Steelers playoff chances

[Steelerchad]

Took a hit tonight, and likely gave away any chance for the #5 seed, but still the favorite for the #6.
Win 2 and we're in at 10-6, that easy to understand. The confusion come in if we split and finish 9-7.
In that scenario, we would like to see the Titans lose out or split by beating the Saints and losing to the Texans. If they split and beat the Texans, they would hold the wildcard tiebreaker against us. Unless the Colts run the table and also finish 9-7, we would then earn the #6 seed in that 3 way 9-7 tie.

[Neversatisfied]

The Steelers have zero going for them offensively, i'd rather miss the playoffs than suffer another embarrassing loss in the postseason

[Fire Goodell]

eh after tonight, they showed what they could do against a playoff caliber opponent. Nothing. I really could care less about the playoffs now, the only thing I hope is they beat the Jets. They can't let Le'Veon get the last laugh

[Rotorhead]

I am hoping for a Saint SB victory at this point lol, but hope we get to the playoffs for the experience!

[teegre]

I’m going to say it in every thread...

The playoff-bound Bills needed 4 INTs and two awful punts yo eke our a victory. If two of those six “un-splash” plays go differently, we have a minimum of two more FGs.

Yes, I know that that is still a loss, but you get my point: we can hang with anyone... as long as (to quote Tomlin) the offense doesn’t kill us.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

I’m going to say it in every thread...

The playoff-bound Bills needed 4 INTs and two awful punts yo eke our a victory. If two of those six “un-splash” plays go differently, we have a minimum of two more FGs.

Yes, I know that that is still a loss, but you get my point: we can hang with anyone... as long as (to quote Tomlin) the offense doesn’t kill us.

Agreed they can hang with anyone! Proved it all season but tough loss. Cowboy up Steelers the next 2!

[Fire Goodell]

Agreed they can hang with anyone! Proved it all season but tough loss. Cowboy up Steelers the next 2!

Hanging with them and beating them is 2 different things. Yes we made it a close game with all but 1 playoff contender but those were still L's. We're not on that level yet

[smokin3000gt]

The Steelers have zero going for them offensively, i'd rather miss the playoffs than suffer another embarrassing loss in the postseason

Yeah, our chances of winning are better if we give up and miss the playoffs. I'm tired of watching these 2nd and 3rd stringers keeping us in the post season. The SHAME of it all.


- - - Updated - - -

eh after tonight, they showed what they could do against a playoff caliber opponent. Nothing. I really could care less about the playoffs now, the only thing I hope is they beat the Jets. They can't let Le'Veon get the last laugh

lol.. they lost by 7, not 37

[CV1]

We beat the jets and week 17 Texans win... I think that about locks it up for us for post season...

Unless we lose to the jets... then we will need a gimme game from Baltimore since they can lock the 1 up


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[j-d-s]

I stick with the Ravens not starting Lamar Jackson if they have clinched the No. 1 seed. Just too dangerous against our D.

[Craic]

Hanging with them and beating them is 2 different things. Yes we made it a close game with all but 1 playoff contender but those were still L's. We're not on that level yet

True, but if I'm reading his and teegre's posts correctly, they're not saying those were not losses or that we're playing playoff caliber football. Instead, I read them saying it is well within the realm of possibility for this team to do so as shown by the fact only the Pats* and Browns beat us. For the rest of the teams, we beat ourselves.

[teegre]

True, but if I'm reading his and teegre's posts correctly, they're not saying those were not losses or that we're playing playoff caliber football. Instead, I read them saying it is well within the realm of possibility for this team to do so as shown by the fact only the Pats* and Browns beat us. For the rest of the teams, we beat ourselves.

Exactly!!! ...and, want to focus on that last line.

I had mentioned the 4 INTs and the two punts (which were basically turnovers), but I forgot about the botched snap that turned into a fumble. That was another turnover in the red-zone... totaling four turnovers in FG range.

If we don’t shout ourselves on the foot. If we simply throw the ball away. That is four FGs/12 more points... and, we win.

SUMMATION:
The Steelers gave the playoff-bound Bills 5 actual turnovers (and 2 punts that were like turnovers)... and that playoff-caliber team still only won by 7 points.

