PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Pittsburgh clinches a playoff spot:
1) PIT win + HOU loss or tie + NYJ loss or tie
2) PIT win + HOU loss or tie + BAL loss or tie
3) PIT win + NYJ loss or tie + BAL loss or tie + DEN loss or tie
Of those scenarios, No. 2 is the most viable, in my opinion.
I think NE will play to win because it has performed poorly on the road this season and Houston hasn't been dominant at home. Either way, that game should be a shootout.
Joe Flacco is very inconsistent and if the Ravens struggle with Oakland's rushing attack - which is pretty good - they could lose out there.
But it doesn't look as good for the Steelers as it would have had Miami held serve at home.
And from our friends at the Cincinnati Enquirer via Elias Sports, here's how Cincinnati could finish with the No. 3 seed in the AFC even without a victory and a New England loss Sunday:
If the Bengals and Patriots both lose:
* Cleveland must beat Jacksonville
* Pittsburgh must beat Miami
* Indianapolis must beat Buffalo
* And any of the following four: Baltimore beats Oakland, Green Bay beats Arizona, Kansas City beats Denver, New Orleans beats Carolina, Seattle beats Tennessee
If the Bengals and Patriots both win:
* Cleveland must beat Jacksonville
* Pittsburgh must beat Miami
* Plus one of the following two groups
* If Indianapolis beats Buffalo any of three following three must happen: Baltimore beats Oakland, Green Bay beats Arizona, Kansas City beats Denver, New Orleans beats Carolina, Seattle beats Tennessee.
* If Buffalo beats Indy all of the following must happen: Baltimore beats Oakland, Green Bay beats Arizona, Kansas City beats Denver, New Orleans beats Carolina, Seattle beats Tennessee.
10 comments:
Honestly? The Steelers don't deserve to make the playoffs.
honestly?
the steelers will probably lose to Miami anyways
Honestly? The Steelers are a different team with Troy who should be back against Miami and would be back for the playoffs if the Steelers make it.
imo, Troy is hurt a lot worse than anyone is saying. Even if they make the playoffs, Troy hasn't played for nearly 2 months and would not be in game condition at all.
most likely, troy only has 2 or 3 good years left in him. considering his style of play and injury issues to this point, i don't think we can expect any more than that from him.
I don't think they are hiding anything about the injury for Troy. Otherwise he would be on IR. They wanted to see what would happen with the playoff chances before risking a worthless injury.
The timing issue for the other help we need is really inconvenient. Cincy has no reason to play Sunday night. And I despise what happened with the Colts yesterday. I'm going to rant here, but wtf? So bascially the Jets got the biggest gift they could be given by having the Colts on their schedule in Week 16? Ridiculous.
I hope the Colts lose like a bunch of idiots in the divisional Rd again. I hate that team and their style. Also, what a waste of time and fans $$. If I spent dollars and time to travel to a game, pay for parking etc, to see my team take out their stud QB only up by 5, I'd be furious. You can argue the fans should know the team might sit players but they never announced it.
Either way, even considering the easy teams the Steelers lost to, the fact of the matter remains - the Jets could easily get in over the Steelers for the simple fact they played the Colts in Week 16. And that shouldn't be true.
I think scenario 1 is the best chance. Cinncy is a run first team now & any team that's beaten the jets has done is primarily with a strong running attack. Luckily i'm sure Larry Johnson will still get a lot of work against the jets even if they sit their starters.
If you read Peter King at all, and the only reason I do is that it's slow at work, in his MMQB article he talks about how Cincy wants to prove they belong in the spotlight by having a game moved to primetime. I think we have a better shot of Cincy pulling out a win than we do Oakland beating the ratbirds.
Man, imagine if we had just won ONE of the scrub games we lost. Hurts.
How does flex scheduling work? Does the NFL have to approve the game that gets moved to 8:00 ? Does NBC just get a free pick?
I really feel like the NFL should take situations like this coming weekend into account. Moving the Jets/Bengals game to 8:00 fundamentally affects the outcome of who makes the playoffs. If New England wins, Cinci has nothing to play for, and thus lays down against NY. This basically gives NY a playoff spot and unfairly affects Pittsburgh.
Yes... the Steelers are in this situation because of their own poor play. But why wouldnt the NFL see this as a black mark on competition. the Philly v Dallas game is huge, and belongs in prime time and affects no one else.
Can this issue be raised by ownership with the league?
The NFL chooses which games will be moved. The networks, of course, lobby to either keep or get games.
But the ultimate decision belongs to the NFL.
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