Playoff scenarios

If the Pats were to win the division, they'd play the 6th seed, not the 5th seed. Neither Denver nor San Diego can clinch the 3rd seed.

If the Patriots win the division it is certain that they will play the #6 seed wild card team. There is no chance for the AFC west winner to have a better record than the AFC East winner.

I believe If the Pats win the east they will be the #3 seed and play the # 6 seed, not the #5 seed. The AFC east winner will have a better record than the AFC West winner.

Wouldn't they play the #6 seed if they win the division? 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5.
1. Tennessee
2.Pittsburgh
3. AFC East Champ
4. AFC West Champ
5. Indy
6. Baltimore

If the Patriots win the division, they will host a first-round playoff game at Gillette Stadium, likely against the No. 5 wild card.

This should be #6, right, since they will be the #3 seed (better than the Denver/San Diego winner)?

If the Patriots win the division they will be the 3 seed and host the 6 seed, not the 5 which is Indianapolis.

Minor correction...

Should the Pats win the AFCE they will host the #6 seed. (Definitely would be Baltimore because Miami would have to lose for this to occur and the Ravens have the tie breakers over the Jets/Dolphins).

Should Baltimore lose..and we sneak in as a #6 seed we will likely play in Miami who would be the #3 seed.

Looks like we will be on the gold course next week at 11-5 anyway....

If the Pats win the division, they will 100% host the #6 wild card team. San Diego/Denver winner will be the 4 seed and take on #5 seed Indianapolis.

If the Pats win the division, they would host the last team in, as neither Denver nor San Diego will end up with a better record. That was true even before Denver lost to Buffalo.

The Globe's playoff scenarios have been incomplete or incorrect all week.

If they win the division,the Patriots would be the third seed and play the 6th seed probably the Ravens.

why do the ravens own a tie breaker over the patriots?

If the Pats win the division would they go as the 3 seed since San Diego or Denver would be the 4th as the West champion? That means they'd host 6th seeded Baltimore as things stand now, right?

Go Jets

Having to cheer for the JEST'S .... Shudddddder

The Jets usually own the Dolphins in at home.

Very interesting week # 17 ... a lot of teams do not want to play the Pats with the way Cassel has developed and with the way the Pats are running the ball now

Let's hope next week's Pats win is alot closer than today's game. We need the Jets to stay motivated into the 4th Qtr against Miami.
.

If the Pats and Dolphins win but Baltimore loses then it would be Pats at Miami for the wildcard.

If Pats and Jets win then Pats would win division and be #3 seed and host the #6 seed (prob Baltimore).

Mangini losses on purpose to screw the Pats

will the Jets lay down next week to keep the Pats from winning the division?

Whatever happens, this is Belichick's best job to date. GO PATS!!!

Coming down to the last game of the Regular Season. Next Sunday is definitely going to be some great football to watch!

Go Jets

OMG, I can't believe I said that!

The drama I find interesting is Pennington now going back to New York with a chance to advance to the play-offs with the 1-15 Dolphins while the Jets who dumped him for Favre may now find their only consolation is to keep him out.

what happens if fins,pats,and ravens,win is new england out?

can someone please tell me what happens if new england and miami lose and there is a 3 way tie at the end of the season?

I think NY will still be motivated even if the PATS are blowing out Buffalo due to the following:

NE Win
NY Win
Baltimore loss to Jacksonville = NE winners of AFC East and NYJ winners of the wildcard

I can sort of seeing Mangini throwing the game from spite. Sort of. I don't think he really would.

I can NOT see Brett Favre throwing the game. OTOH, the 'fins are playing to win the division.

So here's a question: if the Jets beat Miami and go 10-5, and the Ravens lose and also go 10-5, what's the tiebreaker there?

I'm glad the Jets/Dolphins game is at 1PM next week, b/c if it was at 4PM and the Pats had already won, the Jets' season would be over before kickoff. Now, they'll go into their game against the Dolphins with a must win attitude.

