Tag: AFC Playoffs

Steelers vs Colts: Who wins in Week 15?

Vote for who wins this week in Steelers vs Colts.

It’s Week 15 of the NFL regular season but for the Pittsburgh Steelers it is the playoffs. After losing two in a row in brutal fashion, Pittsburgh has put itself in a position where winning every week might be the only way to stay in the mix for a playoff spot.

The Indianapolis Colts are in a similar spot being 7-6 as well and just on the outside looking in thanks to tiebreakers. In fact, six teams head into the weekend at 7-6 with two wild card spots up for grabs.

The Steelers and Colts square off on Saturday afternoon and while it might not seem like compelling football, just the implication alone make it must-see TV. Can the Steelers right the wrongs of the past two weeks and get back on track? At this point we have zero confidence in this coaching staff and these players which probably means they come out and win big.

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Cast your vote and tell us if you think the Steelers get back on track this week or will their season essentially end in Indy.

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Steelers find themselves back in the playoffs despite ugly loss

Somehow the Steelers lucked out and are back in the playoffs this week.

On Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers made history when they became the first team in NFL history to lose back-to-back home games to teams at least eight games under .500. But by virtue of some very good luck, the Steelers not only find themselves back in the AFC playoff picture.

Thanks to losses by the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans, Pittsburgh is now once again finding themselves the No. 6 seed in the AFC. The Colts lost to the Cincinnati Bengals and the Texans got blown out by the New York Jets.

If the playoffs started today, all four teams in the AFC North would make the playoffs. The Baltimore Ravens are currently the No. 1 seed and the Browns, Steelers and Bengals would constitute all of the Wild Card teams in that order.

Will the Steelers make the playoffs when it’s all said and done? Saturday’s showdown against the Indianapolis Colts will go a long way toward telling us if this team can rally.

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Updated look at Bills’ playoff odds in sportsbooks

Updated look at #Bills’ playoff odds in sportsbooks:

The Buffalo Bills went toe-to-toe with NFL’s best team this season, the Philadelphia Eagles. Even though they fought well they ultimately lost in overtime to a Jalen Hurts touchdown.

The Eagles won 37-34 in overtime.

Buffalo is now an even 6-6 heading into its Week 13 bye, and their record truly indicates their performances throughout the 2023 NFL season. And Bills fans are left with the week off to think whether their team is even likely to make the playoffs.

But for those still Bill-eving and interested in placing wagers, it could be profitable move to bet on Buffalo at this point. Odds are now much longer for the team to make the playoffs.

But first, a look at the analytics:

New York Times Playoff Simulator

After Sunday’s loss, the New York Times playoff simulator has drastically reduced the Bills’ chance of making the playoffs. Buffalo’s current odds of making the playoffs is at 14 percent.

Unlike Bills games earlier this season, the offense played fantastic football, perhaps due to changes in the staff supporting quarterback Josh Allen. And when playing against the Eagles, who have only lost one game this season, fantastic football needs to be played by everyone. The Bills defense, naturally, had their work cut out for them and tried their best to stop perhaps the strongest team in the league.

The New York Times playoff simulator works by using an Elo rating system combined with information from betting markets to estimate every NFL teams’ chance of winning. The Elo rating system calculates the relative skill of teams within the NFL. The simulator estimate odds by randomly simulating the remainder of the season thousands of times and counting how often all NFL teams would make the playoffs.

According to the simulations, the Eagles have a greater than 68 percent chance to be the No. 1 seed. That’s how good the team that the Bills faced. And, had the Bills won the game against the Eagles, they would have had a 43 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Instead, the Bills currently have a 14 percent chance. With a fractional chance that they, like the Eagles are predicted to do, of getting the top seed, with the reward of a first-round bye.

The first-round bye goes to the first-place seed in each conference. Currently, the Baltimore Ravens have the best record in the AFC at 9-3. The Bills are currently outside of the playoff spots and would not qualify for the postseason.

According to the simulator, the Bills have what is essentially a must-win game against the 2022 Super Bowl Champions Kansas City Chiefs following their bye week. Starting with a win against the Chiefs would see their odds of making the playoffs jump to 24 percent. A loss to the reigning Super Bowl champions would see the odds drop to 5 percent.

FanDuel

The supercomputer might say one thing, but football markets are feeling differently than the simulations. The betting market is much more optimistic of the Bills chance to not only make the playoffs, but win the division, and even the Super Bowl.

Despite the loss to the Eagles, the Bills currently have a +360 odds to make the 2023 NFL playoffs. This amounts to a 21.74 percent chance. The betting market also believes the Bills have a 10 percent odds (+900) of winning the AFC East vs. the NYT simulator which had the Bills at a 3% chance.

