The final week of the NFL season is upon us and the playoff scenarios are the talk of the NFL.  In the AFC, seven teams are still alive for a spot in the playoffs.  The New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens have the easy course…win and your in, lose and you are out.

The tiebreaker scenarios change significantly based on who wins and who loses.  The Jets and Ravens lose every tiebreaker scenario, making it a free-for-all should either team lose.  The following is a breakdown of all the possibilities for today’s games:

New York Jets clinch a playoff spot with:

• A win over Cincinnati Bengals

Baltimore Ravens clinch a playoff spot with:

• A win over the Oakland Raiders

Denver Broncos clinch a playoff spot with:

• Denver win and a New York loss or tie and a Baltimore loss or tie
• Denver win and a New York loss or tie and a Pittsburgh loss or tie
• Denver win and a New York loss or tie and a Houston win
• Denver win and a Baltimore loss or tie and a Pittsburgh loss or tie
• Denver win and a Baltimore loss or tie and a Houston win
• Pittsburgh loss and a Baltimore loss and a Houston loss and a Jacksonville loss
• Pittsburgh loss and a Baltimore loss and a Houston loss and a New York loss
• Pittsburgh loss and a Baltimore loss and a Jacksonville loss and a New York loss
• Pittsburgh loss and a Houston loss and a Jacksonville loss and a New York loss
• Miami loss or tie and a New York loss and a Baltimore loss and a Houston loss and a Jacksonville loss or tie

Pittsburgh Steelers clinch a playoff spot with:

• Pittsburgh win and a Houston loss or tie and a New York loss or tie
• Pittsburgh win and a Houston loss or tie and a Baltimore loss or tie
• Pittsburgh win and a New York loss or tie and a Baltimore loss or tie and a Denver loss or tie

Houston Texans clinch a playoff spot with:

• Houston win and a New York loss or tie and a Baltimore loss or tie
• Houston win and a New York loss or tie and a Denver loss or tie
• Houston win and a Baltimore loss or tie and a Denver loss or tie

Jacksonville Jaguars clinch a playoff spot with:

• Jacksonville win and a Pittsburgh loss and a Baltimore loss and a Denver loss and a Houston loss
• Jacksonville win and a Pittsburgh loss and a Baltimore loss and a Denver loss and a New York loss
• Jacksonville win and a Pittsburgh loss and a Baltimore loss and a Houston loss and a New York loss
• Jacksonville win and a Pittsburgh loss and a Denver loss and a Houston loss and a New York loss
• Jacksonville win and a New York loss and a Denver loss and a Houston loss and a Baltimore loss

Miami Dolphins clinch a playoff spot with:

• Miami win and a New York loss and a Baltimore loss and a Houston loss and a Jacksonville loss or tie

You can follow how the day breaks down with Yahoo’s Playoff Scenario Generators at http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/playoffscenario.

Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, nfl playoff scenarios, Pittsburgh Steelers

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 9:51 am and is filed under Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, nfl. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.