AFC East: Patriots Have it Sewn Up After Hammering Jets
The New England Patriots are rolling. Is this a surprise? No. They are normally unbeatable at this time of the year. This year, they are about three plays away from being undefeated. On Thursday night they scored three touchdowns in 52 seconds. That’s ridiculous. This division race is over. The Patriots are now playing only for home field advantage in the playoffs.
The top of the AFC standings look like this:
1. Houston Texans (10-1)- Still left to play for the Texans includes a game at New England in two weeks and a game against the Minnesota Vikings and two with the Indianapolis Colts, both of who are chasing playoff spots.
2. Baltimore Ravens (9-2)-Â One huge advantage the Ravens have is a head-to-head win over the patriots. Still left for them, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, New York Giants, and also a game with the Washington Redskins on December 9 that could be tricky. Rumor has it that the Ravens may be getting Ray Lewis back soon which will be a huge boost for them.
3. New England Patriots (8-3)- The Pats would be looking at facing the #6 seed if the playoffs ended toady. That team would be the Pittsburgh Steelers at 6-5. They would then be looking at a road game at Baltimore the following week.
4. Denver Broncos (8-3)- The Broncos would be the #4 seed because of their loss to the Patriots head-to-head. They would be looking at a playoff match-up with the 7-4 Colts if things ended now. Then they would be looking at a road game at Houston.
One game out of the playoff chase as of now is the 5-6 Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins got a game-winning field goal on Sunday to beat the Seattle Seahawks 24-21. They need to leap-frog both the Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals who are both 6-5. Catching the Colts would be very difficult especially considering the Colts have the tie-breaker over Miami because of their head-to-head win. Miami does have a head to head win over the Bengals. The bad news, the Dolphins have two games left with the Patriots.
Out of the chase altogether are the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. Both are 4-7 and will looking to play spoiler the rest of the way. Things are so bad in New York, that super fan “Fireman Ed” has bailed on them, saying the crowd is getting so ugly he’s worried he may have to clock somebody. He’s been doing his act for a long time. He’s been going to the Jets games since 1975. For him to do this is an indication that this season has gone horribly wrong in New York.
