You're misunderstanding. I believe either or both of those games could go either way, but when I created the table, I created two columns and defined both. EW's are expected wins. That doesn't mean that the games won't be close hard fought contests, it just means that the playoff contending team is expected to win. It'll be an upset if they don't.
Likewise, the competitive games column was created to list the number of games each contender played versus another contender. Typically, playoff teams beat the poor teams on their schedule and then split about half the games against the good teams. If a team does that, they'll typically win between 10-12 games.
The difficult part is how to classify teams like Buffalo or San Diego. A few weeks back, they were right in the thick of the playoff race. But now, they're both all but done, although each still is technically mathematically alive. Houston is another tough one. They were out of it early but now they're playing some real good ball. They're considered an expected win for contending teams but I'd also expect those games to be hard fought.
