Playoff outlook

I have us as making the playoffs, finishing at either 9-8 or 10-7:
- W's against the Colts, Jets, Cards, Raiders, & Bengals
- L's against the Vikes, Bills, & Bills,
- coin flip vs Miami at home in December - I think both teams will be 9-6 going in.

Buffalo, KC, Baltimore, and Tennessee will win their divisions. Decent teams that won't make it include Cinci, Colts, Jets, Broncos, Browns - all will finish under .500.

The Wild cards will be the Dolphins, Patriots and Chargers.

I am a hardcore fan and been supporting the Patriots since their inception. Unfortunately I just don't see us getting there this year. I have noticed as fans now we have no patience. When Brady left we all expected at most a 3 year rebuild and many seem to have felt that was too slow.

I see too many weaknesses right now and they can't be easily addressed because there is a shortage of many of these players throughout the league. For example Offensive Tackles most teams would do anything for a premier left tackle, but how many are there in the league right now, and I just don't feel the way college ball is going that they are preparing Olinemen for the pros as well as they used to.

I think Fantasy Football was the death knell of good football all the fans want now is good numbers for their fantasy team and it has led to everyone categorizing players based on their fantasy output rather then what they do to help the team in the big picture.

Just some rambling from this old fogey, I hope you are right, but even if we get there I think we will be one and done. I just hope they go forward building a good foundation for the team then things will turn around again.

Not feeling great about the Cardinals based on how this defense has handled running QBs so far. Right now I have us finishing 7-10 with wins against the Colts, Jets, Raiders.

We have the Vikings who are playing very well plus the Bills who can beat anybody anywhere and two prime time games in the desert playoffs playoffs?? Rough stretch if you ask me plus Mac is not playing lights out.

I feel like we should be in as well, but has more to do with how weak the afc seems right now. Initially i was aiming for 10 wins but right now I think 9 is a more realistic hope which probably gets us in and anything can happen from there.

Miami’s the only wild card contender i see right now being tough to hang with. They and tua seemed to have turned things around even if its just the lions. Bengals and chargers look like our main competitors for the last 2 spots and we only have to finish above 1. Winning that game with cincy would really solidify this.

Playoffs will be a tough haul and they will need several teams above them to blow games. One good thing when you look at the playoff picture, although there's several teams in front of them I don't think any of the teams behind them (other than Cincinnati) are any good. The entire season for this team will come down to whether or not that last game of the season means anything for Buffalo. The Pats (best case) will be sitting at 8-8 or 9-7 needing to win that game to get into the playoffs. If Buffalo needs it for the #1 seed and they play Allen, forget it. But maybe they're in a situation where they've clinched home field and they sit a bunch of starters...a man can dream....

I don't see 9-8 getting it done. They need 10 wins in the AFC. They would need to sweep all the 50/50 games against the Cards, Raiders, Fins, Bengals and Jets. Then they would have to steal one against any of the Bills 2X, Vikings and Bengals who are to different degrees clear favorites.

While I don't think it's impossible I do believe it's improbable. They just don't have any margin for error. If I had to pick the one reason why that's true it's the OL. I don't know how much you can coach that lot up.

I'd root for the Bills to keep winning and the Chiefs to lose a few so week 17 the Bills are playing the scrubs.

FCB02062 said:

Playoffs will be a tough haul and they will need several teams above them to blow games. One good thing when you look at the playoff picture, although there's several teams in front of them I don't think any of the teams behind them (other than Cincinnati) are any good. The entire season for this team will come down to whether or not that last game of the season means anything for Buffalo. The Pats (best case) will be sitting at 8-8 or 9-7 needing to win that game to get into the playoffs. If Buffalo needs it for the #1 seed and they play Allen, forget it. But maybe they're in a situation where they've clinched home field and they sit a bunch of starters...a man can dream....

