Week 16 AFC Team Rankings with Bizarre Implications

[Ravenswintitle]

When was the last time the Pats lost two in a row?

Last year they lost to the Cardinals and then the Ravens. Actually the year before that they lost two in a row also. So I see a trend :)

[steelerhater]

So now, if the Ravens beat the Pats by a single point, fans (like you) will continue to be worried about the Bengals game (?) I'm glad our players don't feel the same way. Just relax, and let's let these last few games play out. IMO (and others) the Ravens are the last team they want to meet in the playoffs. Just refer to 2012 to see what I mean... Bc

P.S. - I'd like to add that the Patriots "should" have lost to the inept Browns (Dec. 8th), and did lose to the Fins (Dec. 15th). They are not invincible.

No, they aren't invincible. They should've also lost to the Saints, Texans, and Broncos. Whether or not we beat the Patriots tomorrow, I still don't like our chances playing the Bengals on the road. We are not a good road team. We can't run the ball and we can't consistently put pressure on the quarterback. That being said, the Bengals will probably not be too comfortable having to play the Ravens for the division title after the Ravens have just won 5 in a row.

[BcRaven]

... I still don't like our chances playing the Bengals on the road. We are not a good road team. We can't run the ball and we can't consistently put pressure on the quarterback. That being said, the Bengals will probably not be too comfortable having to play the Ravens for the division title after the Ravens have just won 5 in a row...

"Chances" is the operative word you posted. Most fans would/might have thought the Ravens were out of the playoff picture @ 4 - 6. Nobody could have predicted a 4 game win streak. Now we're in position to (a) be the #6 seed (b) win the AFCN (c) get knocked out of the playoff picture. Personally, I believe the Ravens will make the playoffs, although I don't know what seed they will be, and scare the Hell out of whichever team we're coming to meet. It's called "confidence" ... Bc

[Corvus Corax]

I guess he's assuming the scenario where the Ravens win out and the colts lose to the Chiefs this weekend.

Correct. I decided not to go into details into how I think those final seedings will be established (too exhausting).

[Corvus Corax]

Believe it or not, the pass protection has been GREATLY improved in the last few weeks. Rice and Pierce did a great job taking on blocking in the Lions game.

Lions have arguably the best DL in football, and we held them to one sack and a handful of QB hits. Exception of some lapses by Monroe and Shipley, they played an amazing game vs the huge DTs of the Lions.

I won't disagree. I tend to remember the negative plays the broadcasters focus on.

[Corvus Corax]

For those of you who were wondering why I emphasized "bizarre implications" in the thread title, it may help to know that I forgot to include the following in my initial posting:

Bizarre Situation No. 2:

IF the Dolphins manage to lose one of their last two games, the Bengals defeat the Vikings, and the Ravens defeat both the Patriots and the Bengals, then the Ravens capture the #3 seed (assuming the Patriots win their last home game and Indy loses at KC) while the Bengals get the #6 seed. That means there's a Ravens-Bengals rematch in Baltimore in the Wildcard round.

You read it here first folks.

Bizarre Situation No. 3(?):

IF the Dolphins manage to lose one of their last two games, the Bengals defeat the Vikings and the Ravens, and the Ravens defeat the Patriots, then the Bengals capture the #3 seed? Nope, can't happen. The Bengals would get the #2 seed since they own tiebreakers over both the Patriots and Indy. Otherwise, if Ravens capture #6 seed (assuming the Chargers lose a game), there's a Ravens-Bengals rematch in Cincinnati in the Wildcard round. Again, won't happen.

It probably didn't seem bizarre enough to have the Ravens or the Bengals be eliminated by Miami. My bad.

[lobachevsky]

You've been reading that from others on this site for a couple of weeks before I posted it here, folks.

FTFY. You might try following the other discussions & blogs on this site before you dislocate your shoulder patting yourself on the back.

[Ravens44]

Correct me if I am wrong, but there is an outside chance that the Ravens can get the 2nd seed as well.
KC beats the Colts, Bills win out, Ravens win out.

[ravenfever]

When was the last time the Pats lost two in a row?

When was the last time they lost to the Dolphins before last week??

[lobachevsky]

Correct me if I am wrong, but there is an outside chance that the Ravens can get the 2nd seed as well.
KC beats the Colts, Bills win out, Ravens win out.

Correct. (All of the following has been posted before, I'm just repeating it here for convenience.)

If the Bills & Crows win out, Miami finishes 9-7 while NE, Indy & Baltimore win their divisions at 10-6**. With no head-to-head sweep (or total fail) amongst the latter 3, tiebreaker goes to conference games: BAL & IND 8-4, NE 7-5, so NE is #4 seed, and BAL gets #2 seed based on games vs common opponents at 4-1 (CIN 2-0, DEN 0-1, HOU 1-0, MIA 1-0) vs IND at 3-2 (CIN 0-1, DEN 1-0, HOU 2-0, MIA 0-1). ** If Indy loses out to finish 9-7, BAL takes #2 seed over NE via head to head.

Resulting Wild Card Weekend schedule: Whichever of DEN/KC does not win the AFCW plays at NE, and CIN (with a win vs MIN in Week 16 or a MIA loss vs NYJ in Week 17) plays at IND.

[Haloti92]

Another wild, but unlikely, possibility (that loba has probably mentioned somewhere already, but is worth a repeat, imo ;) ) is that our game against the Bengals becomes a "two win or go home" game, where the winner gets bye (free WC win) into the Divisional round as the #2 seed and the loser misses the playoffs. If you think about it, that is some crazy stuff right there.

It sort of requires our game to be flexed to the night game, if the teams are to be aware of these stakes, but it would occur if:

Patriots lose out (to us and Buffalo)
Cincy loses to Minny today
Chargers win out (vs. Oak and vs. KC)
Miami goes 1-1 (@ Buffalo and vs. Jets)
Colts go 1-1 or worse (@ KC and vs. Jax)

All of that results in Balt at Cincy being for the #2 seed or nothing.

[Ravenswintitle]

you guys are getting way ahead of yourselves :)

Beat the Pats!