AFC Playoff Picture: Bills remain half-game back of top team in Conference

The Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins and the top team in the AFC lost on Sunday, but Buffalo is still the four seed in the conference this week. With a logjam of teams with two losses, the Bills at least kept pace.

While the Cincinnati Bengals (5-3) lost to the New York Jets, Buffalo didn’t get as lucky with the Tennessee Titans (6-2), who pulled out a late victory over their divisional foes, the Indianapolis Colts, in overtime. Like their AFC East counterparts, the New England Patriots also came up big, knocking off the 4-2 Los Angeles Chargers (4-3).

The Kansas City Chiefs (3-4) play on Monday Night Football, but they can’t move into playoff position this week. The middle of the pack in the AFC already has five four-win teams and four five-win teams, and a win by the Chiefs could flip those numbers.

The Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders stayed ahead of Buffalo on the bye thanks to tiebreakers.

Elsewhere on the week, the Cleveland Browns lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, while the Denver Broncos beat Washington. The Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Seattle Seahawks and the Houston Texans were stomped by the Los Angeles Rams.

Here are the complete AFC East and AFC Playoff Rankings. Note: Rankings are listed in playoff order, so division leaders are listed 1-4 followed by the Wild card teams.

AFC East

1. Buffalo Bills (5-2)
2. New England Patriots (4-4)
3. New York Jets (2-5)
4. Miami Dolphins (1-7)

AFC Playoffs

1. Tennessee Titans (6-2)
2. Las Vegas Raiders (5-2, 4-1 AFC)
3. Baltimore Ravens (5-2, 4-2 AFC, SOV 14)
4. Buffalo Bills (5-2, 4-2 AFC, SOV 8)
5. Cincinnati Bengals (5-3)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3, SOV 16)
7. Los Angeles Chargers (4-3, SOV 14)
8. New England Patriots (4-4, 4-1 AFC)
9. Cleveland Browns (4-4,2-3 AFC, win over DEN)
10. Denver Broncos (4-4, 2-4 AFC, loss to CLE)
11. Kansas City Chiefs (3-4)**
12. Indianapolis Colts (3-5)
13. New York Jets (2-5)
14. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-6)
15. Houston Texans (1-7, 1-4 AFC)
16. Miami Dolphins (1-7, 1-5 AFC)