We can hang with ANYONE.

[DesertSteel]

Here's a problem, if the Saints beat the Titans and the the Texans beat the Bears, the Texans clinch the division and the Texans probably rest their players against the Titans in week 17.

[EzraTank]

The Steelers have zero going for them offensively, i'd rather miss the playoffs than suffer another embarrassing loss in the postseason

I would feel the same as well if we still owned our #1 pick. But since Miami has that pick I want us to back in, slide in, crawl in whatever it takes to make the playoffs and go as far as we possibly can to make Miami's pick as bad as possible.

If the Saints beat the Colts tonight our chances go right back up and 9-7 might get us in. Remember the Titans still have the Saints (at home) and then have to travel to Houston. If they go 1-1 and we go 1-1 we are in.

[AtlantaDan]

Here's a problem, if the Saints beat the Titans and the the Texans beat the Bears, the Texans clinch the division and the Texans probably rest their players against the Titans in week 17.

According to ESPN playoff machine the Texans clinch if they tie Titans at 9-7

So if Saints beat Titans then Texans clinch and have nothing to play for in week 17

Bottom line is Steelers cannot back in by hoping Titans lose once

[DesertSteel]

According to ESPN playoff machine the Texans clinch if they tie Titans at 9-7

So if Saints beat Titans then Texans clinch and have nothing to play for in week 17

Bottom line is Steelers cannot back in by hoping Titans lose once

That's exactly my point (and concern).

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

If the Saints beat the Titans and Steelers beat the Jets then the Baltimore game could be meaningless to both teams.

[86WARD]

If the Saints beat the Titans and Steelers beat the Jets then the Baltimore game could be meaningless to both teams.

But if the Steelers lose to the Ravens and Titans win, that pits their records/AFC records at the same? No?

[GoSlash27]

I’m going to say it in every thread...

The playoff-bound Bills needed 4 INTs and two awful punts yo eke our a victory. If two of those six “un-splash” plays go differently, we have a minimum of two more FGs.

Yes, I know that that is still a loss, but you get my point: we can hang with anyone... as long as (to quote Tomlin) the offense doesn’t kill us.

The Bills beat us by a single score, and 10 of their points were due to a short field. If the Steelers didn't have all the miscues, they would've won this game. Buffalo didn't beat us, we beat ourselves.
The Steelers, even in their present state, can hang with any team in the league.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

But if the Steelers lose to the Ravens and Titans win, that pits their records/AFC records at the same? No?

Yes and somehow we still win the tie.

[Fire Goodell]

The Bills beat us by a single score, and 10 of their points were due to a short field. If the Steelers didn't have all the miscues, they would've won this game. Buffalo didn't beat us, we beat ourselves.
The Steelers, even in their present state, can hang with any team in the league.

Good teams don't say shoulda or coulda they get it done

[GoSlash27]

Good teams don't say shoulda or coulda they get it done

Point is, they lost last night because they screwed up, not because they're 'not good enough'.

[Fire Goodell]

Point is, they lost last night because they screwed up, not because they're 'not good enough'.

I'm going to have to disagree. Bills defense against a mostly rookie / PS WR corps and an undrafted rookie at QB. I'd say the Bills defense is going to win that matchup 9 times out of 10. Yeah the defense will keep the score 'close', but there was no way the Steeler offense was going to get them back in the game.

That group has potential, yeah. But right now? They're not good enough

[EzraTank]

Here are the tie breaker rules (I posted this in another thread as well but figured it would be better here) and how to calculate tie breakers for non divisional winners/Wild Card teams:

TO BREAK A TIE FOR THE WILD-CARD TEAM OR AMONG DIVISION WINNERS:

If it is necessary to break ties to determine the two Wild-Card clubs from each conference, the following steps will be taken.

1. If the tied clubs are from the same division, apply division tie breaker.
2. If the tied clubs are from different divisions, apply the following steps.

Two Clubs:

1. Head-to-head, if applicable.
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
4. Strength of victory.
5. Strength of schedule.
6. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
7. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best net points in conference games.
9. Best net points in all games.
10. Best net touchdowns in all games.
11. Coin toss.

