard watching is what good team don't do. Again we need to take care of business and let the other's fight it out.
You are correct. The Dolphins have to treat everyone of their remaining regular season games like playoff games. If they win out, they will make the playoffs. If they go 10-6, they may possibly still make the playoffs. Anything less than 10-6 and I just don't think they will have a chance of making the playoffs in the AFC this year.
Well the early games couldn't have gone better for us. Sure Tampa didn't come through but if Cinci stays the division winner it doesn't matter. Rest of that division lost.
Yup, now just need DEN to take down KC and all of those in front will be 7-5, with us poised for NYJ on MNF. Lots of dominoes fell nicely today indeed. And with SD just a game ahead, but lots of tough matchups in front of them, even they sit nicely to be caught and passed with our H2H over them. NE goes down, the night is sweet.
