Draw A Line [AFC Playoff Seed Musings]

[HPF Bob]

Super Bowl matchups of the past 10 years:

2011 -- No. 3 Giants over No. 1 Patriots

2010 — No. 6 Packers over No. 2 Steelers

2009 — No. 1 Saints over No. 1 Colts

2008 — No. 2 Steelers over No. 4 Cardinals

2007 -– No. 5 Giants over No. 1 Patriots

2006 — No. 3 Colts over No. 1 Bears

2005 — No. 6 Steelers over No. 1 Seahawks

2004 — No. 2 Patriots over No. 1 Eagles

2003 — No. 1 Patriots over No. 3 Panthers

2002 — No. 2 Buccaneers over No. 1 Raiders

You can see that #1 seeds in the playoffs don't prosper as well as most of us think, although I also think this misleads a bit. Home field advantage is still huge but the SB winner often seems to be the team that "gets hot" at the right time. This often bodes well for the healthier teams, of which I'd say we're probably about 80% on the health scale right now.

[Arky]

Ya, looks like #1's are 2-7 in the big game (including 2009 when both #1's made it). I think the thing is, if you're a #1, you have a really good chance of "getting there". Didn't remember that Seattle was a #1 back in 2005....

[machoneil]

Indy may not have anything to play for in the last game at thier house

[Arky]

Oooh, if this Niners vs. Pats game hold up (Niners currently leading 31-17, early 4th quarter), I believe the Texans may only need to win 1 of their remaining two games to get home field throughout (aka #1 seed).... Who would've thought the Pats could look so bad on Primetime? I know the Texans would never, uhhhh, nevermind.....

[Keith]

The Niners win over the Pats really does a huge favor for the Broncos. If current seedings hold, it would be the Pats as the #3 going to #2 Denver, assuming of course the Pats survive the Wild Card game.

And if the Colts are #5 and the Ravens #4, I don't think the Ravens are quite so automatic at home anymore. Always upsets in the playoffs....

[HPF Bob]

Texans just need to beat Minny next week to clinch home field overall. Denver now moves into the #2 slot with home games against Cleveland and Kansas City to close out the season.

The most likely scenario now is #1 Houston and #2 Denver get first-week byes.

First week will be Cin/Pit at NE, Indy at Baltimore If the home teams win, it then becomes Baltimore at Houston and NE at Denver. It really can't shape up any better for us.

Oh, and congrats to the AFC East Champion SF 49ers. You are better men than we are.

[WMH]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Oh, and congrats to the AFC East Champion SF 49ers. You are better men than we are.

Any given Sunday Bob. You've likely watched enough football to know that. It was amazing to watch the ball bounce the 49ers way as much as it did last night. It was also amazing to watch Brady bring his squad back from doldrums. Its what makes the NFL so great.

Needing 1 W out of 2 games for the #1 seed is pretty damn good if you ask me. We can pick apart this or that, but the fact remains, is we are 12-2, and that sounds pretty damn good to me.