AFC Playoff Picture: With Miami's loss last night, Pats clinch the AFC East, Jets must fight for Wild Card

Last night's Giants and Dolphins game, which was a pretty enjoyable game, had an effect for both New York teams last night. While the Giants got a victory to keep themselves tied for the NFC East lead, and the loss officially dropped Miami from the playoff race, it also made it impossible for the Jets to win the division. While certainly the Jets winning the division was an extreme long shot, sitting 3 games behind the Patriots, even if the Patriots and Jets were to tie with the Jets winning out and the Pats losing out, the Pats win the tie breaker. The head to head, division record, common games record, conference record, and now the strength of victory would be exactly equivalent of the Jets and Pats were to tie at 11-5. The next tie breaker, strength of schedule, would tilt in the Pats favor with them having played Denver and Pittsburgh rather than Cleveland and Oakland.

Oh well. One day, Brady will fall off or retire and the Pats stranglehold over the AFC East will come to an end. And as we saw from our fly guys 5 years ago, winning the division doesn't guarantee you anything.