Bills playoff scenarios for Week 18: All of the ways Buffalo can grab a postseason spot in AFC

The Bills travel to Miami to face the Dolphins where the winner will be crowned AFC East champion.

Buffalo might have the most interesting situation of any team entering the final week. They could be as high as the two seed, but also miss the playoffs altogether. They are a team nobody wants to face and has legit Super Bowl upside but might miss the dance. 

Here’s everything you need to know about their playoff scenarios:

How the Bills can clinch

There are five ways the Bills could clinch a playoff spot

Win at Dolphins clinches AFC East title and two seedTie clinches a playoff spotSteelers loss/tie clinches playoff spotJaguars loss/tie clinches playoff spotTexans-Colts tie clinches playoff spot

Those are a lot of outs, and they could enter their game on Sunday night having already clinched a playoff spot with a Steelers or Jaguars loss (or tie). Yup, so if the Steelers lose in Baltimore on Saturday (4:30 ET), Buffalo is in. If the Jaguars lose at the Titans on Sunday afternoon, Buffalo is in. 

You can see why Buffalo has an 89 percent chance to make the postseason according to SportsLine projections. 

Of course, the Steelers (3.5-point favorite vs. a Ravens team that is probably resting starters) and Jaguars (5.5-point favorite vs. 5-11 Titans) could easily both win, leaving it up to the Bills to win in Miami. 

It’s kind of nuts that we are even talking about a winner-take-all game for the AFC East title considering the Bills were three games back of the Dolphins with five games to play. They could be the fourth team in NFL history to win a division after they were three games back with five weeks remaining, joining the 1973 Bengals, 2008 Chargers and 2022 Jaguars.

How the Bills can be eliminated

On the flip side, the Bills would be eliminated with a loss, plus wins by both the Jaguars and Steelers, as long as the Colts-Texans game doesn’t end in a tie. Considering what almost happened…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bills-playoff-scenarios-for-week-18-all-of-the-ways-buffalo-can-grab-a-postseason-spot-in-afc/

Author : Douglas Clawson

Publish date : 2024-01-07 00:20:05

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