Figuring out Raiders' playoff chances

Share

KANSAS CITY -- With their 16-13 overtime victory against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Raiders kept their playoff hopes alive, especially when it comes to their own division title plans.The Raiders are 8-7, same as Denver, which lost at Buffalo, 40-14.Essentially, the Raiders need to beat San Diego at the O.co Coliseum and the Broncos have to lose at home to Kansas City.

But should both the Raiders and Broncos win next week the Broncos would win the division based on the third tie-breaking procedure for two teams in the same division -- best won-lost-tied percentage in common games. And because the Broncos beat Miami, while the Raiders lost to the Dolphins, the Broncos would be crowned division champs.If both the Raiders and Broncos lose next week, then we'd have a three-way tie between the Broncos, Raiders and San Diego at 8-8. In that scenario, the Broncos would win the division by virtue of the third-tie-breaker within a division between three-or-more clubs -- best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.The Raiders still have hopes of a wild-card berth, as well, but would need to win and for Cincinnati to lose at home to Baltimore. According to a Tweet from the NFL Network's Rich Eisen, "Figuring out AFC wildcard is messy, but: CIN wins, they're in. If DEN wins West and OAK still wins and it's OAKCINNYJTEN at 9-7, it's OAK."

Contact Us