Handicapping the AFC Wild Card Race

Here's my outlook on how the AFC will turn out. Look below for my NFC outlook and for the explaination of how I broke it down.

AFC:
- Teams in the race: Buffalo, Cleveland, Denver, Jacksonville, Tennessee
(In alphabetical order, not in projected order of finish)

1. Buffalo Bills (6-6): 11
Will make playoffs because: They have won five of their last seven games.
Will miss playoffs because: Despite their run, they have yet to beat a team with a winning record and are sitting at .500 despite giving up 90 more points then they have scored this season.

2. Cleveland Browns (7-5): 17
Will make playoffs because: Of the teams remaining on their schedule, only the Bills (6-6) have a record of .500 or better.
Will miss the playoffs because: Similar to the case of the Chicago Bears, they are from Cleveland meaning if it can go wrong it will. We saw glimpses of disaster with their loss to Arizona last week.

3. Denver Broncos (5-7): 11
Will make playoffs because: They will win out, while the Chargers collapse, thus Denver wins the division.
Will miss playoffs because: The above scenario will not happen and they have no shot of making the playoffs unless it's through a miracle run to a division title.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars (8-4): 17
Will make playoffs because: They play great defense, run the ball effectively, don't turn the ball over, and have proven more often then any of these other teams that they can play with, and beat, anybody in the NFL.
Will miss playoffs because: Injuries happen and if David Garrard goes down again, this promising season could take a sudden turn for the worst.

5. Tennessee Titans (7-5): 13
Will make playoffs because: Their quarterback is Vince Young, and while you point out every one of his 1,000 flaws, don't forget that it all comes down to winning and that's all the man does.
Will miss playoffs because: Of the contenders their remaining schedule is the most difficult (SD, @KC, NYJ, @IND), and their defense has begun to crack in recent weeks. Albert Haynesworth's presense will be key to their hopes.

The AFC picture is much clearer then the NFC's, but I still see it coming down to the final week. Denver has no real shot, but again, they are only two games out of their own division with four to play so I felt it necessary to include them. Buffalo's season has been admirable despite their lack of a quality win all season, but their's will end next week when they lose to Cleveland, giving the Browns a key tiebreaker.

It will come down to the Jags, Titans and Browns, and it's very unfortunate that one of these teams has to be left out because all of them would be in the NFC bracket and could very well advance to the conference title. The Jags already hold a one game edge and have home games against Oakland and Carolina, so they are in. I see the Browns and Titans going 2-1 over the next three games, meaning the final week will decide the AFC's last playoff team. As much as I hate to go against Vince Young, his Titans travel to Indy in Week 17, while the Browns get the 49ers at home. Since I don't see the 49ers going in to Cleveland and ending their season prematurly as they did to Denver in Week 17 last year, I'm going to go with the Browns. Jacksonville and Cleveland will complete the AFC picture.

NostraDTMus