AFC Playoff Race

Jacksonville defense is terrible too.

 

I bet you said the same thing about the Bengals game.

 

I guess the Steelers aren't the only team in the playoff hunt to lose at home to a bad New England team, they beat Denver on the road too .

 

You that weak?

 

Yea it’s real simple now really with both Houston and Indianapolis losing yesterday and Miami winning. The Steelers need to win out and have the Bills lose in Miami which hopefully will be for the division that day and they would be in. Houston plays Indy the final week of the season so one of them is guaranteed to have 8 losses unless a tie happens by some chance and the Steelers win a 3 way tiebreaker with the Colts and Bills if they both finish at 10-7 and the Texans and Bills if they both finish at 10-7. The Broncos laying an egg to the Patriots eliminated the possibility of the 4 way tiebreaker happening that was discussed on here yesterday at times with them at 10-7 had Miami lost out and the Broncos finished at 10-7.

Of course other things can happen as well that would make the path easier like the Jags who are a damn mess right now and have gone from 8-3 to 8-7 lose one more game, and have the Browns lose both of their games against the Jets and at the Bengals and finish 10-7 as the Steelers would win the tiebreaker over the Browns. But at this point it’s real simple win out and hope the Dolphins beat the Bills in Miami that final week. That game will mean something for Miami regardless if they wrap up the division the week before as they will still be fighting for the 1 or 2 seed in the AFC. So they will play hard that game against the Bills and go all out and try to win. The bottom line though like you said JPP the first step starts with the Steelers winning out and I have no faith at this point that will happen but we’ll see how it all plays out. It will be an interesting and entertaining New Years Eve Day to keep an eye on other games early on next Sunday before the Steelers and Seahawks kickoff after 4.

 

Yeah, it's pretty straightforward now.

Steelers win out (the most unlikely thing IMO) and one of these four things

1. Bills lose a game (vs NE or @ Miami)
2. Jags lose a game (vs Carolina or @ Tennessee)
3. Browns lose two games (vs. NYJ and @ Cincinnati)
4. Indy-Hou ends in a tie OR which ever team wins week 18 game loses week 17 game (Indy vs LVR, Hou vs Tennessee)

There are some undoubtedly some ways to get in with a 1-1 record, but I have no plans to run through them. It's fun to play with the possibilities, but not interested in doing that now.

 

The Bills lost to them too earlier this year, so I guess at least the Pats helped the Steelers too.

All in all though, Steelers had them on a short week at home.

 

No...just realistic.

 

The upside to not proclaiming anything about rookies coming into the league is that I'm never wrong. I'm also never right.
Such is the yin and yang of my fragile ego.

 

When you need the Jets to win a game to get you in, you know you're in big trouble

 

Can the Pats play spoiler again this week vs Bills....They beat Buffalo in the middle of the season but this time the game will be in Buffalo.They play spoiler vs steelers and Broncos,both game on the road

What about the panthers vs Jaguars?

 

Good thing they don't have to rely on the jets then

 

It was a long shot, but at least the Broncs responded from a very bad place and showed to dignity after that wipe out Miami gave them in Sept. They won some games against good teams, and were in a spot potentially move forward. Shows why every game matters, they close out with 2 games they can win, but lose the one at home you should have won and the season basically closes.

 

Figured you'd chime in!!


I will concede Mr. Elvis! You win this one.

 

Agreed. That call still pisses me off, but they never should have been in that situation.

 

At least the Browns are good. Even before adding Flacco, the defense was very good.

 

I think the Jags losing one of their final two games would also do it. Then one of the Jags, Colts, and Texans would win the AFC South, but the other two would end up behind the Steelers. Pittsburgh would then be the seven seed behind Cleveland and Buffalo. Of course, this all assumes the Steelers win their final two games with their their best inside linebacker being a guy who was on the couch watching a month ago.

 

Whoa nelly, Elvis HAS NOT left the building just yet. I was one who thought with Burrow and Lawrence coming to AFC it was over for Steelers for a long time. I had Burrow, Mahomes and Lawrence, at least one of them, in the AFCCG for the next 7-8 years. I still think given the right cast Lawrence will get the Jags to the big show. TBH I'm happy I was wrong about him being a superstar.

 

Burrow also has trouble staying healthy and the Bengals' defense stinks. Mahomes has nobody to throw to other than Kelce and a shaky offensive line. The Ravens and Dolphins, however, look solid everywhere.

 

The Steelers travelling to the west coast to play against a team fighting for the playoffs is never good. I just don't see them winning out. Hope I am wrong.

 

Why does O'Connell look so much like O'Donnell. freaking me out

 

Agreed that the hardest part of any scenario would be the Steelers winning them both. However, the other 8-7 teams that they are contending with right now all looked like garbage last week. I believe Carolina has a realistic chance to beat Jax next weekend.

 

I think if the Steelers do win out they will get the help they need with either the Jags losing one more game, the Colts and Texans losing one game each, or the Bills losing in Miami the final week of the season. One more thing as well now with the Chiefs losing to the Raiders yesterday and the Ravens winning in San Fran last night if the Ravens beat Miami in Baltimore this Sunday they would wrap up the one seed and have nothing to play for in that game against the Steelers. Now they could still go all out and play their Starters in that game but that would be stupid if you are the Ravens. You are gonna get to face Tyler Huntley instead of Lamar and several other backups as well in that game. So take care of business in Seattle of course on Sunday which is easier said then done then you could be looking at a scenario next week where you play a Ravens team with zero to play for if they win against Miami on Sunday.

 

In 2019,the ravens had rested their starters(Including Lamar)in the final game of their season after being the number one seed but they lost in their first playoffs game

Maybe Harbaugh will have a different approach this year, since it's hard to play well after 3 weeks off...We'll see