The Oakland Raiders got back on the winning track on Saturday as they eked out a 16-13 overtime victory over the Kanas City Chiefs to improve to 8-7 on the season. The win snapped a three game losing streak that saw the Raiders drop out of the AFC West lead.
The Raiders received some help on Saturday as the Denver Broncos lost to the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets lost to the New York Giants. The Broncos loss moved the Raiders into a tie for the AFC West lead. The Jets loss moved Cincinnati at 9-6 into the final AFC wildcard berth heading into Week 17.
The Raiders need to beat the visiting San Diego Chargers next week and will also need another team to lose for Oakland to make the playoffs. As it currently stands, Denver and Oakland split head-to-head and have the same record against divisional and conference opponents. That means the tiebreaker moves on to record against common opponents, which the Broncos would win.
If the Broncos win, Oakland can get into the playoffs if the Bengals lose at home to the Baltimore Ravens next week (assuming Oakland wins). Oakland wins the tiebreak over the Jets and Titans due to strength of victory and would hold the tiebreak over Cincinnati due to record against conference opponents. Accordingly, an Oakland win and Cincinnati loss means the Raiders win the wild card.
Got all that?