Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new No. 1 seed in the AFC. Granted, there is a chance the New England Patriots slide down the rankings again later in Week 11, but they are at least temporarily in the top spot in the conference after beating the New York Jets 27-14 on Thursday Night Football.
For the Patriots, this ensures that they head into their mini bye in a comfortable position. Unlike their rivals, who are now one win down, they have already done their job and placed the ball in their courts:
while the Indianapolis Colts will finish the week behind New England given that they are on their bye, the Denver Broncos will need to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday to equal the 9-2 overall record and pull ahead again based on a superior conference performance so far.
That is not a given, of course, which means there is a realistic outlook the top of the AFC playoff picture will remain intact after this weekend.
- New England Patriots (9-2)
- Indianapolis Colts (8-2)
- Denver Broncos (8-2)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (5-4)
- Los Angeles Chargers (7-3)
- Buffalo Bills (6-3)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (5-4)
On the bubble: 8. Kansas City Chiefs (5-4), 9. Houston Texans (4-5), 10. Baltimore Ravens (4-5)
Not technically eliminated but let’s be real here: 11. Cincinnati Bengals (3-6), 12. Miami Dolphins (3-7), 13. Las Vegas Raiders (2-7), 14. Cleveland Browns (2-7), 15. New York Jets (2-8), 16. Tennessee Titans (1-8)
The Patriots’ win over the Jets does not just put pressure on Indianapolis and Denver, but also the Buffalo Bills. The team’s closest competitor when it comes to the AFC East rivals are, the Bills entered Week 11 one and a half games behind New England in the standings. In order not to fall further behind, they will have to beat the 6-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon.
