In case you hadn’t heard, the Raiders need like five different things to happen for them to get in the playoffs. Their hopes for all five of those things to happen seems slim enough as it is and just got slimmer because one of those things is for the Texans to beat the Titans and the Texans are expected to rest their starters.
One note for Sunday: The #Vikings are planning to rest their key starters and the #Texans won’t take any chances, either. Expect both to have several starters on the sidelines even if they aren’t inactive. Smart with little or nothing to play for.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 29, 2019
Whether the Texans win or not may not mean much. At this moment it’s between the third and the fourth seed which means, either way, they will be hosting a team in the wild card round. Fourth seed means they host the 5th seed and 3rd seed means they host the 6th seed.
The one game that will matter for the Texans seeding is the Chiefs game. The Chiefs play in the early going, so the Texans will know either at kickoff or shortly thereafter if anything they do will matter in the slightest. If the Chiefs beat the Chargers, the Texans will be the 4th seed regardless of whether they beat the Titans or not. And keep in mind, the Titans are fighting for their playoff lives, so you know they will come to play.
Another thing that needs to happen is for the Ravens to beat the Steelers. And, of course, the Ravens are also expected to rest their starters. The worst they could do is tied at 13-3 with the Patriots and since they beat the Patriots like a drum this season, they own the tiebreaker. So, they will be the number one seed regardless of what happens Sunday.
As for the Raiders, the other three things that need to happen for them to get into the playoffs are one of either the Patriots, Chargers, Lions, and Bears to win (we’ll know this one before the Raiders play), the Colts to beat the Jaguars, and, of course, the Raiders must beat the Broncos.
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