Now, Buffalo going toe to toe with a Super Bowl caliber team in the Eagles shows that they can hang with the best of the best. Could they run the AFC table and book their place in Super Bowl LVIII?

According to FanDuel, the Bills have a 5 percent chance (+1900) of winning the AFC Championship and a 3 percent chance (+3300) of winning this year’s Super Bowl.

Now, betting markets aren’t designed to truly highlight people’s thoughts on what a team is capable of, but designed to have people bet as much as possible. Always gamble responsibly if you choose to gamble.

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Steelers hold onto No. 7 spot in AFC playoffs heading into Week 12

The Steelers cling to a spot in the playoffs.

Despite losing to the Cleveland Browns last week the Pittsburgh Steelers are still holding onto the final spot in the AFC playoffs. If the playoffs started today, Pittsburgh would travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs which is a daunting task.

Here are the full AFC playoff standings heading into Week 12.

POLL: Will the Steelers make the playoffs?

Are the Steelers ready to make a playoff push?

The Pittsburgh Steelers got themselves an early bye week this season and it might have come at just the right time. Pittsburgh was banged up and spiraling despite a 3-2 record.

Now that we all have had an opportunity to fully unpack the first five games and look ahead at the final 12 games. We broke down the remaining schedule for wins and losses and have the Steelers finishing with a 9-8 record. Is that good enough to make the playoffs this season? Probably not.

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If we assume 10 wins is the minimum threshold, Pittsburgh will have to go 7-5 down the stretch. Is this reasonable and did the Steelers do enough during the bye to make it happen?

Cast your vote and tell us if as of right now, just days ahead of the team’s huge road showdown with the Los Angeles Rams, will the Steelers make the playoffs.

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Chiefs Playoff Picture: Previewing the NFL’s championship round

Our @WesleyRoesch previews the NFL’s championship round with a look at odds and probabilities should the #Chiefs advance to Super Bowl LVII.

For the fifth straight season, the Kansas City Chiefs will host the AFC Championship Game.

They’ll have a chance to avenge last year’s AFC Championship loss as well since they’re set to face the Cincinnati Bengals for the second year in a row. The winner of that game will face the San Francisco 49ers or the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.

Here are the four possible Super Bowl matchups with probabilities added based on predictions from FiveThirtyEight at time of publish:

(3) CIN
at (1) KC		 (2) SF
at (1) PHI		 Probability
Bengals 49ers 17.63%
Bengals Eagles 25.37%
Chiefs 49ers 23.37%
Chiefs Eagles 33.63%

Let’s preview the upcoming Championship Sunday on January 29.

Chiefs Playoff Picture: Previewing the NFL’s divisional round

Our @WesleyRoesch previews the NFL’s divisional round of the playoffs with a look at odds and probabilities should the #Chiefs advance.

After a much-needed bye, the Chiefs are set to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

On the other side of the bracket are the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals who narrowly won their games over division rivals during wild card weekend. That means if the Chiefs beat the Jaguars, a team they’ve lost to this season will be waiting for them in the AFC Championship Game.

Here’s a look at who the Chiefs could play in the AFC title game, with implied probabilities added based on Tipico NFL odds at time of publish:

(4) JAX at (1) KC (3) CIN at (2) BUF Chiefs play… Probability*
Jaguars Bengals Eliminated 6.08%
Jaguars Bills Eliminated 12.92%
Chiefs Bengals Bengals 25.28%
Chiefs Bills Bills 53.72%

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s look at all the divisional-round matchups.

Chiefs who benefited the most from first-round bye in the AFC playoffs

A quick look at the five #Chiefs players who are likely to have benefited most from the first-round bye week.

The Kansas City Chiefs earned the lone first-round bye week in the AFC conference with a 14-3 overall record and their seventh consecutive AFC West division title in hand.

Historically, the bye week has been good for Andy Reid and his teams. In the postseason, it allows the team to refresh, recover, study, game plan and fine-tune things ahead of the divisional round. For this particular Chiefs squad, those players dealing with injuries stand to benefit the most from the week off.

With one game left in the wild-card round on Monday night and players set to return for the practice week, here is a look at some of those players:

2023 NFL Divisional Round schedule: Times, dates, matchups as Eagles will host the Giants

With the Wild Card Round almost complete, here’s the entire 2023 Divisional Round schedule for the NFL playoffs including Eagles-Giants on Saturday night

The NFL has finalized the schedule of sites, dates, and times for the Divisional Playoffs, presented by Intuit TurboTax, on January 21-22.

Next Saturday will see the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles make their postseason debut before a gigantic matchup featuring the Cincinnati Bengals-Buffalo Bills in a rematch of epic proportions.

Here’s the divisional round schedule, with times, dates, and locations.