Draw A Line [AFC Playoff Seed Musings]

[WMH]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Arky]

Gotta think the Texans ain't done with Sunday Night Football, yet. They have to be under heavy consideration to get flexed in vs. Minnesota (wk 16) or the two games with the Colts (wk 15 & 17) and the draw of media darling Andrew Luck....

[Arky]

To add to the post above..... from the506:

Flex Scheduling

•Between weeks 11 and 16, the scheduled (or "pencilled-in") NBC Sunday Night game may be replaced with a "flex" game, depending on competitiveness or ratings concerns. It is the NFL and not NBC that makes the decision to flex a game. The decision is made at least 12 days in advance, and the limits on national broadcasts described above are still in effect. The NFL may also simply decide to make the originally scheduled game official. (Note: in 2011, as Christmas falls on a Sunday and most games are on Christmas Eve instead, flex scheduling does not apply to week 16.)

•In week 17, the NBC game is determined only one week in advance (and usually first announced during the week 16 Sunday Night game), and no game is pencilled in on the original schedule.

•CBS and FOX can each protect five games between weeks 11 and 16 from being flexed to Sunday night. Their decisions are made after week 6. They cannot protect any week 17 games.

•CBS and FOX games may also switch timeslots with 12 days notice (or 6 in week 17) for ratings concerns. These may or may not be called a "flex" depending on who you talk to.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by Arky

Gotta think the Texans ain't done with Sunday Night Football, yet. They have to be under heavy consideration to get flexed in vs. Minnesota (wk 16) or the two games with the Colts (wk 15 & 17) and the draw of media darling Andrew Luck....

I totally forgot about flex games ! Man is it ever nice being a real contender and "in the conversation", thanks for bringing it up Arky. Yep, we could get even more PT this season.

[Nconroe]

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]

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]

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.