The ghost of the Buffalo Bills hangs heavy over the AFC playoff picture. If each of the teams at the top win out, the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans would each have identical 13-3 records. But the Patriots, having lost to the Bills in that October stunner, would lose out on the bye week by virtue of a conference record tiebreaker.
For the Bills, now 5-8 and heading toward another losing season, that may be their one solace.
AFC East
Patritos, Jets won. Bills, Dolphins lost.
The Patriots have now won five in a row in dominating fashion, and the Jets have a three-game win streak of their own. With that, the two teams are currently the #3 and #6 seeds in the playoffs, which would pit them against each other on Wildcard Weekend. I think I can speak for pretty much the entire NFL public when I say HELLZ YES! There’s nothing better than a third matchup between division rivals who flat out hate each other to kick off the playoff weekend.
I know of one corner of the internet that does not share my enthusiasm, though: Derek Hanson at Foxboro Blog rates the Jets 10th in his weekly power ranking, and notes:
Typical Jets. They look dead and then start coming on strong. I really want no part of them in the playoffs this year. I’ll take my two wins to the bank and move on.
AFC South
Texans won miraculously, Jaguars won convincingly. Titans lost heartbreakingly, Colts lost predictably.
There’s a quarterback in Denver that’s getting a lot of attention for having won six games in a row. We’re more impressed by a Texans team that has run completely through its quarterback depth chart while winning seven in a row, including three straight by a kid named TJ Yates. Gary Kubiak should be getting serious Coach of the Year attention, but his story just isn’t being told.
Meanwhile, the division’s unfolding story might be the beginning of Jake Locker time in Tennessee. The hidden dragon of this year’s rookie class exploded for 282 yards and a touchdown (on 13 of 29 passing) against New Orleans’ high-pressure defense, after coming in in relief of an injured Matt Hasselbeck. It was an explosive performance, but one that Total Titans’ Tom Gower found fault with in a snap-by-snap review:
My biggest concern is Locker will have success as a one-read and vacate the pocket quarterback, and decide that having success as a one-read and vacate the pocket quarterback means he’s a good NFL player. We went through that experience five years ago, and it set back the franchise’s long-term development future and may well have cost us a Super Bowl in 2008.
AFC North
Ravens and Steelers keep pace. Bengals and Browns keep sliding.
Those two head to head wins for Baltimore against Pittsburgh have saved their season. But for those games, this would be an inconsistent team struggling for wildcard placement, still haunted by bad road losses to Tennessee, Jacksonville and Seattle. With those wins, they are the division’s bad man, holding the dangerous Steelers at bay.
Meanwhile, Andy Dalton and a desperate Bengals team heads into a big-time trap game against the 2-11 St Louis Rams this weekend, a team that by all rights has nothing to play for but continues, improbably, to play hard. In no universe should the playoff-minded Bengals lose this game, as Dave Biddle of Three Way Chili points out:
They are clearly one of the worst teams in the NFL. If the Bengals can’t beat them – even on the road – then Cincinnati deserves to miss the postseason.
That game is followed by another NFC West opponent, the suddenly feisty Cardinals, at home. That leads up to a Week 17 showdown against Baltimore that is now worth a lot of marbles.
AFC West
Tebow tebowed, Chargers charged. Raiders got raided, Chiefs got chopped.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Denver Broncos sit alone atop the AFC West. It’s a pretty amazing story, you’d think people would be talking about it.
