Photo by AlbertHerring
By John Hirschauer
As the NFL season dwindles down to the playoffs, the
surprisingly intriguing race for the AFC’s sixth seed is a mess of mediocre teams who hardly deserve to be deemed playoff contenders but nonetheless find themselves grappling for a playoff berth with just three weeks left in the
season.
As it stands now, Baltimore (7-6) holds the tiebreaker over Miami (7-6) due to a head to head 23-20 road victory back in Week 5. San Diego (7-7) pulled off a stunner in Denver on Thursday that gave Chargers fans a glimpse of the potential of the Jekyll and Hyde-like Bolts with Rivers playing the way he has this season and Keenan Allen developing into the mold of other young receivers like AJ Green with his great possession ability. Unfortunately for San Diego, their 4-6 conference record and head to head loss against Miami will likely keep Rivers and Co. from crashing this year’s playoff picture. The
New York Jets (6-7), while defensively stout and able to make teams one dimensional, don’t have enough fire power offensively to win their three remaining games against difficult and scrappy opponents (at Carolina, Cleveland, at Miami) to give themselves an opportunity to meaningfully scoreboard watch. Tennessee (5-8) remains inconspicuously in the mix, but its difficult to see the dominoes falling for the Titans, who have played with a surprisingly high level of moxie for the majority of this season.
In all likelihood, this is really a three horse race, with Baltimore, Miami and San Diego being the only three of the five teams who possess the records and talent required to push for the sixth seed. However, due to those aforementioned tie breaker failings of San Diego, it will be increasingly difficult for the Chargers to overcome a 4-6 conference record, even if they do end up winning out (Oakland, Kansas City) as Miami’s 6-3 conference record and head to head victory (coupled with the Ravens’ 6-4 conference record) stack the odds against San Diego. Baltimore’s unrelentingly difficult closing schedule (at Detroit, New England, at Cincinnati) could allow the Dolphins to grasp the sixth seed.
The real lesson here, however, is that it’s difficult to sell any of these middling franchises as contenders.
By John Hirschauer
As the NFL season dwindles down to the playoffs, the
surprisingly intriguing race for the AFC’s sixth seed is a mess of mediocre teams who hardly deserve to be deemed playoff contenders but nonetheless find themselves grappling for a playoff berth with just three weeks left in the
season.
As it stands now, Baltimore (7-6) holds the tiebreaker over Miami (7-6) due to a head to head 23-20 road victory back in Week 5. San Diego (7-7) pulled off a stunner in Denver on Thursday that gave Chargers fans a glimpse of the potential of the Jekyll and Hyde-like Bolts with Rivers playing the way he has this season and Keenan Allen developing into the mold of other young receivers like AJ Green with his great possession ability. Unfortunately for San Diego, their 4-6 conference record and head to head loss against Miami will likely keep Rivers and Co. from crashing this year’s playoff picture. The
New York Jets (6-7), while defensively stout and able to make teams one dimensional, don’t have enough fire power offensively to win their three remaining games against difficult and scrappy opponents (at Carolina, Cleveland, at Miami) to give themselves an opportunity to meaningfully scoreboard watch. Tennessee (5-8) remains inconspicuously in the mix, but its difficult to see the dominoes falling for the Titans, who have played with a surprisingly high level of moxie for the majority of this season.
In all likelihood, this is really a three horse race, with Baltimore, Miami and San Diego being the only three of the five teams who possess the records and talent required to push for the sixth seed. However, due to those aforementioned tie breaker failings of San Diego, it will be increasingly difficult for the Chargers to overcome a 4-6 conference record, even if they do end up winning out (Oakland, Kansas City) as Miami’s 6-3 conference record and head to head victory (coupled with the Ravens’ 6-4 conference record) stack the odds against San Diego. Baltimore’s unrelentingly difficult closing schedule (at Detroit, New England, at Cincinnati) could allow the Dolphins to grasp the sixth seed.
The real lesson here, however, is that it’s difficult to sell any of these middling franchises as contenders.