Playoff Picture Simplified | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Playoff Picture Simplified

LoneStarPhin

Active Roster
Joined
Dec 3, 2013
Messages
1,565
Reaction score
1,712
Yes, I know it’s “just win, baby, and let the rest take care of itself.” This is just an overview to assist in who and how you might want to root in next few weeks if you havent yet sliced and diced it.

We have three winnable games. Also, three losable. VERY outside chance of winning Div outright if Pats stumble @ Pitt and get shocked at home by Buff or Jets and we win out.

1. Chargers sit at 10-3. we give them or KC the first wild card. That leaves Pitt/Balt, Indy, Titans, Denver as our four competitors for last spot. All are 7-6 except Pitt 7-5-1 and Denv 6-7.

2. We hold tiebreaker over Titans due to our W and will likely root for them to beat Indy @Titans in game 16. Also in any 3 way, the best Conf record they can get is 6-6. they also play @ NY Giants (a suddenly hot team) then Redskins.

3. Indy has tiebreaker over us do to their W, but their best possible conf record is 7-5 in case of a 3 way no winner. So even a W in last week at Titans leave us with chance due to two hard home games- Dallas in game 14 and hot Giants in game 15.

4. Denver at 6-7, but we include them here realistically due to 3 winnable closing games Cleveland, @ Oakland, Chargers. Chargers winnable as they’ll likely have a wild card sewn up by game 16 and may not ball out on road. Best conf record for Denver is 7-5.

5. Our Nemesis Baltimore is battling Pitt for Division. They have Tampa Bay, @ Chargers, Cleveland. their best possible conf record is 8-4. This Sunday will tell us which way to root. If they win their division, Miami would not play them in first round. yay!

6. Pitt is 7-5-1. They have brutal finish Pats, @Saints, Bengals. Conf record is bad with best possible 6-5-1 so we will match up well in tiebreaker, unlike Balt. EDIT- due to tie, we likely wont be in tiebreaker. They either win 2 and win either their Div or Wild Card (unless someone goes 10-6) or they lose 2 and are out of it.

7. Miami has a few good things going for it- 6-4 conf record, all games left vs losing records. @MN, Jax, @ Buff. Maybe the toughest game (MN) is not a conf game, so wins over Jax and Buff put us at 9-7 with an 8-4 conf record.
A streaking Baltimore doesnt hurt fins as much as Pitt will have a tough time finishing 2-1. Also, Baltimore at Chargers is great opp for Fins to pick up the tiebreaker conf record vs Balt even if we lose to Vikings.

TIEBREAKER NOTE: Ravens beat both Denver and Titans, so we dont want a tiebreaker with Ravens plus either of those or Ravens go.


Bottom line- several things line up well for miami right now on paper if we can manage to beat Jax and Buff.

This is a battered team, but not a defeated team. Here’s hoping that the Miami Miracle will provide lasting juice to get us over the hump!
 
Last edited:
Appreciate you walking us through this. Obviously we'd love to win out but it is good to see how the cards may fall as these teams finish the season.
 
Man i hate the Ravens. And i was an orioles fan growing up too, actually like the city. They take over TV spots here even though no one down here cares about them. And they've always had a player or 2 I just don't like.
 
Yeah i was pleasantly surprised to see that even a loss this weekend diesnt kill our chances by any means.

I dont think we’re going to see a 10-6 last wild card spot this year, and we sit pretty with tiebreakers if we can win our last two.
 
Happy we have a chance at the playoffs. But i hate that it's always based on if X happens and Y happens then we *could* get in.

I'm patiently waiting for the day this team makes the playoffs without assistance from anyone.
 
So basically, if we lose to the Vikings and go 9-7, we'll still have the best conference record out of any of these teams. So the only additional things we would need are 1) Balt OR Pitt to lose 1 game, and 2) avoid being tied with ONLY Indy at 9-7 since they own the head-to-head. Is this right?
 
I’m really more worried about @Buffalo than @Minnesota.

Minnesota is in turmoil offensively right now, it’s in doors, and they are on a short week. They are beatable.

Dolphins should beat Jags at home. But given how the Bills played us in Miami, a game up there in the elements with them all jacked to have an opportunity to keep us out of the playoffs seems like a recipe for disaster...
 
Texans W over Jets, Pit W over NE and a Miami W over Minnesota drops NE from 2nd to 3rd seed. OF course the next 2 weeks could changes things but that would put Mia @ NE for the wildcard game.
 
So basically, if we lose to the Vikings and go 9-7, we'll still have the best conference record out of any of these teams. So the only additional things we would need are 1) Balt OR Pitt to lose 1 game, and 2) avoid being tied with ONLY Indy at 9-7 since they own the head-to-head. Is this right?

Yes, if we are 9-7 with Indy we need another team at 9-7 or we're out
 
Happy we have a chance at the playoffs. But i hate that it's always based on if X happens and Y happens then we *could* get in.

I'm patiently waiting for the day this team makes the playoffs without assistance from anyone.

Right now there are 8-10 teams that would LOVE to get in, in spite of the 'if's'. No shame in backing in.
 
Dolphins should beat Jags at home. But given how the Bills played us in Miami, a game up there in the elements with them all jacked to have an opportunity to keep us out of the playoffs seems like a recipe for disaster...
Yeah I don’t like our chances in Buffalo in that scenario at all. Allen will run for 200 yards and throw three TD’s.
 
Yes, if we are 9-7 with Indy we need another team at 9-7 or we're out
If we finish 9-7 with our loss to Vikings, my concern is getting another team at 9-7 with us and colts. Ravens can easily take the division with Steeler’s remaining schedule which would leave us in a tough spot at 9-7 with Steelers at 8-7-1. Steelers winning 2 of last 3 is huge for us if we lose this week.
 
If we finish 9-7 with our loss to Vikings, my concern is getting another team at 9-7 with us and colts. Ravens can easily take the division with Steeler’s remaining schedule which would leave us in a tough spot at 9-7 with Steelers at 8-7-1. Steelers winning 2 of last 3 is huge for us if we lose this week.


Or have Pitt LOSE 2 of 3 and they finish out of pkayoffs at 8-7-1. that is probably mire realistic. If they win 2 of 3, Baltimore HAS to lose to chargers or cleveland.
 
I’m really more worried about @Buffalo than @Minnesota.

Minnesota is in turmoil offensively right now, it’s in doors, and they are on a short week. They are beatable.

Dolphins should beat Jags at home. But given how the Bills played us in Miami, a game up there in the elements with them all jacked to have an opportunity to keep us out of the playoffs seems like a recipe for disaster...

My biggest fear at Minny is coming out flat.
 
Back
Top Bottom