The Buffalo Bills are currently the five seed in the AFC with the surprising Houston Texans tiebreaking their way to the six seed. The Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Oakland Raiders, and Tennessee Titans are all within a game of the Wild Card spots, either on the positive side or negative side. What do all of their schedules look like over the stretch run of the 2019 season?
Buffalo Bills (7-3, current 5 seed)
Buffalo has a devastating slate of games coming up starting on Thanksgiving Day and CBS said they have the toughest schedule remaining over the last six weeks. Luckily they have a one-game lead on the group of teams chasing them.
vs.Denver Broncos (3-7)
at Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving (6-4)
vs. Baltimore Ravens (8-2)
at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-5)
at New England Patriots (9-1)
vs. New York Jets (3-7)
Kansas City Chiefs (7-4, current AFC West leader & 3 seed)
The Chiefs are currently a half-game ahead of the Raiders but also hold a head-to-head victory over Oakland. With a bye next week, the Raiders could tie them but not pass them, but the teams play each other the following week.
BYE
vs. Oakland Raiders (6-4)
at New England (9-1)
vs. Denver (3-7)
at Chicago Bears (4-6)
vs. Los Angeles Chargers (4-7)
Indianapolis Colts (6-4, current AFC South leader & 3 seed via multiple tiebreakers)
The Colts moved up from out of the playoff picture all the way to third in the conference following their win on Sunday. This Thursday night they face the Texans for supremacy in their division. The loser will be at least one game behind Buffalo by the end of the day Sunday.
at Houston (6-4)
vs. Tennessee Titans (5-5)
at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-7)
at New Orleans Saints (8-2)
vs. Carolina Panthers (5-5)
at Jacksonville Jaguars (4-6)
Houston Texans (6-4, current 6 seed via multiple tiebreakers)
What a huge game this Thursday is going to be in the AFC playoff race. The winner will have a clear advantage in the AFC South while the loser will be at least a game back of the pack in the Wild Card.
vs. Indianapolis (6-4)
vs. New England (9-1)
vs. Denver (3-7)
at Tennessee (5-5)
at Tampa Bay (3-7)
vs. Tennessee (5-5)
Oakland Raiders (6-4, current tied for 6 seed)
The Raiders could be in fourth place by the end of the night, as a Chiefs loss would move Oakland up to the head of the division. An easy schedule coming down the pike for them could mean a surprising playoff run.
at New York Jets (3-7)
at Kansas City (7-4)
vs. Tennessee (5-5)
vs. Jacksonville (4-6)
at Los Angeles Chargers (4-7)
at Denver (3-7)
Pittsburgh Steelers (5-5, one game from 6 seed)
A huge loss on Thursday night to the Cleveland Browns was overshadowed by how the game ended. Now Pittsburgh is going to be without their top offensive lineman for several games but they have a relatively easy schedule coming up.
at Cincinnati Bengals (0-10)
vs. Cleveland Browns (4-6)
at Arizona Cardinals (3-7-1)
vs. Buffalo (7-3)
at New York Jets (3-7)
at Baltimore Ravens (8-2)
Tennessee Titans (5-5, one game from 6 seed)
The Titans have been so hit-and-miss in 2019. They were trounced by the Denver Broncos but beat the Chiefs, lost to Jacksonville but smoked the Cleveland Browns. They have good wins in some head-to-head tiebreakers but a bad AFC record. They’ve got some work to do, but will have an opportunity to earn their way to the playoffs with four games remaining against teams in the hunt. They were on a bye this week and lost a half-game in the standings.
vs. Jacksonville (4-6)
at Indianapolis (6-4)
at Oakland (6-4)
vs. Houston (6-4)
vs. New Orleans (8-2)
at Houston (6-4)
Each team has six games remaining and there are seven teams—nearly half the conference—within one game of the sixth and final playoff spot. There will be big swings in the playoff seeding over the course of the last several weeks of the season.