Explaining all of the Dolphins’ paths to the playoffs
Option 3: Finish ahead of the Ravens – The Dolphins loss to the Ravens earlier this season is like an anchor weighing them down. The Ravens hold the head to head tie breaker, so if it’s just them and the Dolphins tied at the end of the season, the Ravens will make the playoffs. The Dolphins will need to win at least one of their last 2 to get in if the Chargers can’t win out and finish 8-8 (as mentioned above). If the Dolphins lose one of their final 2 games while winning the other, they will need to hope that the Ravens lose to both the Patriots AND Bengals. The Dolphins would then be the #6 seed with a record of 9-7.
Option 4: Win the Division – If the Dolphins win out AND the Patriots lose to the Ravens and Bills, the Dolphins win the AFC East for the first time since 2008. Not likely, but stranger things have happened. By the way, there is still a chance that the Patriots could miss the playoffs altogether.
Option 5: Earn a 1st round bye – Want to talk even crazier? The Dolphins still have a chance to earn a 1st round bye and the #2 seed in the AFC….with only 2 weeks left…..that’s still a thing that’s possible…..seriously. Granted, it will take a lot of luck for this to happen, but the Dolphins can win the AFC East and earn a 1st round bye if the following things take place:
Dolphins – Win their last 2 games (@ Bills, vs. Jets)
Patriots – Lose their last 2 games ( @ Ravens, vs. Bills)
Bengals – Win one, lose one ( vs. Vikings, vs. Ravens)
Colts – Win one, lose one ( @ Chiefs, vs. Jaguars)
The key is that multiple teams would need to finish 10-6. Even if the Ravens finish 10-6, they’d be tied with all of these other teams so their tie breaker against the Dolphins would not matter. The thing to keep in mind is that the Dolphins can break all of these 3-way ties because they only have 3 losses in the conference, which is tied for the lowest number in the conference. This is most likely not going to happen, but it would be pretty awesome if all this stuff played out!
Got all that? It’s a lot, I know. But if you take nothing else away from this post, please understand this: If the Dolphins win their last 2 games, they are in. If they don’t, they’ll need help. The playoff ticket is right there for this team, they just need to take it. They’ve handled adversity all season long, but now is the time to focus and just win football games. I said before the season started that the bar for this season’s success would be the playoffs. If they stumble and fall short of the playoffs, this season would be a disappointment. I hope they are past the Patriots win because that game means nothing if they don’t beat the Bills on Sunday. Coach Philbin likes to take each week as it comes and implores the team to think about being 1-0 each week. Hopefully they can do that this week and then again next week….if they can, we can start to talk about going ‘something’ and ‘0’ in the playoffs….
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