AFC West picture: Strength of schedules, playoff odds and more for Chiefs, Raiders
So ... Sunday is kind of a big game, right?
It’s Raiders Week, and Oakland can move into a first-place tie with the Chiefs in the AFC West with a win at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday.
In fact, PlayoffStatus.com called it the biggest Week 12 game on the schedule. Its criteria is determined by “games in the upcoming week whose outcome most changes the final playoff picture.”
Here is a quick look at the AFC West race:
Chiefs
Record: 7-4
Record vs. AFC West: 3-0
Record vs. AFC: 5-3
Remaining schedule: vs. Raiders, at Patriots, vs. Broncos, at Bears, vs. Chargers
Strength of schedule (via tankathon.com): .509, 18th-most difficult
Chance of winning division via PlayoffStatus.com: 81%
Chance of winning division via FiveThirtyEight.com: 93%
Note: If the Chiefs win Sunday, FiveThirtyEight moves their chances of winning the division to 99%. If the Raiders win, the Chiefs’ chances of being West champions would drop to 60%.
What ESPN is saying: “So if the Chiefs can beat the Raiders at home next week, they’ll complete a season sweep and clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker. In essence, that means they would have a three-game lead in the division with four games remaining. The likelihood of that scenario gives the Chiefs a 96.8% chance to win the division, per FPI (Football Power Index).”
What CBS Sports is saying: “The Chiefs are on a bye this week but got good news in the form of the Raiders losing in New Jersey. They need to have a better record than the Texans to jump them in the standings due to a head-to-head loss.”
Raiders
Record: 6-5
Record vs. AFC West: 2-1
Record vs. AFC: 4-3
Remaining schedule: at Chiefs, vs. Titans, vs. Jaguars, at Chargers, at Broncos
Strength of schedule (via tankathon.com): .436, 24th-most difficult
Chance of winning division via PlayoffStatus.com: 19%
Chance of winning division via FiveThirtyEight.com: 7%
What CBS Sports is saying: “They needed to win that game against the Jets if they want to make a legitimate playoff push. Still, they’re right there in the wild card and, technically, the division.”
What John Clayton of the Washington Post wrote: “With a game at Kansas City next week that could drop them to 6-6, the Raiders do appear to be in some trouble. However, they close against Tennessee, Jacksonville, the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver, so nine or 10 wins is still a possibility. Mike Mayock assembled a great rookie class. Gruden has been exceptional with his play-calling. They’re a better team than they showed Sunday.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 1:22 PM.
