Bob Costas is right. It's one of my pet peeves about sports, and in particular sportscasters and sports announcers. Teams chasing down positions in the playoffs are NOT in control of their own destiny. You can't control destiny. It's like when baseball people talk about somebody having "105 RBI's on the season". The stat RBI stands for Runs Batted In, not Runs Batted INS.
Anyway, now that I've briefly vented about playoff destiny, let me set the table for all you NFL fans for this weekend. All 16 games are on Sunday, BTW's…
AFC Teams – 3 are in, 6 are battling for 3 spots
IN: Tennessee is the #1 seed, Pittsburgh is the #2 seed, and Indianapolis is locked into the #5 seed as a wild card.
TO BE DETERMINED:
#3 Seed for AFC East winner: Miami wins the AFC East with a win over the NY Jets. If the Dolphins lose, then New England wins the AFC East with a win over Buffalo. If both the Dolphins and Patriots lose, the Jets will win the AFC East.
#4 Seed for AFC West winner: The winner of Sunday night's Denver at San Diego contest wins this division. If there is a tie, the Broncos will win the division. If the Chargers win it, they will join the 1985 Cleveland Browns as the only 8-8 AFC division winners in history.
#6 Seed for 2nd Wild Card: Baltimore can claim this spot with a win against Jacksonville. If the Ravens lose, the Patriots can claim it with a win over Buffalo provided Miami wins as well. The Jets can claim this spot if the Ravens and the Patriots win the AFC East with a win.
NFC Teams – 4 are in, 5 are battling for 2 spots
IN: NY Giants are the #1 seed, Arizona is the #4 seed, and both Carolina and Atlanta are in.
TO BE DETERMINED:
#2 Seed for NFC South winner: Carolina wins the NFC South with a win over New Orleans or an Atlanta loss to St. Louis. Atlanta gains this spot if they win AND Carolina loses. Of these two teams, the one that is not the #2 seed will be the #5 seed.
#3 Seed for NFC North winner: Minnesota wins the NFC North with a win over the Giants. If they lose, Chicago can clinch the NFC North with a win over Houston. If both the Vikings and Bears lose, Minnesota wins the division.
#6 Seed for 2nd Wild Card: Dallas can claim this spot with a win against Philadelphia. If the Cowboys lose, Tampa Bay can clinch this spot with a win over Oakland. If both the Cowboys and Bucs lose, Chicago can claim this spot with a win over Houston if Minnesota also wins. If the Cowboys, Bucs, and Bears all lose, Philadelphia will claim this spot.
Enjoy the games!
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