NFL Playoff standings: AFC picture after Week 11 keeps Dolphins within a game of Wildcard

The New England Patriots continued their quest for the perfect season last night, a result that both helped and hurt the Miami Dolphins.  The hurt, of course, comes with the 1972 Miami Dolphins' Perfect Season team having to continue to wait at least another week for the Patriots (and the Carolina Panthers) to lose. The help is with the currently version of the Dolphins, who, despite losing this week to the Dallas Cowboys, are still within a game of the AFC Wildcard.

The Patriots win means the Buffalo Bills lost, bringing the last Wildcard position down to a 5-5 record. It keeps the Wildcard within the madness of the .500 teams, with the teams one game behind - like the Dolphins - still maintaining hope. The Bills loss also pushes them out of the final Wildcard spot and the Kansas City Chiefs into the sixth seed position, thanks to a better AFC conference record.

The loss by Buffalo keeps second place in the AFC East at the .500 mark as well, with Miami again a game back of that mark as well. Both the Bills and the New York Jets are 5-5 on the year thus far.

The overall standings are:

AFC Playoff Standings
(Through Week 11)

1 - New England Patriots (10-0, AFC East Leader)
2 - Cincinnati Bengals (8-2, AFC North Leader)
3 - Denver Broncos (8-2, AFC West Leader)
4 - Indianapolis Colts (5-5, AFC South Leader)
Division Leader tiebreaks: Bengals over Broncos based on AFC conference winning percentage (0.875 to 0.667). Colts over Texans on head-to-head results.

5 - Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4)
6 - Kansas City Chiefs (5-5)

Houston Texans (5-5)
Buffalo Bills (5-5)
New York Jets (5-5)
Wildcard/5-5 record tiebreaks: Division tie breaks used to eliminate teams from same division, with Bills beating Jets on head-to-head results. Chiefs then beat Bills and Texans on AFC winning percentage (Chiefs - 0.667; Texans - 0.571; Bills - 0.556); Texans beat Bills on AFC winning percentage; Bills over Jets on head-to-head results.

Oakland Raiders (4-6)
Jacksonville Jaguars (4-6)
Miami Dolphins (4-6)
4-6 record tiebreaks: Raiders win tie break over Jaguars and Dolphins on AFC winning percentage (Raiders - 0.571; Jaguars - 0.500; Dolphins - 0.286); Jaguars over Dolphins based on head-to-head results

Baltimore Ravens (3-7)

Cleveland Browns (2-8)
San Diego Chargers (2-8)
Tennessee Titans (2-8)
2-8 record tiebreaks: Browns win tie break over Chargers, Titans based on AFC winning percentage (Browns - 0.250; Chargers - 0.167; Titans - 0.000); Chargers over Titans based on AFC winning percentage