The Las Vegas Raiders suffered a brutal 38-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 9. However, the Raiders got some help with the Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns also losing over the weekend, keeping Las Vegas in the AFC Wild Card hunt as we take a look at the playoff picture/standings below.
[Editor’s note: The standings below are before the Buffalo Bills-Minnesota Vikings game on Monday night. Silver and Black Pride will update this article when that game goes final.]
AFC Playoff Standings
1. Buffalo Bills (6-1) – Monday Night Football
2. Denver Broncos (7-2)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (6-2, 5-2 in AFC for tiebreaker over PIT)
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2, win over CIN, 3-2 in AFC)
5. Kansas City Chiefs (6-2, 6-1 AFC for tiebreaker over CIN)
6. Cincinnati Bengals (6-2, loss to PIT, 4-2 AFC)
7. New England Patriots (5-4, 5-1 AFC for tiebreaker over CLE)
8. Cleveland Browns (5-4, 3-3 AFC)
9. Las Vegas Raiders (4-5, 3-3 AFC for tiebreaker over BAL)
10. Baltimore Ravens (4-5, 2-4 AFC)
11. Houston Texans (3-5)
12. New York Jets (2-7, 2-4 AFC for tiebreaker over IND)
13. Indianapolis Colts (2-7, 1-5 AFC)
14. Miami Dolphins (1-7, 1-4 AFC for tiebreaker over TEN)
15. Tennessee Titans (1-7, 1-5 AFC)
16. Los Angeles Chargers (0-8)
Explaining the 6-2 logjam: The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals are both 6-2, so they first have to settle the AFC North leader. Pittsburgh’s win over the Bengals slots the Steelers into fourth place. In the Wild Card, the Chiefs and Bengals are tied. The Chiefs have the best AFC record at 6-1, so they fill in at fifth. The Bengals are sixth.
As mentioned last week, the Ravens’ playoff hopes are dwindling now that starting quarterback Lamar Jackson is likely out for the season and backup Tyler Huntley is on injured reserve. Baltimore traded for Jacoby Brissett last week to give the offense another option, though. Meanwhile, the Patriots got blown out by the Green Bay Packers to lose two of their last three games, and the Browns fell a point short after going for two in overtime against the New Orleans Saints.
So, the Raiders are only a game back of the third Wild Card spot. However, it’s technically a game-and-a-half since the Patriots have the tiebreaker with the head-to-head win. Additionally, Las Vegas heads to Cleveland at the end of the month, giving the Silver and Black another opportunity to gain some ground in the seventh-seed race.
Next week, New England has the Detroit Lions in Germany, the Browns host the Texans, and the Ravens host the Chargers on Monday Night Football (yuck!), while the Raiders host the Seattle Seahawks.