Imagine how comfortable thy would be had the won any of these three games:

1. Beat INDY: NE 11-4 and guaranteed a playoff spot #3/or #6
2. Beat NYJ: NE 11-4 AFC East Champs with win or Miami loss NOT THE COMBO
3. Beat PITT: NE 11-4 would be #2 seed with a win at Buffalo next week

This is why every game matters!! Now we have to wait and see.

Chad may have a little extra motivation next week.

Anyone seen a line for Jets-Dolphins? I would guess Jets by 2.

J-E-T-S!!!!Jets, Jets, Jets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What about the NFL moving the Pats game to 4.05 thereby ensuring all out effort by the jets ? All week 17 games are subject to time change and it would ensure that everything was on the up and up.

All games are at 1:00, so it would be very interesting if Mangini was checking the scoreboard to see where everyone stood late in the game. Because if Baltimore is cruising, he'll know early that his team will be out even with a win. Unfortunately if that situation occurs, Pats fans will be ridiculed every time we bring it up because there will be no proof. No win situation for us. The Jets just need to kick some ass let the Pats do what they need to do to continue the story book season.

Its still a wonderful year though the loss to the Colts was painful. Cassel's last game as a Patriot. On to SF as a free agent. Along with Scott P.

I would not be surprise, if JETS loose purposely to Miami. I love to see Pats in playoff, but I do not want to see JETS in playoff.. I rather have miami in it. Also don't forget, Bills is not a easy task.. after all we are in same division. Bill almost beat JETS last week, and beat denver in denver.. and we all know how hard to beat denver in mile high stadium... anyway.. Go PATS

I hope NYJ will win! NYJ will have home advantage and a better quarterback....but who knows what will happen....

Mike,

Its been mentioned but in all seriousness. Mangini hates BB and the Patriots and he does not appear to have alot of character from what I have seen.

If Pats are blowing out the Bills does Mangini throw the game to keep Pats out of playoffs? He wouldn't do anything obvious but could do some subtle things to guarantee this result. What is your honest (not politically correct) opinion?

#25 (Jordan): are you sure that Jets have tie breaker over Miami and Baltimore with Baltimore loss to Jags? -- I don't think so.

GO JETS!!!!

No way folks that Mangina throws the game. If Miami wins and makes the playoffs, and the Jets do not after all the money they spent in the off season. Mangina and Romeo will be waiting in the unemployment line for Charlie!!!! Beginning to see a pattern here with Coaches that leave, same fate as players that leave!!

You people think Mangini, whose job relies on winning, is going to throw the game to spite Belichick? Seriously... ?

The Patriots need to win first before there's even a shot.

All right - about 102 people have mentioned the #6 seed.

Read the other comments before commenting, people!

There are a couple of other scenarios too. If Washington wins, the Patriots are in as long as they get help from Seattle AND Oakland. If that doesn't happen, then they need Indy, Jacksonville, and Denver to LOSE. Odds are though, the Jets will run the table and take it to the house.

Actually, I think the Pats will play the #7 seed, no matter what scenario plays out---unless, of course, they lose to the Bisons.

Harry,

If the Patriots lose, they miss the playoffs. If there is a three-way tie in the east, the Jets take the division. If Miami beats the Jets, they win the division.

The Pats are better off with Baltimore losing so that they could take the wild card slot and play Miami or New York. If they were to win the division and play Baltimore, its gonna be another long day at the office for Cassel and the rest of the offense against that defense...and Baltimore's offense is no joke anymore with Flacco under center.

We're lucky NBC switched to the San Diego - Denver game as it's Sunday night game next week. Had the Jets-Dolphins remained as the Sunday night game, an afternoon win by the Pats would have eliminated NY and given them nothing to play for. I'm not saying any NFL team would loose on purpose, but the motivation wouldn't have been there. Seems strange to say but:

J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets

A team that doesn't control it's own fate is a team that's already failed. It was a valiant season, but it's not happening this year.

