The only situation I can think of where common opponents would come into play would be if the Pats/Den game would end in a tie. What others?
The first consideration would be overall record. If that is tied, then the next would be Head to Head right? Then if the head to head game is tied, then common opponents?
Pretty much. Conference Record, and
then Common Opponents.
#1 ~ Head to Head
#2 ~ Conference Record
#3 ~ Common Opponents
#4 ~ Strength of Victory
#5 ~ Strength of Schedule
01 ~ Denver's Loss will
probably not prove ultimately decisive, all in its own.
02 ~ But because it certainly very well
might prove decisive, that means, plain and simple, that it
does matter, because PlayOff Standings are dynamic: Denver is now the clear #3 Seed, and while she controls her own Destiny ~ because she finishes #1 if she sweeps ~ she is now facing an uphill Battle.
03 ~ If the Bengals, the Donkeys, and we tie 3 ways, the Donkeys would indeed win the Head to Head TieBreaker were they to beat both the Bengals and us, and would likewise
lose the Head to Head TieBreaker were they to lose to both Teams. Failing either Sweep, it'd go to Conference Records.
04 ~ Should we end up in a tie with just the Broncos ~ perhaps even as the result of starting in a 3 way Tie with the Bengals that sees the Bengals either advanced or eliminated by Conference Record or another TieBreaker ~ than that will of course be resolved by who wins on ThanksGiving Weekend, setting aside the remote Possibility of the Game itself resulting in a Tie. So you can certainly make the Argument that the Bronco 's Loss yesterday
might not "matter", but the fact that that won't be clear until the very end of the Season, it seems to me, means that of
course it matters, because its affects, today, are very real.
05 ~ SideNote: As always, I like to employ any TieBreaker discussion as a platform to rail against the slobbering, drooling Idiots who're responsible for the asinine TieBreaker format currently in use: It's pretty clear to me that Strength of Schedule is at
least the second fairest TieBreaker of them all, and the fairest of them all ~ heh ~ outside the Division, because Head to Head randomly confers Home Field Advantage on one Team...and yet actually resides all the way down there behind derivative stuff like Conference Record, Common Opponents, and ~ get this ~
Strength of Victory, whatever the #$%&
that is.
It disgusts and offends me that the better Team is often screwed out of making the PlayOffs because of this brazen Stupidity, and that nothing's being done by the scum who run the NFL to change it.
Were this implemented correctly and fairly ~ yeah, right ~ the Patriots would've been awarded the Division Titles that we won, fairly and squarely, in both 2002
and 2008, based on Strength of Schedule.
We've won 14 Divisional Crowns in a row. It's just that we've been jaked out'f two'f'm.
And we were playing
really well at the end of those Seasons, too.
We might have 5 Super Bowls won
already.
Just sayin'.
