In your Dolphins-Raiders game story, you mentioned that the Titans and Raiders would still be ahead of the Dolphins due to better conference records. But according to the NFL's Web site, head-to-head and common games is factored before conference records in the tie-breaking procedures for three or more teams. This would give Miami the top spot, with the head to head win over the Raiders, and a better win/loss percentage over games between common opponents with the Titans. Am I missing something? Darron Carter
A: Here's how this works: Because the Dolphins and Titans won't play in the regular season, the head-to-head matchup can't be done, even though the Dolphins beat the Raiders. The tiebreaker will be conference records if all three teams finish 11-5. Because the Dolphins would be 8-4 and Tennessee and Oakland 9-3, the Titans and Raiders would receive a first-round bye. The Raiders would then finish as the No. 1 seed because of an earlier victory over Tennessee. I know this seems confusing, but three-way tiebreakers are much more complicated than if just two teams were involved. Official playoff scenarios will be announced Tuesday.
