Actually, the formula is known, it's just nearly impossible to look at it right now because there are still 16 NFL games to be played.
The formula is simple for strength of victory. The winning percentage of the teams you beat. If ours is higher than whoever elses that we are compared too, than we get the tiebreaker. You can't physically look at it until all the games are over for every team, but from what I have calculated, it is nearly impossible for us to top the Raiders, but we should easily top the Titans should we end up in a 3 way tie with them. If we end up in a 2 way tie vs. the Titans, then we win based on common opponents (the reason this isn't considered if us, the Titans, and the Raiders tie is because the three of us did not play 4 of the same teams, EX. we may have played 5 teams that the Raiders played, but the Titans only played 3 of those teams, so therefore the three of us only have three common opponents whereas you need four for it to count as a tiebreaker).
So basically, if we beat New England and Houston beats Tennessee (the game is in Houston), then we will jump Tennessee and end up the #2 or #3 seed depending on what the Steelers do. Also, if the Titans win but the Raiders lose (given that we beat New England), we win the tiebreaker vs. the Raiders based on our head-to-head victory. That only counts if it is a two-way tie however.
I won't guarantee it, but I think that if the Jets lose next week, we will be in the playoffs. If they don't lose, it will be close. I think we have to hope for a Kansas City loss either way. But the funny thing is, if we beat New England, then we're hoping for a Kansas City win (since they're playing Oakland).
Just wrapping this up (sorry it's long), you can't really root for anyone this week until you know our results vs New England. But, two things will stay the same, root for the Texans, and root for the Packers. GO PHINS! KILL THE PATSIES!
