Mark80

Yeah, I can see guys like Kaep tuning it down a notch as he's got a huge deal and is secure for the rest of his life (well, he should be at least). But for the vast majority of the players who are not, I think they still bring it. We all know the average lifespan of a player is what, 3 years, 4 years? Most players are going do do whatever they can regardless of their record to impress their team and other teams as much as possible so they can keep playing.

I never buy this at all. These guys have everything to play for. These guys are professional athletes. They are always playing for their jobs and their next contract and when millions of dollars is at stake (or hundreds of thousands of dollars for the depth guys) it keeps the motivation pretty high I would think. Not to mention competitiveness which pretty much all professional athletes possess at a very high level or else they most likely wouldn't have made the NFL in the first place.

If they fire Marrone I'd be pretty upset. If they don't fire Hackett I'd be pretty upset.

Well, that's where they are messing up. See "Other Tie-Breaking Procedures" #2 "In comparing records against common opponents among tied teams, the best won-lost-tied percentage is the deciding factor, since teams may have played an unequal number of games." No where does it state to eliminate division opponents, in fact, mentioning "unequal number of games" specifically hints at including them since that is the only way possible to have an unequal number of games.

Yeah, people are probably using ESPNs playoff machine which doesn't seem to be taking into account the common games tie breaker which is ahead of SOS (we would have baltimore beat on SOS but not common games).

Yes, there are 5 games with common opponents for us and the Ravens. Miami, Cleveland, San Diego, and Houston. (extra game each side for Miami and Cleveland). You only need 4.

How that site completely ignores the common opponents tie breaker which is before SOS is beyond me. Clearly common games is #4 tie breaker and SOS is #5.

GTF outta here. We are 8-6 with a chance to make the playoffs in Marrones second season.

The all get counted. This is what is says in "The Other Tie-Breaking Procedures" "In comparing records against common opponents among tied teams, the best won-lost-tied percentage is the deciding factor, since teams may have played an unequal number of games." The unequal number of games is the effect of the division opponents.

I don't think so. Of all the AFC North teams we need 1 to lose 2 games to have a legit shot. Cincy is our best bet at losing both games considering who they play in my opinion. And there is no way that the Pats lay down for us week 17 regardless of their situation. Posted the part for you in my post above your last one as an edit.

You're not following though. It would only eliminate PIT or BAL for the #5 seed determination. Once that is figured out (say steelers) they re-set and do the whole thing over again...so Baltimore comes back into play for the #6 determination. Thus, we lose out. Look at "Other Tie Breaking Procedures" "Only one club advances to the playoffs in any tie-breaking step. Remaining tied clubs revert to the first step of the applicable division or Wild Card tie-breakers. As an example, if two clubs remain tied in any tie-breaker step after all other clubs have been eliminated, the procedure reverts to Step 1 of the two-club format to determine the winner. When one club wins the tiebreaker, all other clubs revert to Step 1 of the applicable two-club or three-club format."

Yep, we are screwed, they do them individually. Look at the bottom of the multi-team wild card scenario: "When the first Wild-Card team has been identified, the procedure is repeated to name the second Wild-Card, i.e., eliminate all but the highest-ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. In situations where three or more teams from the same division are involved in the procedure, the original seeding of the teams remains the same for subsequent applications of the tie breaker if the top-ranked team in that division qualifies for a Wild-Card berth." Since Cincy or Pitt would be in at #5 they would no longer eliminate Baltimore in the "in division" tie breaker and it would just be us and Baltimore left for the #6 tie-breaker and we would lose on common opponent win %.

See post right above yours!!! I agree with you if they do the tie-breakers as a group. But if they do tie-breakers for #5 seed first (Cincy may just get it alone or PItt may get with tie-breaker scenario) and then do a separate tie breaker for #6 after #5 has been determined already, we would lose out to Baltimore still 1-1. If they just do the tie breakers together in a group 5 and 6 together, then yes, we would get #6. I just don't think that is how it's done and I can't figure it out for sure in the rules.

Yeah, but we won't get to SOS vs the ravens as they will have us beat in common games.

That's the only part of tie-breakers that confuses me. You may be correct here, which would be great! I just get confused when it's 3 teams tied for 2 slots. Is it the same procedures as 3 teams for 1 slot? Or do they do them on an individual basis....i.e. figure out who gets the #5 seed first and then figure out who gets the #6 seed. If it is two separate instances (as opposed to doing one instance, that is, 3 teams for 2 slots) then we are still screwed and out. I always thought they did them on an individual basis...So for 5 seed we would lose to Cincy in the three way tie. Then for 6 seed it would only be us and Ravens left in this scenario now and we would lose to them in a 1-1 tie breaker.

Well, it is incorrect then.

If the Bengals, Ravens, and Steelers all win next week we are out. I'm not sure why you guys think we have the tie-breaker on Ravens. We do not. If they finish 10-6 they will have us on tie-breaker #3, best win% vs common opponents. They will be 3-2 while we are 2-3 vs Mia, Cle, Hou, and SD.

No it would not. We lose all tie-breakers to AFC North. The Bengals, Steelers, and Ravens would still be ahead of us.

Yeah, taking out the possibility of ties in week 17, that would mean we need Baltimore to lose out vs Houston and Cleveland. That ain't happening.

Here is an easy breakdown: We need either Cincy, Baltimore, or Pittsburgh to lose both games. We also need KC and SD to lose one of their games. As far as tie breakers go, I believe we lose all tie-breakers at 10-6 with every team remaining in it. Baltimore would have us on common opponent games. They are currently 2-1 vs Mia, Cle, and SD with Hou and Cle remaining. We are 2-3 in games vs those opponents with none left. If Baltimore falls to 2-3 vs those opponents they will have already fell to 9-7 overall and the tie-breaker would be moot. It is also possible to get in if two AFC North teams lose both their games and either SD or KC lose at least one game. However, it would have to be Baltimore losing to Hou and Cle and Cincy or PItt losing both games (as they play each other week 17 they both can't lose both games). I find it unlikely that Baltimore will lose both and I think that our best bet is actually Cincy losing vs Denver and at Pittsburgh. Man the Texans and Chiefs games are killing us.

I love them. This is my favorite combination. They just look mean. It's my go to uniform for big home games in Madden and it looks great.

Kaepernick just signed a 6 year $126M contract with $61M guaranteed. He is impossible to trade at this point.

Not so fast. The Kansas City Royals and their Cinderella story yielded lower ratings than last year. In fact, if you take a look at most Championship matchup ratings you'll see a pretty big spike when the Powerhouse teams and markets are involved and lower ratings for Cinderalla's pretty much across the board. That's why NFL does not, in fact, love the Bills or any small market team.

I think you'd be surprised to see how many sacks other Bills players are getting because teams are double covering Hughes quite often as well. It goes both ways. He's a tremendous pass rusher.

Most impressive to me is that he has recorded a sack (.5 in one) in every game this season except 2, first NYJ game and SD game. In the first NYJ it obviously didn't matter. Consistency has been impressive.