FanPost

The New England Patriots Stretch and Clinching Situations

Its the second week of December, and up to now, we have witnessed an amazing year by Tom Brady, and emergences of Devin McCourty, Danny Woodhead, and Ben Jarvous Green-Ellis, among others. This young team has been able to clinch a playoff spot (wildcard or division leader) with 3 important games remaining; where they will face two division rivals and a strong non-conference team.

The Patriots sit at 11-2 for the year, and their threats to take away the AFC East, Home-Field, and 1st seed are those with a 8-5 record or higher. (because the Patriots worst possible finish is 11-5)

Now with that done, lets take a look at each team individually.

Jaguars:

Possibilities:

  • A Patriots win in ANY of their remaining games
  • A Jaguars loss in ANY of their remaining games

Tie-braking Procedure Breakdown:

  1. Head-to-Head: N/A
  2. Conference: JAG 7-3 / NE 8-2
  3. Common Games: JAG 3-1(1 remaining) / NE 3-1 (1 remaining)

The Jaguars play at the Colts, against the Redskins, and visit the Texans.
Threat level: Low Unless the Patriots lose out and the Jaguars win out, they wont take the home-field.


Chiefs:
Possibilities:

  • A Patriots win in ANY of their remaining games
  • A Chiefs loss in ANY of their remaining games

Tie-braking Procedure Breakdown:

  1. Head-to-Head: N/A
  2. Conference: KC 5-5 (2 remaining) / NE 8-2 (2 remaining) New England Wins tiebreaker

If the Chiefs win out and the Patriots lose out, they tie. New England holds the tie-breaker. So regardless, the Patriots would beat them.

Threat level: None

Jets

Possibilities:

  • Two Patriot wins
  • Two Jets losses
  • A Patriot win + a Jet loss

Tie Braking Procedures:

  1. Head-to-Head: 1-1
  2. Division: NYJ 3-2 (1 remaining) // NE: 3-1(two remaining)
  3. Common Games: NYJ: 6-3 (3 remaining) // NE: 8-3 (3 remaining)

Jets remaining schedule: At the Steelers, at the Bears, against the Bills

Threat level: Mild

Ravens

Possibilities:

  1. Patriots win 1 game
  2. Ravens loose 1 game

Tie-braking Procedures: Head-to-Head: Patriots 1-0 (no remaining games) Patriots win tiebreaker

Ravens remaining schedule: Against the Saints, at the Browns, versus the Bengals.

Threat level: Low

Steelers

Possibilities:

  1. Patriots win 2 games
  2. Steelers loose 2 games
  3. Patriots win 1 + Steelers loose 1

Tie-braking Procedures:

Head-to-Head: 1-0 Patriots Patriots win Tiebreaker

Steelers remaining games: Against the Jets, against the Panthers, and at the Browns

Threat Level: High

A quick explanation:

On situations where the Patriots win the tiebreaker, the other team Must have a better record than the Patriots in order to claim the home-field away from us, if they tie us, the Patriots still win.

If the Patriots find themselves winning on Sunday night, the Ravens and Jaguars are out of the battle. One of the Steelers and Jets will loose the game (baring a rare tie), and getting themselves out of the mix.

Games to root for:

Week 15:

Patriots vs Packers

Colts vs Jaguars

Saints @ Ravens

If any of these combinations happen, it eliminates someone from the 1st seed race. If the Patriots win, it eliminates the Jaguars and Ravens. I think we should let the Steelers-Jets game play itself out and see what happens. They both pose threats to us.

The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SB Nation.