Week 8: Already no good AFC divisional races left

[patchick]

Less than half way through the season, 3 AFC teams already seem to have their divisions firmly in hand with leads of at least 3 games plus the head-to-head tiebreaker. The remaining division is "competitive" in that every team is lousy. The most compelling competition remaining in the conference is the one for home field advantage.

It seems awfully early for this. Am I overstating it?

 

[PP2]

It would be neat to see Houston overtake the Colts in the AFC south and eliminate them from playoff eligibility. Texans and Colts will be tied after tonight unless something astounding happens.

 

[jah]

Less than half way through the season, 3 AFC teams already seem to have their divisions firmly in hand with leads of at least 3 games plus the head-to-head tiebreaker. The remaining division is "competitive" in that every team is lousy. The most compelling competition remaining in the conference is the one for home field advantage.

It seems awfully early for this. Am I overstating it?

I'm sure one of our current elite teams will have a collapse or at least mini collapse. All it takes is for them to get "exposed", right???

 

[Oswlek]

It's remarkable that at least one team that is currently undefeated nearly halfway through the season will not even get a bye, let alone top seed.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Expansion and longter seasons will cure that.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

AFC South, the division that is never competitive, might be this year......oh the irony.

 

[everlong]

AFC South is 4-15 out of the division and the wins have been against Tampa twice, Buffalo and Miami. The Jets should be careful the Jags own the AFCE minus NE.

 

[SalemPats]

The race for a 1st round bye is huge. Bengals have an easy schedule, but i want to see how Dalton and Co. play in December

 

[n1997y]

It would be neat to see Houston overtake the Colts in the AFC south and eliminate them from playoff eligibility. Texans and Colts will be tied after tonight unless something astounding happens.

Not sure "overtake" is the right word.

Also think it's more the Colts overtaking the Texans in the race to the bottom.

 

[Rob0729]

The only reason why there are NFC division races is because there are no dominant teams on that side other than the Packers.

 

[memento]

I was talking about this at a Halloween party, and I tried hyping up the Jets-Raiders game to a Jets fan as a potential fight for the AFC Wildcards. The Giants fan chimed in dismissing it as way too early to talk playoff pictures, probably because their division is so much closer. I figure we can talk about playoffs with at least 50% confidence now, no harm in having the discussions. There are teams that will clinch their division by the end of the month, and the confidence in predicting the playoff picture will rise faster in the next four games than the last four games. There are winning streaks and losing streaks and any given Sunday, but just like a game you can be reasonably certain a team up by three scores at halftime is going to win.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Not sure "overtake" is the right word.

Also think it's more the Colts overtaking the Texans in the race to the bottom.

The Texans may (and hopefully WILL) undersuck the Colts

 

[patfanken]

The race for the 2 byes will be hot and likely last all season. Everyone has some tough games left, but the fact is that its very likely that some team with a 13-3 record or better is going to have to play a wildcard game on the road, probably against some 8-8 team

 

[Bill Lee]

I figure we can talk about playoffs with at least 50% confidence now, no harm in having the discussions. There are teams that will clinch their division by the end of the month, and the confidence in predicting the playoff picture will rise faster in the next four games than the last four games.

Indeed, the info is on-line all the time:



Ref: NFL Playoff Picture - 2015-2016 NFL Standings - CBSSports.com

 

[Oswlek]

The only reason why there are NFC division races is because there are no dominant teams on that side other than the Packers.

Carolina is going to put that division away soon if Atlanta is who they've been for the last month.

 

[PatsBoy12]

It's remarkable that at least one team that is currently undefeated nearly halfway through the season will not even get a bye, let alone top seed.

I feel like any team from the crappiest division each year should not be guaranteed a playoff berth. Instead, they should do something like the crappiest team needing to own some sort of tie breaker or, better yet, just simply not be allowed into the playoffs. Nobody from the NFCE or AFCS should be let in this season. lol

 

[Fencer]

A couple of minor misstatements or exaggerations:

1. With leads this big, the HTH tiebreaker hardly matters. In any amazing scenario where somebody closes one of the huge divisional gaps, one thing they'll do is even up the HTH breaker.

2. While one or two of the Pats, Broncos or Bengals could easily have a playoff game on the road, it won't be a "wildcard game" when they do.

 

[patchick]

A couple of minor misstatements or exaggerations:

1. With leads this big, the HTH tiebreaker hardly matters. In any amazing scenario where somebody closes one of the huge divisional gaps, one thing they'll do is even up the HTH breaker.

Kind of, but I think HTH only looks irrelevant because all of the leading teams have it in their favor this year. You could easily have just as big a lead at week 8 with a loss to the #2 team. In that case the #2 winning out would pose a more significant threat.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

and it sucks

 

[TommyD4207]

2. While one or two of the Pats, Broncos or Bengals could easily have a playoff game on the road, it won't be a "wildcard game" when they do.

Well, I mean, one of them will.

There are only two byes, after all. One of them is playing wildcard weekend. It might not be a road game to open up, but it's still an extra game to be played, and the next one will be on the road.

I just hope they don't all finish with the same record. 3-way tiebreakers when two of the teams don't play each other is popsicle-headache stuff.