Three Weeks To Go: The Kayfabe and the Power Rankings

Gonna combine the two, try to keep it quick:

AFC Kayfabe:

1. Kansas City 12-1 Clinched AFC West
2. Pittsburgh 11-2  Clinched playoff berth
3. Buffalo 10-3
4. Tennessee 9-4 See first tiebreaker below
5. Cleveland 9-4 See second tiebreaker below 
6. Indianapolis 9-4 See both the first two tiebreakers
7. Miami 8-5 See third tiebreaker below
   

Tennessee-Indianapolis (AFC South):  Split season series, TEN 4-1 vs. AFC South, IND 2-2. 

Cleveland-Indianapolis (WC #1 and #2):  Cleveland beat Indianapolis Week 5.

Miami-Baltimore (WC #3 -- last playoff spot):  Don't and won't play.  MIA 5-4 vs. AFC, BAL 5-5.

ELIMINATED:  Jets, Bengals, Texans, Jaguars, Chargers

NEXT TO GO:  Denver

FIRST OUT:  Baltimore on losing the above tiebreaker.

Wildcard round:

MIA at PIT, IND at BUF, CLE at TEN

NFC Kayfabe:

1. Green Bay 10-3 See first tiebreaker below  Clinched NFC North
   
2. New Orleans 10-3 See first tiebreaker below  Clinched playoff berth
3. LA Rams 9-4 See second tiebreaker below 
4. Washington 6-7
5. Seattle 9-4  See second tiebreaker below
6. Tampa Bay 8-5
7. Arizona 7-6
   

Green Bay-New Orleans (#1 seed):  Packers beat the Saints Week 3 

LA Rams-Seattle (NFC West):  Rams beat Seattle in first meeting.  Play again week after this one.

ELIMINATED:  Just Atlanta.

NEXT TO GO:  Carolina, has the same record as Atlanta, but probably head to head considerations have not eliminated them yet.

FIRST OUT:  Minnesota at 6-7 and a first win over the Bears -- they play again this week.

Wildcard round:

ARI at NO, TB at LAR, SEA at WSH

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Now for the Power Rankings, how I see the rig-job unfolding:

The AFC will be little to no surprise:

1) Kansas City (12-1, best record in the NFL, AFC West Champions)

Anyone who doesn't, at this point, believe the next 3-5 years of the NFL don't go through Patrick Mahomes on some level has not been paying attention the last 18 months.  Pittsburgh is fully getting out of the way and Roethlesberger may have a knee issue too.

BUT:  There is one, and only one thing which could stop it other than a huge Mahomes injury:  If the NFL bows and understands that they cannot accept a Super Bowl which would be the lowest-watched since either 1992 or 1995.  (I'm basing that off a 20% drop of the 100ish million who saw this year's game.)  

It is clear that White America is sick of Black Athletes.  It's that damn simple.  And for the NFL to throw behind a Black quarterback in the post-Kaepernick era could be quite damaging to a league which has lost at least a third of it's audience -- and, though right-wing claptrap Breitbart is talking about NBC having to do "make-goods" for Sunday Night Football sponsors, it is clear those make-goods are taking place.

2) Pittsburgh (11-2)

On a thread, and basically because there is no other choice in the AFC right now.  It really does appear that if Mahomes is upright by the end of the AFC title game, they're going to the Super Bowl -- AND Roethlesberger has some knee issues cropping up.

3) Buffalo (10-3)

BUT:  I just can't see, even on a Mahomes injury or that the NFL just CAN"T... putting Buffalo in the Super Bowl.

The NFC, on the other hand, will probably cause a jaw or two to drop:

1) Tampa Bay (8-5)

Hear me out!

Draw this scenario together:  They have Detroit and Atlanta twice.  That's almost a sure 11-5.

Tampa wins it's wild card game and is the lowest seed to do so -- they go to Green Bay and stomp them again (GB's three losses -- overtime to IND, unexpected to MIN, and stompie-stomp to the Bucs).  They then go to New Orleans and win through screwjob to make the Super Bowl.

BUT:  This all-but-depends on the White Right forcing the NFL's hand -- AND probably that Brady will retire after this season.

2) Green Bay (10-3, NFC North champions)

They have to beat somebody other than New Orleans.  They have Tennessee and two very winnable games left.  The odds are quite good that the Packers could be the #1 seed.

BUT:  This all-but-depends on the White Right forcing the NFL's hand and Brady NOT doing so as well.  However, the league may need Packer Nation in the Super Bowl to take 80 million and make it 90 or so and make it somewhat respectable.

3) Seattle (9-4)

12th Man.

BUT:  First off, they probably have to beat the Rams and win the NFC West.  Then probably beat the Packers or somebody again in the playoffs.  They're 9-4 and a bit shaky at that.

4) New Orleans (10-3)

New Orleans now has the same situation Tampa Bay had -- a dry-run Super Bowl test against the Chiefs this week.

BUT:  It's clearer by the week that the Taysom Hill Experiment was White Right motivated.  But can the NFL actually put that through to the Super Bowl if Drew Brees has, effectively, no ribcages left?