Art at #41, can't blame those who made comments about the #6 seed; I bet most of the comments were submitted before any single of them appeared.

Mangini is not throwing this game. His job is on the line, and they have two chances to get in if they win: Baltimore losing and NE losing. If he threw this game, he'd be fire instantly and would never get another job in high level sports (pro or college).

Whatever happens, happens. For my part, I'd like to congratulate the coaching staff and the players for giving us a season that few could imagine after early injuries to key people.

That's what the Patriots are really about.

Should they finish 11-5 and not make the playoffs, they still amazed me this year.

what happens if pats and miami have the same record?

Won't repeat the seed correction but I will say this.... Patriots have shown huge heart this season. I wondered how it would be possible for the Patriots to come back after the record season ended by the devastating Super Bowl wipeout. Who could have imagined the loss of Tom Brady?? and then of so many others... I salute the Patriots for the way that they have shown up this year. It is so hard to plunge from Olympian heights to injured scrappiness and stick to it willingess but the Patriots have done just that. I was SO excited for the Patriots last year but I have never been more impressed by them than I have this year. Wes Wilken, I believe you when you say that you never would have done it if you thought it would create a problem. Still, I LOVED THE SNOW ANGEL. To me it showed an non-premeditated love of life, of the game and frankly of childlike enthusiasm. So, so different in my mind from any of those touchdown antics which are nothing but an advertisement of self.

I would like to know what the best record is for a team not to make the playoffs. I know there have been a few times where 10-6 was not good enough. Has any team ever gone 11-5 and not made it. It's too bad the best teams are not getting into the playoffs this year thanks to the AFC and NFC West. I hope I'm wrong, just have a gut feeling the Pats are still going to be on the outside looking in at the end of the day next Sunday.

This is hearsay, but 'm pretty sure I heard last week that no team had ever gone 11-5 and missed the playoffs. It ain't gonna happen this year, either... ;^)

1985 Broncos finished 11-5 and missed the playoffs, the only time that's ever happened.

Steve: The Broncos once won 11 and missed playoff, but only 5 teams made playoffs at that time

For those of you talking about the Jets tanking it and wondering what happens if Pats win, do the Jets still have something to play for if Ravens lose -- I don't know the answer, but it seems it would go deep into the tiebreaker .. it would be between the Jets and Ravens, as Miami would be eliminated based on being swept by the Jets (the first step is only include one team from each division) .. The Jets and Ravens would have the same record in conference and the same record against common opponents

the next steps are:
4. Strength of victory.
5. Strength of schedule.
6. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.

So who knows .. someone earlier seemed fairly sure that the Ravens own the tiebreakers, but who knows what they were basing it on .. going through the official steps carefully it doesn't seem clear .. hopefully the Jets will have something to play for

The NFL is moving the Jets games to 4:15 -- so Mangini will watch the Pats win, know he has no chance, and will stick it to the Patriots.

The season is over folks.

Reponse to 57: If the Pats and Jets win and Ravens lose, the Pats would be division champs (obviously) and the Jets would be the Wild Card because they own the tie breaker with Miami (head to head) and then with Baltimore (conference record - 8-4 to 7-5).

There is NO way the Jets throw the game when a loss by either the Pats or Ravens and they're in.

The only problem here is that Favre will revert to the Favre we haven't seen much of this year and throw 3 picks and lose to the Dolphins. He did this before back in 2002 when the Pats needed the Packers to beat the Jets in week 17. Favre showed in that game why is is the most overrated quarterback in NFL history.

Boy, the fair weather Patsies fans on this board are really showing how much they truly know about football, and it is just about as much as the Patsies have of making the playoffs, ZILCH! Don't even know the tie breaking procedures, and the comments to this affect start with "Pats _#1 Fan". If he was truly the #1fan, then they should know the tie breaking procedures, and XOXO Sharon has either been obviously doing some sort of drug or has had her assed exposed to the cold too long, because her brain is frozen.

