Explaining all of the Dolphins’ paths to the playoffs

 

The Hard Way In

If you’re like me and have been a Dolphins fan for a number of years, you’re scared to death by the thought of the Dolphins going to Buffalo to play a bad Bills team this week.  It would be just like season’s before to see the Dolphins beat the mighty Patriots only to lose to the Bills the next week.  I won’t sleep a wink this week.  Quite frankly, I think the Dolphins will take care of the Jets in week 17, but this game has the makings of a trap game.  A team coming off of a big win, playoff goals within reach and BOOM!

So, if you’re a pessimist like me, you were rooting like crazy for the Lions to beat the Ravens to give the Dolphins some cushion.  Well, they didn’t.  Megatron was dropping passes, Stafford was giving out interceptions like they were Christmas presents….and the Ravens kicked a 61 yard field goal to win the game.  Zero help, thank you very little Detroit Lions.

So, what if the Dolphins lose and finish the season 9-7?  This is where things get complicated, so we’ll try to take it slow, but give you all of the information you need.

Option 1: Three team tie at 9-7 –  The Dolphins may become the biggest Chargers fans this side of San Diego if they lose on Sunday against the Bills.  The Dolphins would make the playoffs if they finished 9-7 and tied with the Ravens and Chargers for the 6th seed.  This would mean the Ravens would need to lose to the Patriots OR Bengals, the Dolphins would lose to the Bills OR Jets, and the Chargers would beat both the Raiders AND Chiefs.

The Chargers should beat the Raiders and the Chiefs could be locked into the #5 seed if they lose this week, so the game could be meaningless to them.  The Chargers are hoping that both the Dolphins and Ravens collapse and lose out, so they’ll be playing for something if both teams lose this weekend.  If either the Dolphins or Ravens win this weekend, the Chargers and this 3 team tie scenario are eliminated.

Option 2:  Three team tie at 8-8 – If all 3 teams finish 8-8 the Dolphins would also get in, as long as the Jets lose to the Browns this weekend. Even though the Jets are eliminated from the playoffs, they would finish ahead of the Dolphins in the AFC East based on division record, if the Dolphins finished 8-8.  The Jets, however, cannot win a tiebreaker against the Ravens or Chargers, which is why they’ve been eliminated.  All 3 of these teams finishing 8-8 is unlikely, but we thought we’d cover it just in case.  (continued on page 3, CLICK HERE)