That's precisely my beef with that. The math is pretty much against those three teams at this point. The head-to-head matchups don't shape up too well if we combine the Jaguars, Panthers and Dolphins' records. If we add their division and conference records, it doesn't look too good either and it would take nothing less than a miracle for the teams on the top spots to completely choke their remaining games, somehow come up with a better head-to-head record and improve their overall marks.
It is just as pointless to say that Jacksonville, Carolina and Miami have a shot at the playoffs as much as it was for the Colts 1-2 weeks ago. Not only is the editor a nitwit, he must suck at math worse than me.
... The math says that in the event of a tie, Miami and Jacksonville, would lose to Cincinnati. That's why, if Cincinnati were to win their next game(and thus get to 8 wins), or either team loses(and thus reaches 9 losses), they would be eliminated from playoff contention...
Yes, it's unlikely that either team would win out, finishing 8-8 while at the same time Cincinnati loses every game(and, by the same token, every other team with 4-7 wins also loses the "correct" amount of games)... But such a thing is still possible. I mean all it could take is for a team(or two) to lose a starting quarterback... Just ask Houston(or Oakland) how much ground teams can make up on your lead in such an instance...
edited 30th Nov '11 12:18:42 PM by Swish
Yeah, Good God, Houston's had incredibly bad luck when it comes to injuries. Losing Schaub and Leinart? Having to rely (if only temporarily) on T.J. Yates (whom no one has probably even heard of before Monday) to basically make sure they stay on top of the division? That should be fun to watch.
The stupid lockout has seemingly caused so many more damn injuries this season than previous ones.
(Double post on an entirely different subject.)
Did anyone see the Tebow interview on CBS on Sunday? When Sharpe directly asked him if he thinks that the Denver organization has his back, he skirted the question. Twice.
See, he's not dumb; he knows that Fox and Elway don't want him in there, but all he does is keep winning.
I am very interested in seeing what happens in the offseason, whether he be traded or kept or cut or whatever.
Just because "big-name" players are getting hurt doesn't mean that injuries are up... This is a very big misconception, and one used to "justify" why one's team is doing poorly, when it has nothing at all to do with it* ... The lockout has nothing to do with the Packers having 18 players on IR last season while having only 2 on IR this season...
Here's an amusing fake "Goodbye Denver from Kyle Orton" video.
What I found more interesting about it was that it is featured on the NFL's website.
So remember the lesson kids: Making fun of Plaxico shooting himself in a touchdown celebration, an evil of football that should be fined(but frakking hilarious). Making fun of a QB getting run out of town by a "worse" QB, perfectly okay(and frakking hilarious).
Not as bad as the whole "illegal hits are bad, buy a DVD holding the best illegal hits of the last 10+ seasons"... But close.
edited 30th Nov '11 2:42:11 PM by Swish
I didn't mean just Leinart and Schaub either... You're acting as though there were not as many ACL/MCL tears in previous seasons. Or injuries in general. There were.
It's like how defensive linemen/linebackers hit QBs in the legs all the time, but the moment Tom Brady got hit in the leg, and tore something, it was "bad" and "hurt the sport." It's only when "star" players or quarterbacks get hurt that people start claiming that there's a problem with injuries... But the number of injuries per season(including this one) has remained fairly constant.
Wikipedia has more playoff scenarios, but it's a very long list, so I'll just leave this here.
I am very interested in seeing what happens in the offseason, whether he be traded or kept or cut or whatever.
Doesn't he have some kind of massive following from Broncos fans, too? I'm pretty sure he has a large following of fans who normally aren't Broncos fans to boot. Which makes me wonder what the resulting fallout would be if Tebow keeps performing the way he has been and/or gets better and those two try something anyway.
Tebow was passed off to them by the former management (Mc Daniels and co.). If they were in place when the draft took place last year, they would not have picked Tebow.
And in the midst of a bad season, they thought "Hey, what's the worse that could happen?" and put him in.
It's almost as if they would prefer to win in a less ugly manner than the way they are right now.
Anyone would prefer to win pretty than ugly... But very few owners/GMs are capable of justifying getting rid of players/coaches when a team is winning, unless they can show that said player/coach had nothing to do with the wins.
Honestly, the worst case scenario for Elway and the front office is for the Broncos to make the playoffs as a division winner boasting a 10-6 or better record, without Tebow getting statistically better in the first three quarters. It would mean that Tebow only lost 2 games this season(only one more game from this point), while Oakland loses two, but it's entirely possible due to Cutler's injury.
Without visible statistical improvement, Elway would be in a complete bind regarding what to do, due to the division win, and possible playoff victories(obviously depending on who they play)... If Tebow shows improvement, Elway would probably be okay with giving him a one/two year contract during the off-season... But unless that happens, Elway wouldn't feel comfortable keeping Tebow, but wouldn't be able to sell to the public the reasons for letting Tebow go...
And the most interesting aspect of the whole thing, is that people claim no one would take Tebow as a starter if he were cut from the Broncos... I'd agree there probably wouldn't be trades for Tebow, but someone would pick him up as a starter. There are crappy teams with owners/GMs/coaches that would gladly pick up Tebow because they'd have nothing to lose in such a situation...
^^ There's also one bigger problem for Elway and Fox, Denver would be under .500 still if they stuck with Orton. They are one win away from tieing Oakland for the #1 spot when 8 weeks ago they were dead last in the season.
It's rare you get a complete 180 turnaround like what Tebow has done and it binds Fox and Elway's hands away from doing anything to him. Especially since Tebow gets better with every passing week it seems. (And the team seems to be building around him, not Fox and Elway.)
I can't help but wonder if Fox and Elway should at least try to go to that direction for the team's greater good. Very vew Q Bs have done all that much in their first couple of years, so if there are chances for Tebow to improve on his mechanics, tihngs will keep looking up.
Very optimistic, but he deserves every shot he can get.
You're absolutely right... By that logic, the Patriots are a "mediocre" team, with Brady being a "not good" quarterback. One should be able to beat a bad team by more than a single digits. But a win is a win, in the NFL... And there are always excuses as to why a team(or player) still is terrible...
And the Broncos are now a 4 seed(hosting Pittsburgh) if the season ends today. Oakland losing helps Cincinnati the most, as they're still the 6 seed due to tiebreakers against Oakland instead of Denver...
Edit: I'm catching the Ravens/Browns game late(Tivo'd so I'm an hour behind at the moment)... Here's hoping the Ravens drop another one to a bad team...
edited 4th Dec '11 2:26:12 PM by Swish

Not sure what to say as a Jags fan.
My Christmas gift has come early and they've fired Del Rio, but the sale of the team was surprising.