Categories: Kansas City ChiefsPaul Pulley

An Early Projection of the AFC Playoff Field

Early Projection of the AFC Playoff Field

by Paul Pulley

Now, before you all break out your Jim Mora impersonations saying “Playoffs? Playoffs? Are you kidding me?”, this is all just for fun. I’m just trying to come up with something a little different than how great Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense is (which they are, by the way) or something other than how bad the Chiefs defense is (which they are, by the way), so take what you read with a few shakes of salt on your mashed potatoes and have a great day.

The AFC East

This might come as a shock to some of you, but the New England Patriots, at 7-2, are currently leading the East. They have a two game lead over the 5-4 Miami Dolphins. The Pats blew Miami out in their house but the Dolphins usually play the Patriots tough in Miami. Other than that game the toughest tests for New England will be a home game vs Minnesota and then they have to travel to Pittsburgh in mid December.

Barring something disastrous, the Patriots will probably finish 12-4 at the worst and likely end up 13-3.

The Miami Dolphins have a shot at making the playoffs but other than the game in Miami against the Patriots, they have three hard road games remaining. At Green Bay, at Indianapolis and at Minnesota. The Dolphins would have to win two of those four games to have a realistic chance of playing in the post season.

For all intents and purposes, the New York Jets, at 3-6, and Buffalo Bills, at 2-7, post season hopes have already been dashed.

The AFC North

The North is still wide open after week 9. The Pittsburgh Steelers have a half game lead over the Cincinnati Bengals, with both of those teams already having their byes. The Baltimore Ravens have played nine games and are one and a half games back of the Bengals.

The Steelers have a tough schedule ahead. They hosted the Carolina Panthers on Thursday (crushed them), then travel to Jacksonville after their mini-bye. They still have games versus the Chargers, Patriots and New Orleans Saints before the final game of the regular season, hosting the Bengals.

The Cincinnati Bengals shouldn’t be disappointed in their current standings. They have an easier line-up than does Pittsburgh. The Bengals are currently on their bye, then host the Saints Sunday, plus have road games against the Baltimore Ravens and Chargers. The final game versus the Steelers could decide the winner of the North.

The Ravens, currently at 4-5, will have to play very very good ball to make the post-season.

Baltimore has lost four of their last five games but will get to recoup as they will have their bye Sunday. After the bye they will have four home games and three away, but the three away games are at the Atlanta Falcons, at Kansas City and at the Los Angeles Chargers. Things aren’t looking very promising for the Ravens.

The fourth team in the North, the Cleveland Browns, at 2-6-1, will be watching the playoffs from home.

The AFC South

The Houston Texans, after a very rough 0-3 start to their season, have reeled off 6 straight victories and have a one and a half game lead over the Titans. The Tennessee Titans are in second place in the South after their huge Monday night win in Dallas, while the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars are currently tied for third place with a record of 3-5 each.

The Texans have a really mild schedule to finish the year. Their hardest test will be road games at the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles. They have to play each of their three division rivals again, but all three of those games will be in Houston.

The Titans will go back home to host the Patriots nest week and their schedule becomes easier after that, but unless Tennessee can show some consistent good play, their roller coaster season will probably continue.

The Colts have the easiest remaining schedule in the South, but at 3-5, will have to play almost mistake free ball to make the playoffs. They will need their defense to step up to give Luck and the offense some help.

The Jaguars haven’t won a game since losing to the Chiefs in Arrowhead and with three division road games, plus games versus the Steelers and Redskins, their chances of post-season play appear to be bleak.

The AFC West

The West will almost assuredly have two teams playing in January. The 8-1 Kansas City Chiefs and the 6-2 Los Angeles Chargers are two of the best teams in the AFC.

The Chiefs have the huge Monday night game in Mexico City against the Los Angeles Rams coming up in two weeks. After that game they will enjoy a much deserved bye week and in the Chiefs last five games, the most important will the the Thursday night matchup versus the Chargers on December 13th. A victory for the Chiefs on that Thursday night will most likely put a lock on the division for a third straight AFC West division championship.

The Chargers have already had their bye, but have some tough games left, including three consecutive games in early December. First an away game to play the Steelers in Pittsburgh, followed by a home game against the Bengals and then the Thursday night game in Arrowhead. I think the Chargers could drop two of those three games. The Chargers season finale will be visiting the Broncos at Mile High.

At 3-6, the Denver Broncos will have to win out to have a chance of post season play. With two games yet to play versus the Chargers, plus a game against Pittsburgh at home and they will have to visit the Bengals in Cincinnati, the Broncos players will undoubtably be watching the playoffs at home while their GM will be searching for his next head coach.

I was going to write that the Oakland Raiders are done and you could stick a fork in them but I think Jon Gruden already did that. Currently with a record of 1-7, the only thing the Raiders have to look forward to is the 2019 draft and all of their early round picks.

Current Front Runners For the Playoffs

It looks like the 1st and 2nd seeds and earning a bye will belong to Kansas City and New England. Unfortunately for the good guys, the Patriots hold the tie breaker so it becomes imperative for the Chiefs to hang on to their one game lead over New England if they want to have the playoffs come though Kansas City.

Houston is in the driver’s seat in the South and will be the only postseason participant from that division.

The AFC North is going to come down to the wire between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, with both teams making the playoffs. The winner of the division will be hosting a playoff game and the loser will become the 6 seed. Although it’s possible the 6th seed will travel to Houston for a game, it’s also likely that the Steelers and Bengals play back to back games. The first one for the season finale, which could determine the division winner and the second in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Chargers could end up with the third best record in the AFC but will still be the 5th seed entering the post season, so they will have to play all of their playoff games on the road. Since they don’t really have a home stadium anyway, this shouldn’t be that big of a deal and I can’t imagine the NFL would be that thrilled to be hosting a playoff game in the 27,000 seat StubHub Center.

This is how things currently look in the AFC and even though I’m sure there will be changes, we know that there will be some fun times ahead.

Paul Pulley – ArrowheadOne

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