Time to talk tie-breakers

[McC]

(11-06-2015, 11:22 PM)EatonFan Wrote: OK.  I think most have wondered about the playoff puzzle and the absolutely mind-blowing idea that the Bengals, Broncos, Patriots could be 16-0 at the end of the season and what tie-breakers are involved.

First, all 3 teams can not go 16-0.  We play the Broncos and New England plays the Broncos.  So, those games (it goes without saying) are HUGE.  Not only because of the "blemish" on our record, but also because of the first tie-breaker:  Head-to-Head.  This basically means a 2 games lead over that team if you win those matchups.

Given the above the NE/Broncos  Bengals/Broncos games are paramount to getting that coveted #1 seed.  If we beat Denver and Denver beats NE then we'd have the inside track.  If NE beats Denver and we lose to Denver, NE has the inside track and Denver has the inside track on #2.  We would thus fall to #3 even at 15-1 as we lose head to head and strength of schedule.  If Denver wins against both NE and Bengals, they pretty much can lock the #1 seed up.  Additionally, we lose to NE currently on strength of schedule.

Current strength of schedule for each team currently (as of the records today of opponents):

Broncos                 47.2% Winning % of opponents
New England         44.8%
Bengals                 42.9%

Strength of schedule is a huge tie-breaker here for the #2 seed.

We took a bath on strength of schedule.  And it started out as the second toughest.  Would really suck to be penalized because so many teams on our schedule laid an egg for the season.