Draw A Line [AFC Playoff Seed Musings]

HPF Bob · #1 11-13-2012, 08:01 AM

There's now a two-game gap between the haves and have nots in the AFC playoff race. The haves:

Houston 8-1
Baltimore 7-2
New England 6-3
Denver 6-3
Indianapolis 6-3
Pittsburgh 6-3

The rest of the conference is 4-5 or worse. While the Texans hope to fatten their record at home against the Jaguars, Baltimore plays at Pittsburgh and Indianapolis plays at New England.

The NFC side is murkier with eight teams in the mix and Dallas can creep within a game of the Giants in the NFC East if they can beat the Browns at home despite having a losing record at present.

WMH · #2 11-13-2012, 08:53 AM

I am truly impressed at what Indy has done. I saw them as a 4-5 win team for the season, and now they are battling for a playoff spot. Very impressive.

If Ben is done for the regular season, I could see Cincy back in, just don't have alot of faith in Leftwhich, and thier D is not what it was.

Obviously, the road is clear for the Texans and the #1 spot. Just need to stay healthy, and not drop more than 2. Baltimore will drop another, maybe 2, they are wildly inconsistent. At the end of the road, I can see Denver and NE fighting with us at the top. We have head to head over Denver, but probably won't have it over NE.

I could see us dropping the NE game and the last Indy game (assuming it doesn't matter much), ending up at 13-3, but you never know about that Oops games. If the last Indy game means something (#1 vs. #2), it will be interesting if Kubiak plays it out, or cashes it in.

Only other probable option for NE to drop a game is when the host San Fran, so they will likely end up with 12 or 13 W's. Others could happen, but that is the last likely candidate.

nunusguy · #3 11-13-2012, 10:46 AM

I forget what the composition of the first playoff-weekend/WC-weekend ? Is it 2 WC teams & 2 Division champs & 2 Byes per conference, or is it 3 WC teams & 1 Division champ & 3 Byes per conference ?

chuck · #4 11-13-2012, 11:35 AM

It's pretty clear to me that Denver is the second best team in the conference and quite possibly the second best team in football.

barrett · #5 11-13-2012, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuck

It's pretty clear to me that Denver is the second best team in the conference and quite possibly the second best team in football.

I think Houston matches up well with Denver. Manning is performing surgery with short throws and smart audibles, but I think that is the worst strategy to attack the texans defense. You need big plays or we will create a negative play to kill a drive. Plus our DBs squatted on their routes all day. I think we beat Denver 9 times out of 10.

chuck · #6 11-14-2012, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrett

I think Houston matches up well with Denver. Manning is performing surgery with short throws and smart audibles, but I think that is the worst strategy to attack the texans defense. You need big plays or we will create a negative play to kill a drive. Plus our DBs squatted on their routes all day. I think we beat Denver 9 times out of 10.

In a second meeting Wade would attack Peyton with blitzes he hasn't seen. Their running game doesn't concern me and although their defense is very good and seems to get better every week our offense has so many ways to move the ball, control the ball and score that I think we can cause any defense problems.

If our guys stay healthy (and in a couple of cases get healthy) I will be very, very upset if any AFC team proves to be better.

And I would like to take a moment to congratulate Kareem Jackson for not sucking anymore. I would have to imagine that JJo has been spending some quality time with Young Master Kareem.

Nconroe · #7 11-13-2012, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuck

It's pretty clear to me that Denver is the second best team in the conference and quite possibly the second best team in football.

That would make Texas clearly the best team in football.

no arguments here.

WMH · #8 11-13-2012, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nunusguy

I forget what the composition of the first playoff-weekend/WC-weekend ? Is it 2 WC teams & 2 Division champs & 2 Byes per conference, or is it 3 WC teams & 1 Division champ & 3 Byes per conference ?

The top 2 seeds are off, 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5. 5 an 6 are the wild card teams, 3 and 4 are the other 2 division winners. Scheduling of Saturday vs. Sunday early/late depends on TV draw/anticipated ratings.

The nice thing about being the #1 seed, is we play indoors throughout the playoffs. Slip to the 2, and we could end up in Denver or NE in late January. We could also still end up at home for the AFC Champ game, but more things would need to fall our way (IE, 4 or 5 knocks off 1 in the division round).

barrett · #9 11-13-2012, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WMH

The top 2 seeds are off, 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5. 5 an 6 are the wild card teams, 3 and 4 are the other 2 division winners. Scheduling of Saturday vs. Sunday early/late depends on TV draw/anticipated ratings.

The nice thing about being the #1 seed, is we play indoors throughout the playoffs. Slip to the 2, and we could end up in Denver or NE in late January. We could also still end up at home for the AFC Champ game, but more things would need to fall our way (IE, 4 or 5 knocks off 1 in the division round).

I would not want to face Brady in bad weather, but manning has always been better indoor. If we somehow finished behind Denver I would not mind playing them in the snow.