Looking at the remaining schedules, three teams pop out. Jacksonville, Kansas City and Baltimore. I think all three of those are going to benefit from playing easy schedules the rest of the way.
The Jaguars are 6-3, and with the league’s easiest remaining schedule, I don’t think they’re going away. They’ve still got five games left against the Browns, Cardinals, Colts, Texans and 49ers. A flawed team, but Jacksonville is going to the playoffs.
Similarly with the Ravens, who are an underwhelming 4-5. This is a flawed, middle-of-the-pack team. But they play good defense, and given the opponents they’ll be facing the rest of the way, I think Baltimore will be a wild-card team. They’ve got a game against Pittsburgh, but they’re other remaining games are against teams that are currently 19-36. They might win all of those.
Kansas City has lost three of its last four, but with its schedule getting a lot easier, I expect it will get things turned around and start cranking out wins.
At the other end of scale, two teams contending for playoff berths have the hardest remaining schedules: Falcons and Rams.
Other playoff contenders with difficult closing schedules: Carolina, Seattle, Buffalo and Dallas.
| STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (Weeks 11-17) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| team | W | L | Pct |
| Jacksonville | 23 | 42 | .354 |
| Washington | 24 | 39 | .381 |
| Kansas City | 24 | 39 | .381 |
| Baltimore | 26 | 38 | .406 |
| LA Chargers | 28 | 36 | .438 |
| Denver | 28 | 36 | .438 |
| Pittsburgh | 28 | 35 | .444 |
| Detroit | 28 | 35 | .444 |
| Chicago | 29 | 35 | .453 |
| Cincinnati | 29 | 34 | .460 |
| Tennessee | 31 | 34 | .477 |
| Houston | 31 | 34 | .477 |
| Philadelphia | 31 | 32 | .492 |
| Cleveland | 31 | 32 | .492 |
| Indianapolis | 27 | 27 | .500 |
| Green Bay | 32 | 31 | .508 |
| Oakland | 33 | 30 | .524 |
| Arizona | 33 | 30 | .524 |
| New Orleans | 34 | 30 | .531 |
| New England | 33 | 29 | .532 |
| Minnesota | 34 | 29 | .540 |
| Dallas | 34 | 29 | .540 |
| Buffalo | 34 | 28 | .548 |
| NY Giants | 35 | 28 | .556 |
| Seattle | 36 | 28 | .563 |
| Carolina | 31 | 24 | .564 |
| Miami | 36 | 27 | .571 |
| San Francisco | 31 | 23 | .574 |
| NY Jets | 32 | 22 | .593 |
| Tampa Bay | 37 | 25 | .597 |
| LA Rams | 39 | 25 | .609 |
| Atlanta | 39 | 24 | .619 |
—Ian Allan