The Kansas City Chiefs barely escaped, and the Buffalo Bills didn’t.
While the Chiefs forced overtime with the help of a Patrick Mahomes 20 yard scramble on 3rd and 17 and then won it overtime, the Bills lost to the Jets.
The result is the two teams are tied at -6-2 although Bills currently have the head to head tiebreaker. Still Josh Allen is 2-7 in his last nine one score games and that is a red flag. So is the fact Allen suffered a ligament injury in his elbow late in the loss and it is uncertain how it will affect him.
The Bills also only have a one game lead on the 6-3 Jets and Miami they are in danger of becoming a wild card team if the stub their toe again.
The way it stands now, the Jets and Dolphins would make the playoffs as wild card teams with the Chargers, who beat edged the Falcons to get to 5-3. There are seven playoff spots and nine AFC teams with between two and four losses. The Chargers remained a game behind the Chiefs in the NFC West.
They are followed by the Pats and Bengals, who are both 5-4. The Pats beat the Colts in an ugly game while the Bengals routed Carolina.
Colts owner Jimmy Irsay then fired coach Frank Reich and hired former Colt Jeff Saturday as interim coach. The hiring was bizarre and raises more questions about the way the team goes from here. Irsay insisted he is not tanking the season, but they will continue to play second year quarterback Sam Ehlinger so they are likely to keep losing. That means they may get a high enough pick to draft a quarterback to start over..Irsay isn’t ruling out keeping Saturday next year.
Despite its loss to the Chiefs, Tennessee is leading the AFC South with a 5-3 mark. The Colts are actually second at 3-5-1 but they are in such disarray that the Titans should coast to the division title. The other two teams in the division– Jacksonville and Houston — both have six losses.
Baltimore beat New Orleans to stay in first place in the AFC North at 6-3, a game ahead of 5-4 Cincinnati, which routed Carolina.
In the NFC, Philadelphia remained the only unbeaten team in the league at 8-0 by beating Houston. Minnesota is a game behind in the race for the top seed at 7-1 after beating the Commanders although the Vikings only loss was to the Eagles, so Eagles have the tiebreker.The Vikings have a five game lead on the Packers in the division so they are only playing for top seed. Green Bay contnued its collapse, losing to Detroit to fall to 3-6. Detroit is 2-6
Dallas and Giants had byes and remained in place for top two wild card spots at 6-2.
Tom Brady captured a bit of that old magic by leading a game winning drive in last 40 seconds to beat the Rams. The Bucs are now 4-5, which doesn’t sound impressive but ties them for the lead in the NFC South with Atlanta..
The Rams fell to 3-5 and are in third place in the NFC West behind 6-3 Seattle, which beat disappointing Arizona. and San Francisco, which had a bye, is a game behind the Seahawks in the loss column at 4-4. Arizona is in last place at 3-6 and will be featured in Hard Knocks In Season. The producers didn’t expect them to be 3-6.