Hey CTSteelerFan,

You just got smoked by Tennessee.

Shut UP!!!!!

Oh yeah, didn't we also smoke you twice in AFC Championship games in the last 6 years. That's what I thought.

Actually, I think the Pats will play the #7 seed, no matter what scenario plays out---unless, of course, they lose to the Bisons.

If the Pats switch divisions with Tampa Bay, win out, and Carolina loses, Pats win the NFC South (and a first round bye) over Carolina or Atlanta based on the snowball tiebreaker.

Hey, RandyMossBlows, don't we have FIVE Lombardi Trophys compared to 3? Also, haven't we also lost just one Super Bowl compared to your 3? Watch out Wes Welker, don't come across the middle, because Ryan Clark is going to ring your bell. Wow, we got beat by the #1 seed. Don't we have the TOUGHEST schedule this season, and have the #2 seed locked up, meanwhile the Patsies, who have the EASIEST schedule this season, are currently on the outside looking in for a playoff position? Haven't 6 of our wins this season come across teams that have a .500 record or better as opposed to 4 for the Patsies?

what happens it's been a great season! all the best to cassel! WB Brady!

Can someone PLEASE provide a link or explain what common games that Miami and NE has played? That is now the #3 tiebreaker before conference record and I cannot find ANYWHERE what the records of the two are.

Thanks!

As we saw yesterday, Mangini is incompetent, so it doesn’t matter what he tries to do….his odds of success aren’t much better than a coin toss. Plus, if the Jets win and Pats lose, they are in, so we can at least be sure they will try at the start. I like the idea of moving the Pats game to 4!

Will Mangeni lose to the Dolphins on purpose, just to spoil the party for NE?

Ryan,
Common opponents mean teams that both the Patriots and the Dolphins played this season. I believe there are 12 games of common opponents between the two. If the Patiots beat Buffalo, they finish 10-2 against common opponents. If the Jets beat Miami, then Miami is 9-3 against common oppponents (10-2 should they beat the Jets).

If Miami and NE finish 11-5, Miami wins the Division. Tiebreaker 1, head-to-head, will be 1-1.Tiebreaker 2 is division record and both would finish 4-2 in the division. Tiebreaker 3 iscommon opponents and again they would tie at 10-2. Tiebreaker 4 is conference record and the Dolphins own that tiebreaker at 8-4 while the Pats are 7-5.

Ryan, another idiotic fair weather Patsies fan. Look at the 2 teams schedule and compare the common games. I bet there are at least 12 of them! How do I know this, it is simple, you play each team in your division twice, so, there are 4 common games, seeing that each division has 4 teams, and you don't count the games in this instance against one another, and then your entire division plays 2 entirely different divisions, in this case, the AFC East teams played the NFC West and the AFC West, all this, and I didn't even look at a schedule. FYI, the remaining 2 games are that you play 2 other team in divisions you didn't play this season that finished with the same place in their division that you finished in. THat is, the Patsies played 2 teams that finished #1 in their division, the Steelers and the Colts. KJ, another idiot, as it is too late for the NFL to move the game to 4 pm, seeing that the change has to be announced at least 12 days before the game! And John, I do hope Mangini takes a dive, much like Favre did this past Sunday against his old coach, and the Fins win!

CT Steelers,

Just be rational with your argument for a second. We have been basically playing with backups at all key positions ALL YEAR LONG.

You take out Big Ben (Brady), Polamalu (Rodney Harrison), James Harrison (Adalius Thomas), and Willie Parker (Maroney, Jordan, Morris).....FYI we've been playing a running back that wasn't even drafted who did pretty well (Jarvis Green Ellis) and you'd be pissiing your pants probably not even sniffing Baltimore at this point in the season. We've been able to go 10-5 (possibly 11-5) with all these injuries and yes we may miss the playoffs but I can't say enough on how this team has done with limited resources.
I respect your team and believe you will probably make a run to the AFC Championship Game and possibly SuperBowl, but let's put things in perspective. The PATS would be the #1 seed without half of these injuries.

