The Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets were both eliminated from the AFC playoff race on Thursday night when the Tennessee Titans defeated the Jaguars, pushing their record to 7-6. Both the Jaguars and Jets have nine losses.
It’s good timing for the Bills, whose playoff hopes are still on life support. The Jets looked like they had given up the last time Buffalo played them, and now with nothing on their calendar but four meaningless games down the stretch and potentially a lame duck coach, they are in warm-up-the-bus mode.
The Jaguars looked similarly dejected on national television last night and were trucked by the Titans’ running attack, giving up massive chunks of yardage on the ground and long touchdown runs. Doug Marrone’s defense was bad a couple weeks after he fired his offensive coordinator.
The Bills are the next team in front of the Jets and Jaguars in the standings, so this is your reminder that Buffalo will be eliminated from the playoffs this weekend if they lose to New York. Even if Buffalo wins, they can be eliminated from the postseason if the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders AND the Baltimore Ravens beat the Kansas City Chiefs. That would guarantee Pittsburgh could finish no worse that 8-7-1 and ahead of Buffalo, while the Ravens would be certain to finish no worse than 8-8 with a better AFC record than the Bills and a head-to-head victory over Buffalo.
Buffalo is eliminated from the playoffs if...
- The Bills lose a game
OR
- Baltimore and Pittsburgh both win Sunday