AFC Playoff Picture: Bills fall to fourth in conference standings

All of Week 6 is now in the books, with the Buffalo Bills losing late to the Tennessee Titans on Monday night. The Bills fell from tied for the lead in the conference and second place based on a tiebreaker, all the way to fourth in the conference.

Outside of their own loss, the AFC East couldn’t have gone better for Buffalo this week, as everyone else who played lost. Buffalo still might have the division settled by Thanksgiving, even with the loss.

The big game in the conference was the battle of the 4-1 teams. The Baltimore Ravens easily handled the Los Angeles Chargers to secure first place in the AFC for the time being. The Bills are now a game behind Baltimore but still have a considerably easier schedule down the stretch. Baltimore faces Cincinnati for the top spot in the AFC North in Week 7 and they have two games against the Browns and Steelers plus a trip to Cincy and games against the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams remaining on their schedule. Buffalo’s only opponents with a winning record are the New Orleans Saints (3-2) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1).

Elsewhere, the Kansas City Chiefs got right by defeating the Washington Football Team, the Arizona Cardinals beat the Cleveland Browns, the Bengals kept their great season going by winning over the Detroit Lions, and the Las Vegas Raiders topped the Denver Broncos. The Pittsburgh Steelers squeezed out a win over the Seattle Seahawks in overtime.

Here are the complete AFC East and AFC Playoff Rankings. Note: Rankings are listed in playoff order, so division leaders are listed 1-4 followed by the Wild card teams.

AFC East

1. Buffalo Bills (4-2)
2. New England Patriots (2-4)
3. New York Jets (1-4)
4. Miami Dolphins (1-5)

AFC Playoffs

1. Baltimore Ravens (5-1)
2. Los Angeles Chargers (4-2, win over LVR, 3-1 AFC, SOV 12 wins)
3. Tennessee Titans (4-2, 3-1 AFC, SOV 9 wins, win over BUF)
4. Buffalo Bills (4-2, 3-2 AFC, loss to TEN)
5. Cincinnati Bengals (4-2, 2-0 AFC)
6. Las Vegas Raiders (4-2, 4-1 AFC, loss to LAC)
7. Denver Broncos (3-3, 0-1 AFCW, 2-3 AFC)
8. Cleveland Browns (3-3, 0-0 AFCN, 1-2 AFC)
9. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-3, 0-1 AFCN, 2-2 AFC)
10. Kansas City Chiefs (3-3, 0-1 AFCW, 1-3 AFC)
11. New England Patriots (2-4, 2-1 AFC)
12. Indianapolis Colts (2-4, 2-2 AFC)
13. New York Jets (1-4)
14. Miami Dolphins (1-5, 1-4 AFC)
15. Houston Texans (1-5, win over JAX, 1-4 AFC)
16. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5, loss to HOU)