Ellis)

JETS motivation is simple: WIN and have a chance, or lose and go fishing. The FINS were bothered by the cold temps in KC, last time I checked there was not a heatwave in the forecast, so advantage JETS. If Mangini cares about his job, he will prepare the JETS to win. If Favre sees this as his last game, he will play loose and let it all hang out.

All the Patriots need to do is take care of business against the Bills.

Hey CTSteelersFan

BITE ME a$$hole. I WORK for a living and don't have time to be a retard like yourself and argue on the internet. I've followed the Pats since the 1-15 days. Get a life.

For the rest the 4:15 games have meaning at least:

"Two other games also were switched to 4:15 p.m.: Dallas (9-6) at Philadelphia (8-6-1) and Jacksonville (5-10) at Baltimore (10-5)"

The Jets DO have motivation even if we win, because they DO own the tiebreaker over the Ravens, but if it's true they Miami game has been moved to 4:15 we could be screwed .. unless the Ravens lose, then the Jets would be extra motivated .. the best thing for the NFL to do would be to move the Pats and Ravens games to 4:15 and have the Jets-Miami at 1 so every game would be meaningful, but I guess that would make too much sense

Thank you Jon A,

Appreciate your posted reply to my question and your courtesy.

I just saw for sure the Jets game has been moved .. the only silver lining is that the Baltimore game has been moved as well .. but I think this is absolute horse crap and Goodell sticking it to the Pats once again .. bad enough he raids the hotel rooms of key personnel in the wee hours of the morning the night before the Super Bowl over a bogus lead, now he makes a ridiculous move instead of the obvious one (move the Pats game later) .. you have a team at risk of missing the playoffs with 11 wins, the least you could do is manipulate the schedule to assure that every game matters

One more thing CT Steelers,

If you have to rely on Super Bowls from an era when afros on white guys were cool and bell bottoms were "groovy", then you're fighting an uphill battle my friend.
I was either not born yet or too young to spell or say football so I could care less who won what Superbowl in the 70's.

One sidenote, it's time to retire the "terrible towel". It's tough to get intimidated by yellow laundry these days. You can do better, seriously.

If NE wins and Balt/Mia lose the Jets would be the 6 seed and face NE in round 1

If NE/Mia/Bal lose Jets will face Bal in round 1

Hey, JordanPATSIESFan, FYI, WILLIE PARKER WAS UNDRAFTED! JAMES HARRISON, UNDRAFTED! Vrabel, BACK UP ON THE STEELERS! Wasn't even good enough to be a starter on the Steelers! Also, in 2005, when we LOST OUR STARTING QUARTERBACK, OUR BACK UP WAS A ROOKIE, whose name is Roethlisberger, and what did he do, he simply WON 16 GAMES THAT SEASON! So, would you like to use my Terrible Towel to dry your eyes with? THE ONLY REASON THE PATSIES GOT AS FAR THIS YEAR AS THEY DID WAS BECAUSE THEY HAD THE NFL's EASIEST SCHEDULE! LIKE I HAVE SAID IN MANY POSTS BEFORE, GREAT TEAMS HAVE PLAYERS STEP UP WHEN ANOTHER PLAYER IS INJURED! Apparently, the Patsies ARE NOT A GREAT TEAM! So, who is the one that needs to use logic?

There are 14 games against Common Opponents ..... not 12. Assuming both NE and the Dolphs win on Sunday and each finish at 11-5, both teams will be 9-5 in games against Common Opponents (in non-Common games, Miami lost to both the Ravens and the Texans; the Patriots lost to both the Colts & the Steelers). The Patriots, however, went 4-0 against the NFC West while the Dolphs went 3-1. Therefore, the Dolphs would end up with the better Conf Record ..... 8-4 vs 7-5 for the Patriots.

