Game update: The Bills have clinched the two seed with a blowout win over the Jets on Sunday. They’ll host either the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, or Cincinnati Bengals in the wild card round and likely sit their starters in Week 18.
NFL playoff picture: Bills clinch the two seed with win over Jets
The Jets face the Bills in Buffalo on Sunday. We break down what the game means for the NFL playoff picture.
Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images
Matt Warren is Associate Director of NFL coverage for SB Nation and previously covered the Buffalo Bills for Buffalo Rumblings for more than a decade. If it has to do with math, he covered it, from NFL playoff standings to salary cap analysis.
The Buffalo Bills are in the thick of the AFC playoff race while the New York Jets are not. The Jets were eliminated weeks ago and are in a tailspin, losing five of six and ten of their last twelve since a somewhat promising 2-1 start.
Let’s take a look at how their Week 17 game is going to impact the AFC standings.
Bills playoff picture
The Kansas City Chiefs clinched the one seed on Christmas Day with their win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Houston Texans clinched the four seed with their loss on Wednesday, too, so the Bills are really locked into a three-team race for seeds number two and three.
With a win in either of their two final games, a 13-win Buffalo team would clinch the two seed. If the Bills lose twice and the Ravens win in Week 18, Baltimore is the two seed and Buffalo is third. Buffalo has already clinched a better record than Pittsburgh if the Steelers win and the Ravens lose.
Tiebreaker implications
The only tiebreaker that can still come into play for the Bills is the Ravens’ head-to-head win over Buffalo from September. The win this week would be to improve Buffalo’s overall record to make that tiebreaker unusable.
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