The AFC conference has its playoff contenders. However, internal playoff seeds are still up in the air entering the final week of football.
The most interesting battles to keep track of are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds between the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans. Currently, both squads are 12-3 and have posted similar performances during the season.
If the Texans win, they lockup the No. 1 seed. They are 5-0 against their division and 10-1 against their conference. The Broncos need to win and Peyton Manning has to hope his former team, the Indianapolis Colts, can beat the Texans on Sunday if they want to take over the No. 1 seed. The Broncos are 5-0 against their own division, but 9-2 against the conference.
So what happens if both the Broncos and Texans lose?
The Texans will then maintain the No. 1 record since they possess the better conference record. Anyways, they own the tiebreaker since they defeated the Broncos back in Week 3.
However, there's a team in the hunt that shouldn't be counted out.
The New England Patriots could take over the No. 1 seed if they win and the Broncos and Texans lose, making the race for the No. 1 seed race even more interesting.
The Patriots are one of the hottest teams in the league despite losing to the San Francisco 49ers two weeks ago. They are the hottest offense in the league. They have very similar numbers to the Texans and Broncos. They have crushed the AFC East division posting a 5-0 record and 10-1 against their conference.
The other teams who are in the playoffs are the Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. They have the fourth, fifth and sixth spots on lock, respectively, in the AFC.
The final Wild Card spots could be flip flopped if the Colts lose and Bengals win, which would then affect who they face in the first round of the playoffs.
As the records stand, if the playoffs started this Sunday, it would be Bengals vs. Patriots, Colts vs. Ravens with the Texans and the Broncos on a bye.
Don't miss the NFL's Week 17 as games will dictate the final outcome of playoff seeding.