Brett,
The other 2 games you're thinking of are Miami and NE playing each other, which do not count because Miami is not a common opponent of Miami and NE is not a common opponent of NE. Even if they did count, they split their series. The common games between Miami and NE are Buffalo and Jets (x2 each), SF, SD, Oakland, Seattle, KC, Denver, Arizona and StL. That's 12, and should the Pats win against Buffalo, they will finish 10-2 against those teams. Should Miami lose to the Jets, they would finish 9-3 in those games.

Hi,

So what happens to the Jets if they lose and the Patriots win?

Jets will lose and Mangini will be accused of throwing the game to spite Pats, but if I'm Goodall I know better than to discipline Mangini, simply because the Jets plain suck. How do you win in Tenn and lose 3 straight, make that 4. Sorry Pats, no shot for redemption from 07.

ALL CAPS MAKES ME SEEM EVEN SMARTER

Oh my god.....enough about the stupid playoff questions already. People, read the posts....it explains everything........lol

i would rather have the pats travel to miami as the wildcard because then they would have to play the dolphins who they can easily beat but i would be just as happy as making baltimore come play us up in foxborough with all the snow.

Mangini won't throw the game. If Jets and Baltimore wins, Jets are in as wildcard.

The Patriots have done a great job this season whether they finish 11-5 or 10-6. They've done a great job whether they get into the playoffs or not.

Lets all be honest, did you actually believe that after Brady's injury, Matt Cassel would lead this team to double digit victories? Nobody did. After that first game, people were saying the Pats would finish anywhere from 6-10 to 9-7. They have surprised everybody, whether or not they make the playoffs you have to be impressed with what Belicheck and his squad have done this season

JETS ARE THE BEST TEAM IN FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Were gonna make the playoffs

if the dolphins lose, do they have any chance of getting into the playoffs?

Post is WRONG. Pats can make the playoffs with winning and those things happening OR with a tie and Baltimore or Miami losing. If they tie that cancels out the option of a Miami or Baltimore to tie to make the playoffs. Sure say this doesn't matter but there was one tie this year and you never know what will happen.
Miami also doesn't have to win to make it, they can also make the playoffs with a tie and a Baltimore loss, or a tie and New England loss or Tie.
The Jets need to win and have New England lose for the championship, or have
the Ravens lose for the wildcard. Now this is could be important! Don't tell me if New England lost and the Jets-Dolphins game is in overtime that that may not affect the Dolphins play calling! Or if baltimore had just lost right before entering overtime! all of these things can affect how the game might play out.

D

Someone needs to give Big Ben his meds already. For a team that lost their QB early on and replaced him with someone who has never even really played (in college or pro) they did pretty good considering Cassel and Moss couldn't even connect for the longest time. Take Peyton out of Indy and watch them drop to 4-12 take Tom Brady (along with many other key defensive and offensive players) out of NE and we still have playoff hopes with double digit wins.

Kiss my Ass CTRoethisblower.

ALL three of these games SHOULD have been played at the same time. The league could have picked 1:00 or 4:00... but they should have all been played at the exact same time.

NOW "IF" the patriots win the game, and the Jets lose to Miami on Giants field there will always be the thought (Did the jets tank it?)

IF the games we on at the extact same time then the PATS/JETS/RAVENS would all be in similar situations where they knew they had to win to get anywhere. Now the Ravens and the Jets wil know the outcome of the PATS game when they walk on the field. ALL three games were to be 1:00 games but during the middle of the week two were changed by our good ole' buddy Goodell! OH well I just hope that the Patriots play a good game and not hand the playoffs to the other teams. Thewn I hope Brett (I am better then the league) Favre retires once and for all... so I can tell my Jets'fan friends that their being in contention was surely short lived. LOL

WWSF - Why would the Jets "tank it" and screw their chances of making the 2nd wildcard playoff slot?

If Baltimore loses, a Jets win guarantees them such a spot.

go cowboy