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Barring an injury to allen i think it’s super likely this game means nothing to Buffalo the way things are going. They have tiebreakers on kc and ten and I doubt either of those teams are tied with buffalo week 18. I think itll just be a matter of what Buffalo wants to do with its starters. But yea if they do rest guys thats huge because we very well may need that game to get win #9. After the jets and colts I dont see any games we would be clear favorites, perhaps az but not sure with murray.

All the Debbie Downers on this board are at home doing their Jim Mora impressions.

Personally I thought we'd be close to the playoffs going into the season and thought we might just miss due to a tough December schedule but now I feel December is slightly easier and with the landscape of the AFC I think we should probably be able to get in now.

I need to see much better QB play to think we can do anything if we get there. But if we can avoid the one that doesn't get the bye out of KC or Buff we could possibly get out of the first Rd. And I'd give Bill a punchers chance vs Buff or KC too. Need better QB play though.

FCB02062 said:

Playoffs will be a tough haul and they will need several teams above them to blow games. One good thing when you look at the playoff picture, although there's several teams in front of them I don't think any of the teams behind them (other than Cincinnati) are any good. The entire season for this team will come down to whether or not that last game of the season means anything for Buffalo. The Pats (best case) will be sitting at 8-8 or 9-7 needing to win that game to get into the playoffs. If Buffalo needs it for the #1 seed and they play Allen, forget it. But maybe they're in a situation where they've clinched home field and they sit a bunch of starters...a man can dream....

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I think you concede 2 losses to Buffalo, it won't come down to that last game.

The division winners are already set imo: Bills, Chiefs, Titans, Ravens. Root for these 4 teams to win vs AFC opponents, cause we're not winning our division, we're competing to be a wild card team. I also hope the Bills finish as the #1 seed so they're not playing in the first round of the playoffs.

Miami is getting one of the wild cards, there's no doubt. For the other 2 spots it's between NE, LAC (4-3), Cinci (4-4), & Jets (5-3).

The Jets have to play the Bills twice, @NE, @Minn, @Sea, @Mia. That's 6 losses most likely, so I think they're out. They also play the Bears & Lions who aren't bad as we know. I see the Jets finishing 8-9.

Cinci has to play @TN, KC, Cle, @TB, @NE, Buf, and Balt - 7 tough games. I think they lose 5 of them and also finish at 8-9. They also play Carolina and Pitt.

The Broncos (3-5), Browns (3-5) and Colts (3-4-1) are already well below .500 and have tough schedules so they'll all finish with losing records.

So even if we finish at 9-8, we probably get in. The big games for us are on the road vs Ariz & LV, and home vs Cinci and Miami.

40yrpatsfan said:

I have us as making the playoffs, finishing at either 9-8 or 10-7:
- W's against the Colts, Jets, Cards, Raiders, & Bengals
- L's against the Vikes, Bills, & Bills,
- coin flip vs Miami at home in December - I think both teams will be 9-6 going in.

Buffalo, KC, Baltimore, and Tennessee will win their divisions. Decent teams that won't make it include Cinci, Colts, Jets, Broncos, Browns - all will finish under .500.

The Wild cards will be the Dolphins, Patriots and Chargers.

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Bengals could be a toss up, Bills look unstoppable and they get tre white back this week! Yipes!

although I see a ticked off jets defense smothering Allen this week. Your predictions seems right on point! I have this eerie feeling that if we sneak into the playoffs we can make some noise! Boy would I'd had loved for the team to trade for roquan Smith! He's awesome

everlong said:

I don't see 9-8 getting it done. They need 10 wins in the AFC. They would need to sweep all the 50/50 games against the Cards, Raiders, Fins, Bengals and Jets. Then they would have to steal one against any of the Bills 2X, Vikings and Bengals who are to different degrees clear favorites.

While I don't think it's impossible I do believe it's improbable. They just don't have any margin for error. If I had to pick the one reason why that's true it's the OL. I don't know how much you can coach that lot up.

