Bye Bye Bye

**Kyle Cactus** · 11-12-2019, 02:49 PM

Some of you may hate this thread, but it ain't no lie.

We've got a great chance at a bye or even the top seed and I think it makes sense to start talking about how likely it is, what scenarios we should look out for, and what it might mean for our chances of reaching the Super Bowl.

As it stands:
NE 8-1
Bal 7-2
Hou 6-3
KC 6-4

There are other teams with a chance. Pit could catch us. Buf, currently at 6-3, could catch NE. Oak, Ind, Ten ... But the 4 teams I listed are the ones that 538 and playoffstatus give at least a 10% chance of getting a bye. So for simplicity I'm just focusing on those.

Head-to-head is the top tie breaker. All four teams have 1st place schedules, so they all play each other. Among these teams:
KC beat Bal
Hou beat KC
Bal beat NE

Hou @ Bal Week 11
NE @ Hou Week 13
KC @ NE Week 14

So this week is our biggest remaining game in terms of bye week considerations.

Remaining schedules for all 4 teams are ...
NE
@ Phi
vs Dal
@ Hou
vs KC
@ Cin
vs Buf
vs Mia

Bal
vs Hou
@ LAR
vs SF
@ Buf
vs NYJ
@ Cle
vs Pit

Hou
@ Bal
vs Ind
vs NE
vs Den
@ Ten
@ TB
vs Ten

KC
vs LAC
vs Oak
@ NE
vs Den
@ Chi
vs LAC

Winning % of remaining opponents:
NE 47%
Bal 56%
Hou 55%
KC 50%

**BustOfPallas** · 11-12-2019, 02:53 PM

I only have one real concern at this point and will just say this.

Go Browns!!!

**Kyle Cactus** · 11-12-2019, 02:55 PM

The Steelers have definitely earned my concern. I was ready to write them off earlier in the season. This is a big week with us getting Houston and them traveling to Cleveland on Thursday night.

**GaTechRavens** · 11-12-2019, 02:59 PM

Not really concerned about the Steelers. They're barely squeezing out wins week after week and while they have an easy schedule, they're not good enough where you can start marking games down as guaranteed wins. We're probably going to be favored in every game left on our schedule, they won't.

**NjRavensFan** · 11-12-2019, 03:01 PM

Imagine being afraid of the Steelers lol

**Culex** · 11-12-2019, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by NjRavensFan

Imagine being afraid of the Steelers lol

Their defense gave LJ trouble and it has only gotten better. They may not take the division away from us but facing them could still have #1 seed implications

**camdenyard** · 11-12-2019, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Kyle Cactus

The Steelers have definitely earned my concern. I was ready to write them off earlier in the season.

That right there is like Groundhog Day. You can almost set a watch to it. That's why when people post those "Knock Knock Owen 3" memes with Ben's face on them, i shake my head. Because you know what's coming.

**Greg** · 11-12-2019, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by GaTechRavens

Not really concerned about the Steelers. They're barely squeezing out wins week after week and while they have an easy schedule, they're not good enough where you can start marking games down as guaranteed wins. We're probably going to be favored in every game left on our schedule, they won't.

But they keep winning. They are always hanging around, year after year, regardless of the circumstances. Tomlin knows how to keep a team together and finding ways to win. Count them out when they are actually eliminated.

**Culex** · 11-12-2019, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by Greg

But they keep winning. They are always hanging around, year after year, regardless of the circumstances. Tomlin knows how to keep a team together and finding ways to win. Count them out when they are actually eliminated.

Agreed and we can't underestimate the fact that they aren't being controlled by divas this year

**Jfoh** · 11-12-2019, 03:30 PM

Houston is our hump game. Win that and everything afterwards could fall our way. The last four games don’t scare me at all. Bills are paper tigers, Jets please can you say Cincinnati, Browns are about to implode and the Steelers are going to run out of smoke for those smoke and mirrors show. Plus our kicker can hit a 40 yard field goal its the extra points that are a crap shoot. Comes down to Houston. Beat them and the Rams should follow, then the 49ers at home. After their loss they are due to return towards the mean.

**Caps&Ravens** · 11-12-2019, 03:38 PM

This weekend is massive. We need to put a 2 game lead plus tie breaker between us and Houston. If we lose Texans have tie breaker and KC is one game back w tie breaker.

If we can win and Eagles can upset the Pats.. oh man watch out.

**lobachevsky** · 11-12-2019, 03:38 PM

O/T: I couldn't think of any better thread to put this in, so here goes:

I haven't been paying any attention to this, but it just struck me:

In recent years it's gotten to the point where the team that wins the pre-game coin toss almost always picks the endzone to defend, deferring so as to start the 2nd half with the ball.

So far in 2019 the Ravens have been scary good on opening drives - I don't have the numbers or the time to dig them out, but haven't they scored a TD on something like 7 of 9 times? (If anyone has the real stats, please correct me.)

Should the Ravens rethink the tactic of deferring to the second half? Heck, should their opponents rethink it? Who wants to go a score down right out of the gate to a team with a habit of conducting multi-play time-killing drives that almost always put points on the board?