AFC playoff picture: Baltimore Ravens secure home-field advantage
The NFL season is entering the home stretch and all eyes will be on which teams are in the playoff picture, something that will be in constant flux.
Here's where the AFC playoff picture stands after Week 17:
yz – 1. Baltimore Ravens (13-3), AFC North champions: They brought home the division crown, conference first-round bye and home-field advantage by pummeling Miami on Sunday. The only question left for the regular season is how Baltimore approaches its finale against archrival Pittsburgh and whether the Ravens will give many (or any) key players multiple weeks off. Remaining schedule: vs. Steelers
x – 2. Miami Dolphins (11-5), AFC East leaders: They saw their hopes for home-field advantage go up in a massive cloud of smoke Sunday in Baltimore. Lose next week, and the Dolphins likely won't be playing any postseason home games as such a defeat would confer the division title to Buffalo. Remaining schedule: vs. Bills
y – 3. Kansas City Chiefs (10-6), AFC West champions: It took longer than usual, but they secured their eighth consecutive division crown while locking into the third seed. The victory also eliminated the Bengals and Broncos. Remaining schedule: at Chargers
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4. Jacksonville Jaguars (9-7), AFC South leaders: Much-needed win over hapless Carolina means the Jags are one win from repeating as division champions by virtue of what would be a 5-1 record against AFC South foes. Remaining schedule: at Titans
x – 5. Cleveland Browns (11-5), wild card No. 1: They've now won four in a row, enough to graduate to postseason for the third time since their 1999 rebirth. However Baltimore's win Sunday locks the Dawg Pound into the fifth seed and a likely wild-card round visit to the AFC South champions. Remaining schedule: at Bengals
6. Buffalo Bills (10-6), wild card No. 2: They've got pretty much everything they wanted – meaning end the regular season on a five-game winning streak next weekend in Miami, and Buffalo will have resurrected itself into AFC East champions ... again. Remaining schedule: at Dolphins
7. Indianapolis Colts (9-7), wild card No. 3: Huge game next week against Houston could determine if they're a wild card ... or even kings of the AFC South. Remaining schedule: vs. Texans
8. Houston Texans (9-7), out of playoff field: Huge game next week at Indianapolis could determine if they're a wild card ... or even kings of the AFC South. Remaining schedule: at Colts
9. Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7), out of playoff field: They extended Mike Tomlin's career-long streak of non-losing seasons as a head coach after taking out the Seahawks. Still, head-to-head losses to Houston and Indianapolis remain crippling. Remaining schedule: at Ravens
x – clinched playoff berth
y – clinched division title
z – clinched first-round bye and home-field advantage
USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis contributed to this report.
