Steelers can still clinch the AFC North this week...

[Troyisabeast_43]

Here is an official scenario from CBS sports and their playoff scenario breakdowns which are excellent and usually spot on...

PIT has an 18-win advantage in SOV on BAL, and the maximum amount it can change is... by 18 wins. If the difference goes all the way down to zero, then it will go to the next tiebreaker, strength of schedule, which PIT has definitely not clinched yet (the schedules of division opponents only differ in two out of 16 games, and the records of those opponents are similar in PIT/BAL's case).

This means that PIT's advantage in strength of victory only needs to improve by 1 win in order for them to clinch the tiebreaker over BAL. That can happen if a team on PIT's list wins or if a team on BAL's list loses (or both, of course).

There are five games in Week 15 in which this can happen:
-- CIN defeats CLE
-- ATL defeats SEA
-- ARI defeats CAR
-- TEN defeats HOU
-- OAK defeats DEN

Any one of those, plus a Steelers win over the Jets and a Ravens loss against the Saints, and the Steelers clinch the AFC North. So you gotta like the Steelers odds of clinching this division this week if the Saints win their early game with the Ravens which I believe they will, and the Steelers find a way to beat the Jets. And of course just one and only one of the 5 games above that I just mentioned happens which by the looks of it it definitely will.

[igor0190]

Thanks for that Troyisabeast_43!
Good work!

[jnes1216]

Beat the man in front of you and everything else will fall into place.

Big fish eat the little fish. Its a product of turf.

[Troyisabeast_43]

This was just updated about 10 minutes ago on CBSsports.com as the official scenario for how the Steelers can not only clinch the AFC North this week with a win over the Jets and a Ravens loss to the Saints but also a first round bye as well. The whole SOV scenario is in here as well and how the Steelers can clinch that over the Ravens as well this week...Here is the link below check it out...

http://joenfl.blogs.cbssports.com/mc.../view/18374161

[Farrior Fan]

I try not to click on stuff like this or else I will spend 2 hours studying it.

I think we all know that IF we beat the Jets and IF the Dirtybirds lose to the Saints then we have the AFCN locked up. I don't think it is possible for us to lose to the Panthers and we should beat the Browns, so bottom line IF we take care of the Jets we should have everything sewn up. Of course crazier things have happened. I'm just glad that we are guaranteed a playoff berth as of now (I know not 100% but I will bet any/everything I have that we are in)

Now....don't bother me for the next 2 hours, I'll be studying

[TampaSteelGirl]

Thank you so much for this!! This is a VERY duable situation which looksk pretty good for us...we have to bring our A game this week...I think the other games will play themselves out in our favor...

[jnes1216]

I try not to click on stuff like this or else I will spend 2 hours studying it.

I think we all know that IF we beat the Jets and IF the Dirtybirds lose to the Saints then we have the AFCN locked up. I don't think it is possible for us to lose to the Panthers and we should beat the Browns, so bottom line IF we take care of the Jets we should have everything sewn up. Of course crazier things have happened. I'm just glad that we are guaranteed a playoff berth as of now (I know not 100% but I will bet any/everything I have that we are in)

Now....don't bother me for the next 2 hours, I'll be studying

are you done yet?

[DanRooney]

We win against the Browns and against either the Jets or Panthers then we are in regardless of what Baltimore does based on divisional record.

[Troyisabeast_43]

We win against the Browns and against either the Jets or Panthers then we are in regardless of what Baltimore does based on divisional record.

Very true but the Steelers would love to go into that Browns game having already clinched the AFC North division and the first round bye which would give them the luxury of sitting and resting a lot of key starters that are banged up Ben being the main one. I know you never want to rest too many guys and make your team rusty going into the playoffs but I think this season as banged up as the Steelers have been especially Ben Roethlisberger giving him,Troy, and some other key starters on both offense and defense an extra week off including the bye-week before their first playoff game could really benefit the Steelers a great deal. That's a big big reason in my opinion that it would be a huge deal for the Steelers to wrap things up going into Cleveland the day after New Years. Another important reason is you dont want to have to play the Browns in Cleveland as dangerous as they have been this season so far by beating teams like the Saints and Patriots with the AFC North Title and a bye week on the line. The Browns would definitely be up for that game and would love nothing more then to screw the Steelers out of winning the AFC North and getting a first round bye if the opportunity presents itself...

[Goodfrom55]

If they wrap everything up and the Cleveland game is meaningless, I say play the starters for the 1st half, unless it tuns into a dirty game. In that case, get them out of there ASAP.