Strength of Victory Tiebreaker
Date: December 07, 2009 10:37PM
As close as the playoff race is this year, the AFC East could come down to the Strength of Victory tiebreaker. If Miami ran the table and NE lost one game down the stretch (they still have 2 road games remaining), then NE and Miami would have identical records. If NE's loss was to either Buffalo, J'ville or Houston, Miami would win the AFC East on Div or Conf record (straightforward tiebreaker). If, however, NE's loss was this week to Carolina, Miami would still have the tiebreaker advantage (for now).
As both NE and Miami would have identical Div and Conf records, the 4th tiebreaker would be Strength of Victory (which is the combined win % of teams each squad has beat). If NE lost to Carolina and won the rest of their games (and Miami ran the table), we will have beaten identical teams with the following exceptions (Miami will have beat Carolina, Pittsburg and NY Jets while NE will have beat Atlanta, Baltimore & Buffalo). Currently, Carolina, Pitt and the Jets have a total 17 wins while Atl, Baltimore and Buffalo have a combined 16 wins. Tie-breaker advantage = Miami.
What's this all mean... well, we need to root for Carolina, Pitt (except game against us) and Cryin' Ryan & the Jets the rest of the way and hope that Atlanta, Baltimore and the Bills lose the rest of the way (except Bills game vs. NE).