Pats or Bills win which is better for us?

[ActionJackson8]

The winner of that game will win the division. If it’s the Pats they will presumably have the 2 seed with the Chiefs as the likely 3, meaning they would have to play each other to get to us in the AFC championship. We would probably play the Bills (or maybe the Texans?) on our side of the bracket. The Bills are a hard nosed team with great defense that were able to slow down Lamar, and could give us more problems in the divisional game.

If the Bills win they should have either the 2 or 3 seed and play Kansas City. The Pats would fall to the 5 seed which would probably make them our divisional round opponent. We would have to beat the Pats and then the Chiefs/Bills winner

[PGCountyRaven85]

Rooting for the Bills to win, as there's a scenario where it could cause the Pats to drop to the 3 seed and won't give them time to rest their key players like Edelman, Sanu or Jason McCourty who are really banged up, or an week to coach up guys like Harry.

[bst3975]

The winner of that game will win the division.

No, only if Bills win out and Pats also lose the following week, at home, to the Dolphins - unless I misunderstood you, and you are merely making a prediction.

[FuzzyDice]

The Bills are good team with an elite D, but I'd rather the Ravens face them in the playoffs instead of the Pats. I think anyone who's being honest with themselves wouldn't want to see the Pats in the playoffs. I think the best scenario for the Ravens is that the current seeding stays put and the Pats and Chiefs wind up playing each other, so we only have to face one of them.

[Buffalo Bills Fan]

No, only if Bills win out and Pats also lose the following week, at home, to the Dolphins - unless I misunderstood you, and you are merely making a prediction.

Ya the Patriots beat us I think on common opponents tiebreaker. Witch means (patriots) lose to Bill's next and lose to Dolphins there final week. Bills have to win final 2 games.

[Caps&Ravens]

I’d rather play Pats then Chiefs in playoffs right now.

Pats are a great team but they just don’t match up well against us. The Chiefs can score and their defense is playing better.

Texans are an interesting team. They can beat anybody but would anyone be surprised if Josh Allen and Bills beat them in wild card round.

An All-AFC East playoff I think is my preferred route.

[cvilleRaven]

If we finish as the #1 seed, we won't see KC or NE until the AFCCG. We get a week of rest (which is, as has been discussed not long ago on this board, a MAJOR advantage, ESPECIALLY for Harbaugh), and face the lowest remaining team. Ideally, we also could end up with a Saturday game in the Divisional round, and get an extra day before the AFCCG should we win. A hungry team, at home, with an extra day of rest, and a trip to Miami on the line.

I don't care who steps in to that stadium - we will take care of business at home!

The ONLY team in the AFC bracket that we've played right now that we haven't beaten (and soundly at that for the majority of them) is KC. Pittsburgh was right after we gutted the defense, so half the guys were still learning names. Buffalo was in the middle of 20+ mph wind. Both were road games. At home, we've beaten 3 teams with Super Bowl aspirations by a combined 98 - 44. The 49ers were the only team even remotely close, and that was in sustained downpour for the entire game.

[organizedchaos21]

Ya the Patriots beat us I think on common opponents tiebreaker. Witch means lose to us next and lose to Dolphins there final week.

Correct. Assuming the Bills upset NE, the H2H would be split, and both teams would be 5-1 (assuming both win in week 17) or 4-2 (assuming both lose in week 17) in the division (any other scenario results in no tie). NE and BUF share 12 common opponents (the other 4 games include their 2 H2H matchups and the games in which NE played KC/HOU and BUF played DEN/TEN). NE is 10-1 in those common games (they lost to BAL, and their other losses came in non-common games against KC and HOU), while BUF is 8-3 (losses to BAL, CLE, and PHI, with a loss to NE as well).

[Dirt1]

I always thought that after the H2H and division record tie breakers came the conference record. If the Bills beat the Patriots next week, they would both have the same number of losses, but the Bills would have the better conference record since one of their losses was to the Eagles, while all of the Patriots losses would have been in the AFC. But I guess that isn’t the way the tie breakers work.


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[WNCRavensFan]

Provided the Ravens beat the Browns, and the Pats beat the Dolphins week 17... I guess it comes down to whether we want the 2/3 game at Gilette or Arrowhead. Big advantage to the home team either way.

[organizedchaos21]

I always thought that after the H2H and division record tie breakers came the conference record. If the Bills beat the Patriots next week, they would both have the same number of losses, but the Bills would have the better conference record since one of their losses was to the Eagles, while all of the Patriots losses would have been in the AFC. But I guess that isn’t the way the tie breakers work.

That's the way inter-divisional tiebreakers work (for seeding or WC spots). In the division, I believe there are actually more common games than conference games (ignoring the 6 divisional games that are already used, each team has 6 other conference games, but 8 other common games), so it makes sense to use record in common games before conference record. On the other hand, teams in different divisions are rarely going to have more than 4 or 5 common games (and indeed, many sets of teams don't even have the requisite 4 for the tiebreaker to count), so it makes more sense to use conference record in those situations.

[Meanie Bigjae]

I want the Pats to lose to the Bills. I don't want the Pats getting a first round bye. Win their division or not, I just want the Pats to have to play in wildcard weekend. Either way, it is definitely shaping up to where we won't see the pats or chiefs until the AFC championship game. Knowing the competitor Lamar is, I bet he wants the Chiefs, lol.