The Oakland Raiders scored 29 consecutive points on the Buffalo Bills Sunday and it didn’t just set up the Raiders for the first seed in the AFC, it dealt a near-knockout blow to Buffalo’s playoff hopes. Here’s how the conference rankings shake out today.
AFC Standings
1. Oakland Raiders (10-2, 7-1 AFC)
2. New England Patriots (10-2, 7-1 AFC)
3. Baltimore Ravens (7-5, head-to-head win over PIT)
4. Houston Texans (6-6, head-to-head win over TEN)
5. Kansas City Chiefs (9-3)
6. Denver Broncos (8-4)
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7. Miami Dolphins (7-5, head-to-head win over PIT)
8. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5, head-to-head loss to BAL & MIA)
9. Tennessee Titans (6-6, head-to-head loss to HOU, 2-2 common opponent w/ BUF)
10. Buffalo Bills (6-6, 1-3 common opponent w/ JAX)
11. Indianapolis Colts (5-6)
12. San Diego Chargers (5-7)
13. Cincinnati Bengals (4-7-1)
14. New York Jets (3-8)
15. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-10*)
16. Cleveland Browns (0-11*)
* Eliminated from the playoff race.
(Here are the tiebreaker procedures if you’d like: http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakingprocedures)
What is means
The Jacksonville Jaguars join the Cleveland Browns as the only teams eliminated from the AFC playoff race, though the Jets could be eliminated with a loss on Monday Night Football.
While Buffalo is still “In The Hunt”, they have a steep hill to climb. They’ll need to go 4-0 down the stretch against an albeit winnable slate of games. They need two losses from the Denver Broncos against a difficult schedule. They need one loss from Miami in their three games that aren’t against Buffalo. They need a Pittsburgh loss. They might need Tennessee to lose another game, too. That’s a pretty heavy lift.
We’ve gone from the “it would be nice” portion of the season to the “Buffalo has been all but mathematically eliminated” stretch of the schedule.