After that it gets into the ugly realm of tiebreaking scenarios. Here is the tiebreaker for opponents in the same division.
For Three or more clubs, the same steps apply, and if at any point in the process one team ins eliminated, it goes back to step one until here is but one team remaining.Two Clubs:
1. Head-to-head (games between the clubs).
2. Best won-lost percentage in games played within the division.
3. Best won-lost percentage in common games.
4. Best won-lost- percentage in games played within the conference.
5. Strength of victory.
6. Strength of schedule.
7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
9. Best net points in common games.
10. Best net points in all games.
11. Best net touchdowns in all games.
It looks like in this scenario that if San Diego manages to win next week and Denver manages to lose, and then the Chargers beat Denver and both teams finish 8-8, the Chargers advance by virtue of a better divisional record.
Of the 3 AFC East teams the Jets currently hold a one game lead for that first tiebreaker, as they have a 4-1 record in the division vs. the 3-2 records of New England and Miami. The Jets play Miami in the final week and thus still control their own destiny at this point. If for whatever reason the three teams end up with identical win loss recods and identical divisional records it then falls to common games. Those common opponents are the teams from the NFC West and AFC West this season. HEre is a list of the teams, with the results for the Pats, Dolphins and Jets
Kansas City (Jets: W, Fins: Week 16, Pats: W)
Denver (Jets: L, Fins: W, Pats: W)
San Diego(Jets: L, Fins: W, Pats: L)
Oakland (Jets: L, Fins: W, Pats: W)
St. Louis (Jets: W, Fins: W, Pats: W)
Seattle (Jets: Week 16, Fins: W, Pats: W)
Arizona (Jets: W, Fins L, Pats: Week 16)
San Francisco (Jets: L, Fins: W, Pats: W)
Jets Record: 3-4
Fins Record: 6-1
Pats Record: 6-1
At this point the Jets would be eliminated, and the result of Miami's game against Kansas City, and New England's game against Arizona, could possibly determine the tiebreaker.
In the scenario where the Patriots and Dolphins are still tied with their overall record, divisional record, and common opponent's records, it falls to their conference records.
Currently Miami is 6-4 and New England is 6-5. So the possibility remains that both teams could end up tied, although Miami holds the half game edge which is critical:
No matter what, if one team gains a game in the standings over the other in the next two weeks, then the overall record will not be identical and the tie broken (but you all knew that
)If MIA beats KC and NY
and NE beats ARI and BUF
then MIA wins the tiebreaker by virtue of an 8-4 conference record over a 7-5 record
If MIA loses to KC and NY
and NE loses to ARI and BUF
then MIA wins the tiebreaker by a game over common opponents, at this point a loss to Buffalo would be a dealbreaker for the Pats because niether Miami or NY lost to the Bills this season, I haven't factored them into common opposition yet because it hasn't been necessary until now.
If MIA loses to KC and beats NY
and NE loses to ARI and beats BUF
then the tiebreaking continues, with each team have identical records in the division, against common opponents, and in the AFC
If MIA beats KC and loses to NY
and NE loses to ARI and beats BUF
then NE wins because this scenario breaks the tie for the division between the two clubs, if this scenario occurs we may not be looking at any tiebreakers going this deep at all.
If MIA loses to KC and beats NY
and NE beats ARI and loses to BUF
same as before, a loss to Buffalo is dealbreaker for the Patriots in more ways than one.
So if it is still tied at THIS point between NE and MIA, then we get the lovely thing known as "Strength of Victory". If it somehow gets to this point the NFL Network should host a one or two hour special as a bunch of guys in suits do the math of the whole thing and put it up on a whiteboard.
Needless to say that with two weeks remaining this will be very very difficult to calculate.Strength of Victory wrote:A part of the NFL's tiebreaking proceedure, strength of victory is figured by calculating the combined winning percentage of the opponents a team has beaten.
Current Fins Opp. Win Pct - 0.452
Current Pats Opp. Win Pct - 0.420
Right now the Fins have a slight edge in this department, their opponents have 4 more total wins than the Patriots opposition. Beating San Diego helped and NE has already played against Kansas City, and the game against Arizona becomes that much more beneficial to the Pats. It is very unlikely that the two teams will be tied after this. The next step after this is strength of schedule, and it isn't much of a stretch to expect the Pats schedule strength to finihs higher than Miami's due to having played Pittsburgh and Indy as uncommon opponents, while the Fins played against Baltimore and Houston.
So that SHOULD cover all of our bases for the AFC West and East Championships, here is hoping it doesn't get to that point.
Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know, the piper's calling you to join him
" shit that I want them to lose and prove how shitty they are. Favre should never have made it to the Pro Bowl. He made it for one reason, that reason being that he is Brett Motherfuckin' Favre. His stats are not impressive. I personally voted for Pennington over Favre.
That's not just bad that's hilariously bad.