Let's assume we beat the Jets, lose to Ravens and they lose to Saints beat Texans both finishing 9-7.

#1 head to head is out since we didn't play each other, #2 would be the same conference record (7-5),
#3 would be the first tie breaker that applied. We split with Cleveland, they beat them once. They split with Indy we beat them once. We both beat the Chargers so in the end #3 is a tie.
#4 Strength of victory & #5 Strength of schedule. I have no clue how to calculate these so I Googled them:

Computation. The strength of schedule can be calculated in many ways. ... In the National Football League (NFL),
the strength of schedule (SOS) is the combined record of all teams in a schedule, and the strength of victory
(SOV) is the combined record of all teams that were beaten in that schedule.

Okay then ... so this is where it starts to lean towards the Titans. Going off of #4 SOV we have beaten teams with very few wins and they beat Kansas City which really helps them. They have beaten teams with a total of 49 wins and we have beaten teams with a total of 34 wins. Not even close, Titans win tie breaker.

If we both end up 10-6 then #2 would break the tie. We would be 8-4 against the conference and them 7-5, Steelers win tie breaker.

If Titans beat the Saints and lose to Texans to reach 9-7 and we just reach 9-7 through any combination... We would be 7-5 against the conference and them 6-6, Steelers win tie breaker.

If we both end up 8-8 then it gets REAL ugly because then the Browns, Raiders and Colts could enter the mix and I don't have enough time today to figure all that mess out, let's just say a 5 way tie the Browns get the nod based on an 8-4 conference record vs all the other teams. At 8-8 we do not stack up well against any of these teams.

[steelreserve]

Exactly!!! ...and, want to focus on that last line.

I had mentioned the 4 INTs and the two punts (which were basically turnovers), but I forgot about the botched snap that turned into a fumble. That was another turnover in the red-zone... totaling four turnovers in FG range.

If we don’t shout ourselves on the foot. If we simply throw the ball away. That is four FGs/12 more points... and, we win.

SUMMATION:
The Steelers gave the playoff-bound Bills 5 actual turnovers (and 2 punts that were like turnovers)... and that playoff-caliber team still only won by 7 points.

We can hang with ANYONE.

That's the big problem, though. Hodges has guts, but it's a double-edged sword. His style of play WILL result in these kinds of games where you have 4 or 5 turnovers; it was just a matter of time.

I mean, while it's happening, it's easy to think, "oh man, if only it wasn't for these fluke mistakes!" - but having a day to put it in context, it is not a huge surprise. He will do enough to win a game for you, but he is also quite capable of going out and losing the game for you. Frankly, I think we were lucky it took this long to draw a bad one.

[EzraTank]

That's the big problem, though. Hodges has guts, but it's a double-edged sword. His style of play WILL result in these kinds of games where you have 4 or 5 turnovers; it was just.a matter of time.

I mean, while it's happening, it's easy to think, "oh man, if only it wasn't for these fluke mistakes!" - but having a day to put it in context, it is not a huge surprise. He will do enough to win a game for you, but he is also quite capable of going out and losing the game for you. Frankly, I think we were lucky it took this long to draw a bad one.

He's beaten three bad teams (Arizona, Cleveland, Cincy) with a combined record of 11-30-1. Buffalo has 10 wins alone. Last night was the first real team he faced.

[86WARD]

I thinks there’s a lot of confusion as to how Pittsrgh can get into the playoffs...

[EzraTank]

We need to win at least one more game to eliminate the Colts, Raiders and Browns.

[steelreserve]

I thinks there’s a lot of confusion as to how Pittsrgh can get into the playoffs...

Sounds like the issue is we have the tiebreaker edge right now over the Titans, but we have two AFC teams left on the schedule, and they have one AFC team and one NFC team.

So if PIT and TEN both lose to an AFC opponent, nothing changes. If we lose to an AFC opponent while they lose to an NFC opponent, then the tiebreaker shifts to them on better conference record.

edit: and if we lose both games, we lose the tiebreaker no matter what.

[Iron Steeler]

I thinks there’s a lot of confusion as to how Pittsrgh can get into the playoffs...

This!

What I was trying to say. We unfortunately cant lock up a playoff berth in week 15. This is gonna go down to the final week.