With each week, the urgency for the Miami Dolphins’ final standing in the 2020 NFL Draft order seems to hit a new high. The Dolphins are certainly taking care of business on their own front — the team sits at 2-9 and currently is in line for the 3rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, with games left to play against both of the teams ahead of them in the standings.
The Steelers and Texans? Both teams Miami is rooting to see lose is being pretty persistent in hanging tough in the 2019 postseason race. For the Texans, it was to be expected. The addition of Laremy Tunsil was supposed to help catapult the Texans to legitimate Super Bowl contender status. Injuries have slowed Houston’s ascension to the league’s elite, they’re currently sitting at 7-4 and fresh off a brutal showing against the Baltimore Ravens (who are for sure Super Bowl contenders).
The Steelers? The team is without their starting quarterback, their star running back and their star wide receiver and yet still sit at 6-5 — and in the AFC’s 6-seed in the playoff standings. With five games left, the Steelers seem to be on the cusp of making a miraculous turnaround from 1-4 to making the postseason, but they’ve got a crowded bunch of teams behind them.
That’s where Week 13 comes into play. For the Texans, it is pretty simple: they’re hosting the 10-1 New England Patriots. Gulp — Go Pats.
Houston’s pathway to missing the postseason still exists, but Miami will need a help from a few old friends, including the Patriots this week. The other rising contender in the AFC South is none other than Ryan Tannehill’s Tennessee Titans, who are surging at 6-5 after going on a 4-1 run with Tannehill under center. This week, the Colts host the Titans in Indianapolis. While an Indy win would also keep things interesting if paired with a Texans loss, a Titans win is more beneficial because the Titans will have two games in head to head left against the Texans. If the Titans can somehow pull off a sweep of Houston and win today, they’d be guaranteed to win the AFC South if the Texans lose today to the Patriots.
Miami would love to see it and see that Texans pick sit inside the top-20. Go Titans!
For Miami’s third 1st-round pick, the Steelers go head to head with the Cleveland Browns this weekend. The Browns sit one game behind Pittsburgh at 5-6, a Browns win would give them a head to head tiebreaker over the Steelers courtesy of two wins over Pittsburgh — and put both teams at 6-6 with four games remaining. Go Browns!
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