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AFC wild card picture: clear as mud
Andrew O’Brien | aobrien7@gmail.com
There’s two weeks left in 2009 NFL regular season and the AFC playoff picture could go down to the wire.
There is currently six teams holding a 7-7 record, all looking in on the two teams sitting at 8-6 for the AFC wild card. If the season were to end today, the Denver Broncos and the Baltimore Ravens, the two 8-6 teams, would take the two wild card spots in the AFC. But, the season doesn’t end today, and that is perfectly fine with the six teams lurking behind.
Teams in the hunt: Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans.
Due to tiebreakers, this is the order of the teams in the hunt. A lot of the teams in the playoff picture play against each other over the final two weeks, so things could get extra confusing.
So, who has the best chance of making the playoffs? Well, that’s a tough question to answer.
The easiest thing to happen would be for the Ravens and Broncos to win out, since they both control their own destiny. But, throw a monkey-wrench in the mixture, and the playoff picture gets all jumbled.
Week 16 features one game between two of the seven teams in the hunt, and the other 7-7 teams are playing against playoff teams.
Miami and Houston will face off in South Florida, most likely with the loser severely damaging their playoff chances. As for the other teams, Tennessee has to take on the San Diego Chargers (11-3), who lead the AFC West. Jacksonville has to travel north to play the New England Patriots (9-5), who lead the AFC East but haven’t clinched the division yet. The New York Jets might have the toughest two games remaining, at undefeated Indianapolis (14-0) this week and then home to Cincinnati (9-5) in the final week. The Jets must hope both Indianapolis and Cincinnati will rest starters for the last two games, since Indianapolis has sealed the No. 1 seed in the AFC and Cincinnati holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Baltimore. Also, Cincinnati gets Kansas City (3-11) this week. The Pittsburgh Steelers still have an outside shot of grabbing a wild card berth, but they have to play Baltimore and Miami to close out their season. Both Tennessee and Houston are still in the race, but they must win their last two games to even have a chance, and then need plenty of additional help.
What does this all mean? Well, the team among the 7-7 teams in the best position to move into the wild card spot might be the Jacksonville Jaguars. They did control their own destiny until their loss to Indianapolis Thursday night, but Sunday’s games went in the Jaguars favor. Denver had a great opportunity to all-but-guarantee a playoff spot if they would have won against the Oakland Raiders (5-9) Sunday, but couldn’t get the job done.
Granted, the Jaguars do have to travel to New England Sunday, a game that is always tough since it will most likely be cold, and well, because it’s against the Patriots. But, if the Jaguars can pull an upset, they close the season out against the Cleveland Browns (3-11) and then the Jaguars might have a chance should one of the teams ahead of them stumble.
And the aforementioned scenario is a distinct possibility because the two teams currently controlling the wild card spots have at least one tough game remaining.
The Denver Broncos have to travel to Philadelphia Sunday to play the Eagles in a huge cross-conference matchup, but close the season against Kansas City.
The Baltimore Ravens also have a tough playoff-indicative game Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but then close the season at Oakland. Keep in mind, the Ravens’ last two games are on the road.
Then again, so are the Jaguars’ final two games, not to mention they are in two cold cities. But, the Jaguars still have a chance, although they will need help.
This weekend in the NFL can help shape the AFC playoff picture or it could get murkier, we will just have to wait and see.
