Steelers can clinch playoffs this week, but not us? WTH?

[RavenScallywag]

Someone please explain this to me...

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/pos...spot-this-week

I guess this just means that because Pitt definitively has the advantage over the Bengals, a win this weekend assures them of WC spot. But I don't get how, with the same record and WE SWEPT THEM, we also can't clinch a spot.

[HoustonRaven]

Kind of a play on words.

Yes, because they play Thursday night football, they can clinch this week if they win. They will 1/2 game ahead of us in the divisional race and, if we were to lose out, we'd be out of a playoff spot.

[Tyrian]

Someone please explain this to me...

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/pos...spot-this-week

I guess this just means that because Pitt definitively has the advantage over the Bengals, a win this weekend assures them of WC spot. But I don't get how, with the same record and WE SWEPT THEM, we also can't clinch a spot.

Posted it on AFC Seeding thread yesterday:

"Another quirk this week - Pittsburgh can clinch a wildcard (albeit in a long scenario), but the Ravens can't in my estimation (largely due to the loss vs Tennessee and one less AFC conference win compared to Pit - 6-2 v 7-3; Jets and Bengals if they lose and the Ravens win mean they're out of contention, but Ten can win via H2H, Den with AFC conference record [Bal can still go to 7-5 despite win and Den can reach 9-3] and while Oakland at best could only tie AFC conference record with Bal, they could still win common opponents [currently 4-0 v 3-0 in favour of Oakland])."

I'm not sure I agree with Jamison's reasoning - as said, it's more due to Tennessee and the AFC conference record currently rather than Cincinnati (we have divisional tiebreaker over them and they can't get a H2H over us).

[RavenScallywag]

I really hope the 49ers beat them and give us a game breathing room...

We have the best divisional record after Week 16 if we beat Cleveland. But we can't clinch the AFC North until Week 17 if Pitt continues to win.

[MinnesotaRaven]

Figures Willis would go down in time for this game... Why does the sun continue to shine on this dog's ass.

[lobachevsky]

Excuse me, but all these bozos are just plain fucking WRONG.

To clinch a spot in the playoffs, there must be no possible scenario in which they would not get one of the 6 seeds.

The Squealers are 9-3. If they win Thursday, they would be 10-3. Now suppose they lose their last 3 games (e.g., the entire roster comes down with Ebola) to finish 10-6.

Denver, Oakland, Tennessee and the Jets are all 7-5 at the moment. None of them play each other, so each could theoretically finish 11-5. At the same the Pats could finish 12-4 (losing only to Denver), Houston could finish 12-4 (losing only to the Titans), and the Ravens could finish 13-3. In that scenario the Pats win the AFCE, the Ravens win the AFCN, the Texans win the AFCS, then the Nags win the AFCW (better AFC record), and 2 of the 3 teams left at 11-5 (OAK, NYJ, TEN) get the 2 wild cards. Leaving the Tar&Urine golfing in January.

What are those clowns smoking? Are they really trying so hard to pander to the Squealers' fan base that they'll flat-out lie, or are they just too stupid to care? (If this was Fox, my money would be on lying--something their "news" operation does routinely--but I digress...)

[Dave Lap]

I really hope the 49ers beat them and give us a game breathing room...

.

Course the Steelers have a mini bye after the Browns game to prepare and rest for San Fran. Why do they always seem to get good breaks?

[Tyrian]

"Denver, Oakland, Tennessee and the Jets are all 7-5 at the moment. None of them play each other, so each could theoretically finish 11-5. At the same the Pats could finish 12-4 (losing only to Denver), Houston could finish 12-4 (losing only to the Titans), and the Ravens could finish 13-3. In that scenario the Pats win the AFCE, the Ravens win the AFCN, the Texans win the AFCS, either the Nags or Rayduhs wins the AFCW, and the 3 teams left at 11-5 (OAK or DEN, NYJ, TEN) get the 2 wild cards. Leaving the Tar&Urine golfing in January."

That's why Pittsburgh needs to win AND at least three of those teams need to lose, meaning that all would fall to 10-6 at best. Then the Steelers have tiebreakers against all of them in some way.

Given the schedule for the week, they'll probably have to wait.

[Haloti92]

The statement is the "Steelers can clinch a playoff spot." Period. It isn't the "Steelers can clinch playoff spot with a win <only>." They need other stuff to happen this week in addition to winning, but at the end of the week they could have a playoff spot in hand.

[SteelGirl]

Excuse me, but all these bozos are just plain fucking WRONG.



The Squealers are 9-3. If they win Thursday, they would be 10-3. Now suppose they lose their last 3 games (e.g., the entire roster comes down with Ebola) to finish 10-6.

Denver, Oakland, Tennessee and the Jets are all 7-5 at the moment. None of them play each other, so each could theoretically finish 11-5. At the same the Pats could finish 12-4 (losing only to Denver), Houston could finish 12-4 (losing only to the Titans), and the Ravens could finish 13-3. In that scenario the Pats win the AFCE, the Ravens win the AFCN, the Texans win the AFCS, either the Nags win the AFCW (better AFC record), and 2 of the 3 teams left at 11-5 (OAK, NYJ, TEN) get the 2 wild cards. Leaving the Tar&Urine golfing in January.

What are those clowns smoking? Are they really trying so hard to pander to the Squealers' fan base that they'll flat-out lie, or are they just too stupid to care? (If this was Fox, my money would be on lying--something their "news" operation does routinely--but I digress...)

The Steelers have to win and get 2 or 3 other losses by teams chasing to clinch the spot! Is this too hard to understand??

Edit: Well I see others have beat me to this......

[Ibravenfan]

Its just a swift kick in the teeth to the Ravens for not taking care of business to losing teams. None of it matters because each week it's looking more and more like there will be a third game between these two teams. Hopefully, just another beating to make it a threepeat.

[NCRAVEN]

The Steelers have to win and get 2 or 3 other losses by teams chasing to clinch the spot! Is this too hard to understand??

Edit: Well I see others have beat me to this......

I don't think he read the link.