AFC Playoff Picture, Week 12

AFC Playoff Picture

Rk	Team	W	L	T	Pct	Div	Conf
1	Houston	8	3	0	.727	4-0	7-2
2	New England	8	3	0	.727	3-1	6-2
3	Baltimore	8	3	0	.727	3-0	5-2
4	Oakland	7	4	0	.636	2-2	5-4
5	Pittsburgh	8	3	0	.727	1-2	6-3
6	Cincinnati	7	4	0	.636	2-2	6-3
-	Denver	6	5	0	.545	3-2	6-3
-	New York Jets	6	5	0	.545	3-2	5-5
-	Tennessee	6	5	0	.500	1-2	4-4
-	Buffalo	5	6	0	.455	1-3	3-4

Remaining Schedules:
Houston: ATL, @CIN, CAR, @IND, TEN
New England: IND, @WAS, @DEN, MIA, BUF
Baltimore: @CLE, IND, @SD, CLE, @CIN
Oakland: @MIA, @GB, DET, @KC, SD
Pittsburgh: CIN, CLE, @SF, STL, @CLE
Cincinnati: @PIT, HOU, @STL, ARI, BAL
Denver: @MIN, CHI, NE, @BUF, KC
New York Jets: @WAS, KC, @PHI, NYG, @MIA
Tennessee: @BUF, NO, @IND, JAX, @HOU
Buffalo: TEN, @SD, MIA, DEN, @NE

There are a lot of easy schedules among the conference leaders. Houston may be starting a 3rd string quarterback (or Jake Delhomme) the rest of the way, but they should get 2 wins (Carolina and Indy), which means Tennessee would have to win all of their games to set up a week 17 showdown for the division.

New England doesn't have to worry about the division, their sights are firmly set on the #1 seed. And unless they fall victim to their Mile High curse, they could easily go 5-0 the rest of the way.

Baltimore and Pittsburgh each play Cleveland twice and Cincy once. Baltimore has two pushovers (Indy and San Diego) while Pittsburgh has one pushover (St. Louis), and one tough test (at San Francisco). As long as Baltimore takes care of business, they should finally get a home playoff game in the Harbaugh era.

Cincinnati has the toughest schedule of the current top-6, with Baltimore, Houston, and Pittsburgh on the schedule. Of all the teams chasing them, the Jets look like the biggest threat, schedule-wise.