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After 12 games, the Dolphins have a slight advantage over the Patriots. The jets, with two losses against Miami and four division losses, cannot win any tiebreakers against either Miami or NE.
Regarding Patriots-Miami tiebreakers -
For a three way tie involving the Patriots, Dolphins and jets, Miami wins with better head-to-head record.
A two way tie is a lot more complicated. As describe below, the Patriots cannot win (but can tie) based on either division record or common opponent record against the Dolphins.
If NE beats Buffalo, both Miami and NE finish 4-2 in the division. A loss against the Bills would put NE in serious jeopardy; if Miami runs the table, they win.
The next tiebreaker is record against common opponents. Patriots and Miami have common opponents for 14 of the 16 games. In addition to the AFC East, both teams played every team in the AFC South and NFC South. The remaining two opponents are:
Patriots - Denver (loss), Baltimore (win)
Miami - San Diego (loss), Pittsburgh (Jan. 3)
In a tie where Miami has beaten the Steelers, both teams will have gone 1-1 against the non-common opponents, so they would have identical records against common opponents. Next tiebreaker ...
For the tie scenario involving a loss to the Steelers, Miami wins the tiebreaker - they would have one less win against non-common opponents and therefore one more win against common opponents.
Next up is conference record, where NE has the advantage - Miami has five losses, NE has four. This means that NE can lose to Carolina and still win the division by sweeping the remaining AFC games as long as Miami and the jets do not BOTH run the table resulting in a 3 way tie at 10-6. Another conference loss by NE opens the door even wider for the Dolphins.
The next tiebreaker - "strength of victory" - is pretty much impossible project at this point with one-quarter of the season remaining. The Dolphins six wins have come against teams with an aggregate .402 winning percentage while NE's seven wins have come against teams with a .357 winning precentage. The remaining opponents have .479 (Dolphins) and .438 (Patriots) winning percentages. This suggests Miami has a slight advantage but lots could change here as the weeks go on.
The big picture is that NE controls their destiny. Ranking the remaining games in order of importance, Buffalo is the biggest. If there's another loss for NE, we'd better hope it's against the Panthers this week.
Regarding Patriots-Miami tiebreakers -
For a three way tie involving the Patriots, Dolphins and jets, Miami wins with better head-to-head record.
A two way tie is a lot more complicated. As describe below, the Patriots cannot win (but can tie) based on either division record or common opponent record against the Dolphins.
If NE beats Buffalo, both Miami and NE finish 4-2 in the division. A loss against the Bills would put NE in serious jeopardy; if Miami runs the table, they win.
The next tiebreaker is record against common opponents. Patriots and Miami have common opponents for 14 of the 16 games. In addition to the AFC East, both teams played every team in the AFC South and NFC South. The remaining two opponents are:
Patriots - Denver (loss), Baltimore (win)
Miami - San Diego (loss), Pittsburgh (Jan. 3)
In a tie where Miami has beaten the Steelers, both teams will have gone 1-1 against the non-common opponents, so they would have identical records against common opponents. Next tiebreaker ...
For the tie scenario involving a loss to the Steelers, Miami wins the tiebreaker - they would have one less win against non-common opponents and therefore one more win against common opponents.
Next up is conference record, where NE has the advantage - Miami has five losses, NE has four. This means that NE can lose to Carolina and still win the division by sweeping the remaining AFC games as long as Miami and the jets do not BOTH run the table resulting in a 3 way tie at 10-6. Another conference loss by NE opens the door even wider for the Dolphins.
The next tiebreaker - "strength of victory" - is pretty much impossible project at this point with one-quarter of the season remaining. The Dolphins six wins have come against teams with an aggregate .402 winning percentage while NE's seven wins have come against teams with a .357 winning precentage. The remaining opponents have .479 (Dolphins) and .438 (Patriots) winning percentages. This suggests Miami has a slight advantage but lots could change here as the weeks go on.
The big picture is that NE controls their destiny. Ranking the remaining games in order of importance, Buffalo is the biggest. If there's another loss for NE, we'd better hope it's against the Panthers this week.
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