AFC Playoff Picture heading into Week 15

The top seed in the AFC was locked up this weekend when the Ravens beat the Bills and the Patriots topped the Chiefs. New England would have to win out and Baltimore would have to lose two games for the No. 1 seed to flip. That isn’t happening. Now the real races belong to the AFC East, the AFC South, and the wildcard spots. There are seven teams gunning for six spots and the AFC North and AFC West have been decided.

AFC East

New England Patriots 10-3

The Patriots offense is broken and there’s no immediate fix. That’s the way it is. That’s bad news for New England. The good news for the Patriots is that they have one real potential loss on their schedule. They should beat the Bengals and Dolphins. They should also beat the Bills at home. Even if they lose to Buffalo, they can still get the three seed, but they want a bye.

Remaining Schedule: @Bengals, Bills, Dolphins

Buffalo Bills 9-4

Buffalo looked good against Baltimore. Let’s rephrase that, Buffalo’s defense looked good against Baltimore. The offense did not look good. That’s bad news for a Bills team going up against its doppelganger this week — and the Steelers have a better defense than the Bills. Buffalo just needs to get to 10 wins. That should be their goal for the wildcard.

Remaining Schedule: @Steelers, @Patriots, Jets

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens 11-2

The Ravens could lose the AFC North, but it’s not going to happen. They will beat the Jets on a short week and then beat a struggling Browns team to lock up the top seed before the final week of the season.

Remaining Schedule: Jets, @Browns, Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers 8-5

The Steelers face the Bills in a very important tiebreaker now that the Titans are surging. This game could be the deciding game to see what team makes the playoffs. They’ve looked good with Devlin “Duck” Hodges at quarterback. Imagine if they made that move earlier in the year.

Remaining Schedule: Bills, @Jets, @Ravens

AFC South

Houston Texans 8-5

The Texans pulled a Texans again losing a trap game to the Broncos and now they could be in trouble. The Titans are red hot and Houston has to travel to Nashville to face them this weekend. If Houston loses, Tennessee has the inside track to the AFC South.

Remaining Schedule: @Titans, @Bucs, Titans

Tennessee Titans 8-5

There’s a lot of hype behind the Titans right now. Their defense is playing well. Ryan Tannehill’s advanced stats are other-worldly. Now they enter the tough part of their schedule. They’ve won seven straight but it has been against the likes of the Jaguars, Colts, Bucs, Panthers, Chargers, and Raiders. There’s only one playoff team in their seven-game streak and that’s the Chiefs game — and that game was real fluky. Let’s not crown them yet. if they win two out of their next three we may be able to crown them AFC South Champions.

Remaining Schedule: Texans, Saints @Texans