In my last article, I wrote about the possibilities of the Baltimore Ravens winning the AFC North & having home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs, Jacksonville Jaguars winning the AFC South, Miami Dolphins winning the AFC East, & (defending Super Bowl Champion) Kansas City Chiefs winning the AFC West. I also talked about the possibilities of the Cleveland Browns & Buffalo Bills clinching AFC playoff berths. (NOTE: The Browns did clinch, thanks to defeating the New York Jets on Thursday night.)
In this article, I will talk about the AFC playoff picture for those teams who could be facing elimination in week 17. This week’s teams who are danger in being eliminated from playoff contention are the Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, & Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Raiders can be eliminated in any of the following manners:
-They lose on the road to the Indianapolis Colts.
-They tie and either the Jaguars, Bengals, or Steelers win.
-They tie, the Texans win, the Jaguars lose, and any of these 5 scenarios happen…
1. Any combination of the Ravens, Browns, Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, & Los Angeles Rams win or tie.
2. The Bengals tie and any combination of the Ravens, Browns, Chargers, Vikings, Buccaneers, & Rams win or tie.
3. The Bengals tie, the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, & Atlanta Falcons win, and the Ravens, Browns, or Rams win or tie.
4. The Steelers tie and any combination of the Ravens, Browns, Chargers, Vikings, Buccaneers, or Rams win or tie.
5. The Steelers & Bengals tie and the Ravens, Browns, Chargers, Vikings, Buccaneers, or Rams win or tie.
The Broncos can be eliminated, in any of the following manners:
-They lose at home to the Los Angeles Chargers.
-They tie and…the Jaguars win or tie; the Steelers win or tie; the Colts & Texans win or tie.
-The Chiefs win or tie and any of these 3 scenarios happen…
1. The Bills win or tie & the Steelers win.
2. The Bills win or tie, the Texans & Colts win, and the Jaguars lose or tie.
3. The Steelers, Colts, & Texans win and the Jaguars lose or tie.
The Bengals can be eliminated, if they lose on the road to the Chiefs, the Bills win or tie, & the Steelers win.
The Texans can be eliminated if they lose at home to the Tennesee Titans, the Colts & Jaguars win, and…
-the Bills win or tie.
-the Bengals win and the Steelers & Broncos lose or tie.
The Steelers can be eliminated, if they lose on the road to the Seattle Seahawks, the Bills win or tie, and…
-the Colts & Texans win and the Broncos lose or tie.
-the Texans & Colts win, the Jaguars lose, and the Chiefs win or tie.
-the Colts win or tie, the Jaguars win, and the Broncos lose or tie.
