NFL Week 14 Game Thread

[Al Zarilla]

AFC East title, bitches!

 

[LesterFan]

Is the division still up for grabs?

 

[normstalls]

I'm an idiot, can someone explain to me how a last place Miami loss clinches the division for the Pats? I can't wrap my head around that.

edit: Got it, thanks!

 

[amarshal2]

I'm an idiot, can someone explain to me how a last place Miami loss clinches the division for the Pats? I can't wrap my head around that.

Some sort of strength of schedule/victory tie breaker. If you wanted a more thorough explanation...I'm not your man.

 

[LesterFan]

The Miami loss would clinch at least a tie in the Pats' strength-of-victory tiebreaker with the Jets. That's fifth on the list of tiebreakers the NFL uses. And since the Patriots would own the sixth tiebreaker, strength of schedule, the Patriots would win the AFC East.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/patriots/the_blitz/2015/12/patriots_clinch_afc_east_thanks_to_dolphins_loss

 

[Section15Box113]

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/patriots/the_blitz/2015/12/patriots_clinch_afc_east_thanks_to_dolphins_loss

So, if a Miami loss truly clinches the division, the Playoff Machine is not infallible.

Running certain scenarios with a Giants win along with the NYJ winning out and the Patriots losing out gives the division to the Jets, relegating the Pats to the 5 seed.

There's even a way - according to the machine - to get the Jets a bye, though that relies on a HOU-TEN tie and an PIT-BAL tie (among other assumptions).

It appears that the Playoff Machine has been updated. Re-running one of the scenarios that during the game showed the NYJ winning the division and taking the third seed now shows the Pats as division champs.

(I still had the window open and matched my assumptions game-by-game - I'd assumed the NYG win - and came up with a new result.)

Strange. But I'm glad to see it because hats and t-shirts are nice.