I’ve been digging through the tie-breaker rules within the NFL and trying to figure out what has to happen for the Bucs to make the playoffs and I’ve come up with this. No one can figure it out yet! Look, here it is. If the Cowboys, Falcons and Bucs all win out than it comes down to certain things. The Bucs lose out to Dallas because of the head-to-head loss. The tie breaker between the Falcons and Bucs is more complicated though. I’ve heard everyone saying things to contradict each other and, unless I’m misunderstanding something, there’s no way you can figure it out right now. If both teams win out as explained, they would have the same record in virtually every way. The Bucs would have a better home record, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Here’s the tie breaker rules from the NFL site.
Two Clubs
- Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
- Strength of victory.
- Strength of schedule.
- Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
- Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
- Best net points in common games.
- Best net points in all games.
- Best net touchdowns in all games.
- Coin toss
This tells me that it would come down to strength of victory. I’m not sure if that’s for head-to-head, common opponents, overall or what but I take this from it. The Bucs better go Urban Meyer and look to destroy the Chargers and Raiders. If it’s overall than they need to blow these teams out and that would put them in ahead of Atlanta. They need to win big in their final games and that should take care of things. I could be wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time, but I think that’s the way it’s going to be. Anyone else know for sure?
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