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AFC playoff picture: What Patriots’ Week 10 win over Buccaneers means

The New England Patriots took care of business in Week 10, going on the road and beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a final score of 28-23. The victory improves their record on the season to 8-2, and allows them to stay in touch with the current top two in the conference, the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.

In addition, the Patriots put some space between themselves and their main division rival: thanks to their win and the Buffalo Bills suffering a 30-13 upset loss to the Miami Dolphins, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel is now up 1.5 games plus the head-to-head advantage.

With Sunday’s early window in the books, here is what the AFC playoff picture looks like.

1. Indianapolis Colts (8-2)
2. Denver Broncos (8-2)
3. New England Patriots (8-2)
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3)
5. Los Angeles Chargers (6-3)
6. Buffalo Bills (6-3)
7. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-4)

On the bubble: 8. Kansas City Chiefs (5-4), 9. Houston Texans (4-5), 10. Baltimore Ravens (4-5)

Not technically eliminated but let’s be real here: 11. Cincinnati Bengals (3-6), 12. Miami Dolphins (3-7), 13. New York Jets (2-7), 14. Las Vegas Raiders (2-7), 15. Cleveland Browns (2-7), 16. Tennessee Titans (1-8)

The Patriots entered Week 10 as the second-placed team in the conference, but dropped to No. 3 despite celebrating a victory. Why? The conference record tiebreaker is to blame: the Colts lead the way at 6-1 in AFC games, with the Broncos and Patriots at 5-2 and 4-2, respectively.

Source: https://www.patspulpit.com/around-t...ff-picture-nfl-week-10-buccaneers-bills-colts