I'd root for the Bills to keep winning and the Chiefs to lose a few so week 17 the Bills are playing the scrubs.

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9 wins could be a probability, it would all depend on our AFC record against common opponents.. I feel like save for the 2 losses against Buffalo we could string together some wins to get into position.

Pats have 2 conference losses. Steelers made it last year at 9-7-1 with 5 conference losses. Ideally the Patriots won’t lose more than 2.

The Dolphins game is enormous they need that one or we lose out H2H on the tiebreaker and gives us 2 division losses already with Billsx2 and Jets TBD.

sb1 said:

Pats have 2 conference losses. Steelers made it last year at 9-7-1 with 5 conference losses. Ideally the Patriots won’t lose more than 2.

The Dolphins game is enormous they need that one or we lose out H2H on the tiebreaker and gives us 2 division losses already with Billsx2 and Jets TBD.

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Definitely need that dolphins game, that could end up being the deciding factor, hopefully we can defend Waddle on 4th and 7 this time around

IIRC, last year after the bye week we took a nosedive. Hopefully the players learned from that and will have more urgency to finish the reg. season. I'm sure BB will remind them of last year's late season struggles and both the players and coaches will not be complacent. I think they will have a great second half with upsets against Buffalo and/or Minnesota. If we can get some momentum going into the bye week, they sky is the limit. It's November now, time to dig deep and see what this team is made of. LFG!!

Real fan 02 said:

I have this eerie feeling that if we sneak into the playoffs we can make some noise!

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I love your enthusiasm and wish I shared it. but I have no idea what to make of our team this year. It all depends on how Mac improves down the stretch.

Calhoun44 said:

IIRC, last year after the bye week we took a nosedive. Hopefully the players learned from that and will have more urgency to finish the reg. season. I'm sure BB will remind them of last year's late season struggles and both the players and coaches will not be complacent. I think they will have a great second half with upsets against Buffalo and/or Minnesota. If we can get some momentum going into the bye week, they sky is the limit. It's November now, time to dig deep and see what this team is made of. LFG!!

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mike_usagisan said:

I love your enthusiasm and wish I shared it. but I have no idea what to make of our team this year. It all depends on how Mac improves down the stretch.

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Agreed, Mac is the key to anything we want to accomplish this season. As awkward as this seasons going.. I still have some optimistic hope Mac needs these next 7,8 games to redefine his poise and career projection. If we can get to the bye with no more major injuries to key players ,rest , decompress and make a playoff push again we have to play mistake free football the rest of the way..

Real fan 02 said:

Definitely need that dolphins game, that could end up being the deciding factor, hopefully we can defend Waddle on 4th and 7 this time around

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if 9-8 gets us in, which I think it does, then we need to win the next 2 games at home vs Indy & Jets, then go 3-4 down the stretch:
- very winnable games @Ariz, @LV, and home vs Cinci. Win those and we're in.
- Miami is a challenge but we have them at home in late December, a 50-50 game
- @Minn on Thanksgiving is a tough one but not ruling it out. I want to see Thornton on turf.
- concede the two Bills games, though the last one could be meaningless to them.

everlong said:

I don't see 9-8 getting it done. They need 10 wins in the AFC.

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Next week, a 5-4 team or worse will occupy the final playoff spot in the AFC.

While you might be right, how can you not see a 9-8 team in?

speaking of the Miami game, let's hope it's actually cold. To wit, here's the Boston weather for the last 8 years on January 1...
22 - 48, 21 - 36, 20 - 43, 19 - 54, 18 - 10, 17 - 43, 16 - 41, 15 - 32
Granted, Foxboro will probably be a degree or two colder, but it really doesn't start getting cold to the point it will really impact the game until the second half of January. Now , I guess this Miami game could technically be flexed from its 1 pm start. Flexing this game tp the night game would drop the average temps about 4- 10 degrees, but that still doesn't really put us in "cold game at Foxboro" territory.