The (9-6) Pittsburgh Steelers will play the (3-12) Cleveland Browns Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Stadium with a tiny chance they can make the playoffs during the final week of the 2015 NFL season. As usual, here is your fan rooting interest guide for Week 17 as it relates to the AFC playoff race and the lone scenario you should probably have memorized since the team lost to the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday.
New York Jets (10-5) at Buffalo Bills (7-8) 1:00 PM ET
It’s sad that it had to come down this but it is what it is. The Steelers need to beat the Browns Sunday and hope the Bills can upset the visiting Jets. The good news when it comes to this AFC East game is that there is a little bit of drama involved being as Bills head coach Rex Ryan has a chance to knock the team that fired him just over one year ago out of the playoffs. According to Elias Sports via Rich Eisen of the NFL Network, Ryan is the first head coach to have a chance to keep the team he was a head coach of the previous season out of playoffs in a head-to-head game in the final week of the following season. The Bills will also be looking to end their 2015 season with an 8-8 record which would be a small victory of sorts unto itself.
By the looks of the early television reports, it will be very cold in Buffalo during the game with snow possible. Additionally, high winds are expected and that could result in both teams having problems throwing the football. The team that can run the football the best in this game might very well win it and as with every game, turnovers figure to be crucial and especially if they provide the opponent with a short field to work with.
Should this Sunday end with the Steelers in the playoffs, they will be the No. 6 seed and would then play the Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals or Kansas City Chiefs in a first round Wild Card game. All we can do is hope for the best at this point. Go Steelers and go Bills.
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