Thank you AFC East

What a great weekend, courtesy of the 3 other AFC east squads. I don't know how it could have turned about better. Buffalo and Miami put their ankles behind their ears and the Jets knock off a possible challenger for HFA in the playoffs by beating the Steelers.

Congrats Jets fans on you 2nd win. Here's to hoping you double that number by season's end with wins over Miami and Buffalo.

The Patriots are now 1.5 games up on Miami and 2.5 on Buffalo.

Currently tfor HFA throughout the playoffs, the Pats are up:

.5 games on Denver

.5 games on Kansas City

1 game on Cleveland

1 game on Indianapolis.

Very important to win on Sunday IMO.

A lot will change if they don't. H2H tiebreaker advantage against Denver becomes redundant in a 3-way tie scenario with the Colts where each team would then be 1-1 in that group. Then I believe the tiebreaker becomes AFC record and the Pats with 3 losses would then compare unfavorably to both the Broncos and the Colts to this point.

sb1 said:

Very important to win on Sunday IMO.

A lot will change if they don't. H2H tiebreaker advantage against Denver becomes redundant in a 3-way tie scenario with the Colts where each team would then be 1-1 in that group. Then I believe the tiebreaker becomes AFC record and the Pats with 3 losses would then compare unfavorably to both the Broncos and the Colts to this point.

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It doesn't go to divisional record first? I mean even if we lose i think we are in good shape for #1 as i see the colts having some games like the steelers where they crap their pants. But Denver may only have 3 losses..so if they lose this week...they may have to win out which will be tough (@GB will be very tough...SD not sold on)

My wife asked me why I was so happy yesterday. "I mean, the Patriots didn't even play!"

crew1954 said:

What a great weekend, courtesy of the 3 other AFC east squads. I don't know how it could have turned about better. Buffalo and Miami put their ankles behind their ears and the Jets knock off a possible challenger for HFA in the playoffs by beating the Steelers.

Congrats Jets fans on you 2nd win. Here's to hoping you double that number by season's end.

The Patriots are now 1.5 games up on Miami and 2.5 on Buffalo.

Currently tfor HFA throughout the playoffs, the Pats are up:

.5 games on Denver

.5 games on Kansas City

1 game on Cleveland

1 game on Indianapolis.

Click to expand...

Don't forget: Buffalo plays Miami on Thursday, so one of those teams will be falling to 3 games behind before the Patriots even get on the field again.

Brady_to_Moss said:

It doesn't go to divisional record first? I mean even if we lose i think we are in good shape for #1 as i see the colts having some games like the steelers where they crap their pants. But Denver may only have 3 losses..so if they lose this week...they may have to win out which will be tough (@GB will be very tough...SD not sold on)

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Divisional matters for division tiebreakers, but it is virtually meaningless for conference tiebreakers. If NE loses this week, they will be a game behind Denver and a tiebreaker behind Indy. It will put a serious crimp in their ability to get a bye, let alone win the #1 seed.

I hope the Pats demolish the Colts and the St Louis Rams show up for a game they are all but destined to lose and shocks denver. One could hope.....

I don't want to see Kansas City overtake Denver because we lost to them and they have the tiebreaker. I want Manning coming here in the subfreezing cold for the AFC game.

Oswlek said:

Divisional matters for division tiebreakers, but it is virtually meaningless for conference tiebreakers. If NE loses this week, they will be a game behind Denver and a tiebreaker behind Indy. It will put a serious crimp in their ability to get a bye, let alone win the #1 seed.

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Thats assuming denver wins...( they will BTW)

Brady_to_Moss said:

Thats assuming denver wins...( they will BTW)

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Correct, on both parts.

KC taking over first in the AFC West from Denver? Peyton on the road throughout the playoffs as a wildcard? For his first game he would be at either: 1. KC 2. Cleveland 3. Cincinatti 4. Pittsburgh 5. New England 6. Indy. 1 outta 6 chances to get out of the weather, followed by another road game to another snowy,windy,cold city ( or Indy)? And if he makes it that far, his reward? Another Cold,windy snowy city ( or Indy).

I would rather play the AFC title game in KC than Denver.

Oswlek said:

Divisional matters for division tiebreakers, but it is virtually meaningless for conference tiebreakers. If NE loses this week, they will be a game behind Denver and a tiebreaker behind Indy. It will put a serious crimp in their ability to get a bye, let alone win the #1 seed.

Click to expand...

We want Buff to win because in practical terms it allows a horrid, worst case scenario of us losing the next 4 games yet still, realistically, holding our own destiny to the division crown. We would just need to win the last 3 games: Buff, Mia, NYJ.

The lone hiccup to this scenario is if Buff won all of their other remaining games. But these 5 remaining games for Buff include GB, Cle and @Denver. I consider chances of Buff winning all 5 quite slim.

((No, I do not expect us to lose the next 4, no way no how. This is just having some fun with a far out scenario).

Every week is a must win . Colts have an easier schedule so a win here and loss later hurts us the same . In the same vein, just too early to calculate all the HFA scenarios if we lose. Cant live on that week to week. Lot of unpredictable things will happen by the season's end.
This is going to a tough stretch starting in indy. That team will be fired up especially losing to us last 3 times. and last year they beat both the eventual SB participants at home with ease. Pats have to weather the storm early in the game and settle down.

The Patriots aren't even a top-5 team in the AFC East.

Signed,
Chris Simms