With the New England Patriots’ loss to the Houston Texans, the Baltimore Ravens move into the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoff picture. As of right now, the postseason runs through Baltimore. Let’s look at how it happened this week.
Week 13 was the toughest test for the Ravens and a potential chance for them to fall or rise in the AFC playoff picture. But by handling their business and pulling out a close 20-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers, the Ravens put themselves in a great spot at the end of the season. But Baltimore isn’t alone in the conference and there are six playoff berths open.
The Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs all won in Week 13, which helped them keep pace in the AFC playoff picture. However, Houston’s win over New England put the Patriots into a 10-2 tie with the Ravens. Thanks to their Week 9 win, Baltimore holds a head-to-head tiebreaker that gives them a half-game lead for the top spot.
Things are far from settled in the AFC playoff picture at this point but the cream is clearly rising to the top of the conference. With seven teams truly in the hunt, it’s seemingly just a matter of what seeds everyone earns and who they’ll be playing after Week 17.
Let’s take a look at the playoff race as it stands following Week 13.
2019 AFC playoff picture:
| Seed | Team | Overall record | Conference record |
| 1 | Baltimore Ravens | 10-2 | 6-2 |
| 2 | New England Patriots | 10-2 | 6-2 |
| 3 | Houston Texans | 8-4 | 7-2 |
| 4 | Kansas City Chiefs | 8-4 | 6-3 |
| 5 | Buffalo Bills | 9-3 | 6-2 |
| 6 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 7-5 | 6-3 |
With just four games remaining, it’s getting down to crunch time in the conference for playoff seeding. While it seems like destiny for the Ravens to make the postseason, they haven’t officially locked in a spot quite yet. However, if they beat the Buffalo Bills and get some help in Week 14, they could clinch a playoff berth.
