MVN - Most Valuable Network

Broncos’ Playoff Possibilities

Just to briefly review, the Broncos at 6-7 are two games behind the Chargers at 8-5.  The Chargers are 3-1 in divisional play while the Broncos are 3-2.  The two teams, of course, square off on primetime on Christmas Eve.

In addition, the Broncos have games against the Texans and Vikings, while the Chargers take on the Lions and Raiders.

For the Broncos to make the playoffs, it’s obviously imperative that they must beat the Chargers.  The Chargers also need to lose one more game in addition, or they could still finish the season at 10-6 and one game ahead.

But what if the two teams tie at 9-7?  The first tiebreaker would be division record.  If the Chargers’ other loss was to the Raiders, the Broncos would clinch the division on this tiebreaker, 4-2 to 3-3.  However, if the other Chargers loss is to the Lions, then the division records are tied at 4-2.  The second tiebreaker is common games, and that has already been won by the Chargers, as while the Broncos beat both their uncommon opponents (Steelers and Bills), the Chargers split theirs (lost to Patriots, beat Ravens).

So yes, this means that Broncos fans have to place faith in the Raiders on Week 17 to defeat the Chargers at Oakland.  It also means that the Chargers vs. Lions game this weekend actually means very little to the Broncos.  The only way it could impact is if the Chargers lose all three games and the Broncos drop one to either the Texans or the Vikings (in this scenario, the two teams would be tied at 8-8 with the Broncos still winning the division record tiebreaker).

So, how exactly do I project the odds of things falling Denver’s way?

–It’s obvious that the Broncos don’t deserve to win the division if they can’t manage to avoid a sweep by the resulting division champ.

–The Broncos have an excellent chance of taming the Texans in a teacher vs. disciple battle that I’ll have more on tomorrow.

–The Raiders upsetting the Chargers?  Hey, if the Chiefs could do it in their current state, then the Raiders could.  Weirder things have happened.

–The real lynchpin, however, is the Vikings game, and this is the one that worries me the most.  Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor going up against the Broncos’ run defense?

====

I really don’t have a lot to say on the recent arrest of Todd Sauerbrun, other than he sure is doing whatever he can to teeter on the brink of running out of chances after all he’s been through.  The Broncos do have a bunch of second-day picks in this upcoming draft, and Sauerbrun will turn 35 soon.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s at least some competition for him come next training camp.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. 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.