AFC Playoff Picture: Jets Officially Eliminated From Postseason Contention by Loss to Seahawks

For the 12th straight year, the Jets will be watching the Playoffs from home. The team’s Week 17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks officially eliminated New York from postseason contention. A season that started promisingly has ended with a thud.

The best the Jets can hope for is a victory over the Miami Dolphins in their Week 18 finale. However, there is now no way the Jets can finish the season ahead of the New England Patriots. Even if the Patriots lose next week, they will fall to 8-9. A Jets win over Miami would the Jets, Dolphins, and Patriots at 8-9. New England would win the tiebreaker in this scenario because the Patriots had the best record in games between the teams at 3-1.

What if a team from another division is also tied at 8-9? Could that change the tiebreaker formula? In a word the answer is no. The NFL’s tiebreaker formula settles ties between division opponents first before it settles ties between teams in different divisions.

The Jets will be left with an offseason to think about how things went so wrong.

1. Kansas City 13-3
2. Buffalo 12-3
3. Cincinnati 11-4
4. Jacksonville 8-8
5. LA Chargers 10-6
6. Baltimore 10-6
7. New England 8-8
8. Miami 8-8
9. Pittsburgh 8-8
10. NY Jets 7-9
11. Tennessee 7-9
12. Cleveland 7-9
13. Las Vegas 6-10
14. Indianapolis 4-11-1
15. Denver 4-12
16. Houston 2-13-1