Atlanta Falcons @ Houston Texans. 12/4. 12 CT. FOX. **Official GameDay Thread**

[JCTexan]

Originally Posted by Pantherstang84

If it is head to head, then Baltimore would have had the #1 seed last week too. See my point?

Last week was different because Houston was ahead of both the Patriots & Ravens in conference record. Patriots now have the tiebreaker over Houston based off Strength of Victory. Therefore, because New England has the tiebreaker over Houston, Houston & Baltimore's head-to-head meeting comes into play.

BTW: I'm going off of ESPN not NFL.com. Here's how they have their standings and why:

1. New England - AFC East Champ
(Wins tie break over Houston based on strength of victory. Wins tie break over Baltimore based on best win percentage in conference games.)
2. Baltimore - AFC North Champ
(Wins tie break over Pittsburgh based on head-to-head win percentage. Wins tie break over Houston based on head-to-head win percentage.)
3. Houston - AFC South Champ
4. Denver - AFC West Champ
(Wins tie break over Oakland based on best win percentage in division games.)
5. Pittsburgh
6. Cincinnati - (Wins tie break over Tennessee, Oakland and NY Jets based on best win percentage in conference games)

http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings/_/t...nk/order/false

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

Lowest Winning Seed From AFC Wild-Card Round
Patriots 24
(9-3-0) Proj: 1st Seed

Highest Winning Seed From AFC Wild-Card Round

Texans 24
(9-3-0) Proj: 2nd Seed


...what do you mean, it's not showing up for you?? I just rechecked it and it's still there.

Not sure why but that site is showing a blank page for me.

[GuerillaBlack]

Originally Posted by Rey

Anybody catch the little piece about us during halftime of the Sunday night game?

Talk about love and attention on a national stage.

I really don't care about that stuff but I know a lot of you guys do. And I have to admit it was pretty cool to be put out there like that.

Yeah it was cool. Costas said the Texans played themselves into a Sunday Night game next season. Maybe sooner if we make the SB.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by JCTexan

Last week was different because Houston was ahead of both the Patriots & Ravens in conference record. Patriots now have the tiebreaker over Houston based off Strength of Victory. Therefore, because New England has the tiebreaker over Houston, Houston & Baltimore's head-to-head meeting comes into play.

BTW: I'm going off of ESPN not NFL.com. Here's how they have their standings and why:

1. New England - AFC East Champ
(Wins tie break over Houston based on strength of victory. Wins tie break over Baltimore based on best win percentage in conference games.)
2. Baltimore - AFC North Champ
(Wins tie break over Pittsburgh based on head-to-head win percentage. Wins tie break over Houston based on head-to-head win percentage.)
3. Houston - AFC South Champ
4. Denver - AFC West Champ
(Wins tie break over Oakland based on best win percentage in division games.)
5. Pittsburgh
6. Cincinnati - (Wins tie break over Tennessee, Oakland and NY Jets based on best win percentage in conference games)

http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings/_/t...nk/order/false

Not sure why but that site is showing a blank page for me.

Maybe you didn't wait long enough. It takes a while to load. When I first checked there, I thought something was wrong with it too. But after a couple of good, long minutes, all the graphics finally showed up.

[drs23]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

Maybe you didn't wait long enough. It takes a while to load. When I first checked there, I thought something was wrong with it too. But after a couple of good, long minutes, all the graphics finally showed up.

Yes the NFL page takes forever to load. One of the reasons I don't go there much. The other being I don't wanna be one of their "hits". I'm not over their f'kn lockout yet.

[TejasTom]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

Tell me about it.
NFL.com says we're still the #2 seed. Maybe CBS is hosed up. Wouldn't be the first time.

http://www.nfl.com/playoffs/playoff-picture

My understanding is the Head to head only applies if ALL tied teams have played each other. So in the PATs, TEXANs, RAVENs tie, the head to head step is skipped and our in conference record is better than RAVENs.

[Speedy]

Originally Posted by TejasTom

My understanding is the Head to head only applies if ALL tied teams have played each other. So in the PATs, TEXANs, RAVENs tie, the head to head step is skipped and our in conference record is better than RAVENs.

In a 3 way tie with NE, BAL and HOU, NE & HOU eliminate BAL with better conference records. Then it reverts to a 2 way tie between NE & HOU, which NE wins on strength of victory.

Then it starts over with BAL & HOU where BAL has head to head.

So NE would be #1, BAL #2 and HOU #3.

The loss to the Ravens hurt but having Indy and Jacsonville twice each is killing our strength of victory.

[TejasTom]

http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakingprocedures

Three or More Clubs

(Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated, tie breaker reverts to step 1 of applicable two-club format.)

1. Apply division tie breaker to eliminate all but the highest ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tie breaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the two Wild-Card participants.
2. Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Speedy

In a 3 way tie with NE, BAL and HOU, NE & HOU eliminate BAL with better conference records. Then it reverts to a 2 way tie between NE & HOU, which NE wins on strength of victory.

Then it starts over with BAL & HOU where BAL has head to head.

So NE would be #1, BAL #2 and HOU #3.

The loss to the Ravens hurt but having Indy and Jacsonville twice each is killing our strength of victory.

I'm afraid that's not right.

It can only go to the two-way tie rules if all three teams have played one another. The Pats aren't on our schedule this year so that cannot happen.

The 3-way rules apply here.

TejasTom quoted the exact verbage.

[HTown2ATX]

Originally Posted by Speedy

In a 3 way tie with NE, BAL and HOU, NE & HOU eliminate BAL with better conference records. Then it reverts to a 2 way tie between NE & HOU, which NE wins on strength of victory.

Then it starts over with BAL & HOU where BAL has head to head.

So NE would be #1, BAL #2 and HOU #3.

The loss to the Ravens hurt but having Indy and Jacsonville twice each is killing our strength of victory.

But what I don't get, is that last week when CBS showed the playoff picture, we were the #1 seed and that was talked about nationally too. Now this week, all 3 top teams win, but we go from #1 to #3??

BCS style.......

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by HTown2ATX

But what I don't get, is that last week when CBS showed the playoff picture, we were the #1 seed and that was talked about nationally too. Now this week, all 3 top teams win, but we go from #1 to #3??

BCS style.......

that's easy.
CBS was wrong last week and they're wrong again this week.

They keep applying the two way rules. The 2-way rules cannot apply since all three teams haven't (and won't) play each other.

[TejasTom]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

that's easy.
CBS was wrong last week and they're wrong again this week.

They keep applying the two way rules. The 2-way rules cannot apply since all three teams haven't (and won't) play each other.

Exactly. Look at the NFL page. We were first last week because we had more AFC wins than NE. This week they tied us because they played an AFC team and won (we are both 7- 2 in AFC, BALT is 6 - 2 in AFC). This is why BALT is 3rd.

Then NE strength of victory is better than Texans so they are 1st. We both have 3 AFC and 1 NFC op left. BALT has 4 AFC left so they can catch us.

If all three win out, headed to head will never come in to play.

[Señor Stan]

dang...

the Yahoo generator has the Ravens 1, Texans 2, and Patriots 3 if all three teams win out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/playoffs...hm=yahooranker

[Señor Stan]

Strength of victory...

In case you needed MORE of a reason to root for TB vs. the Cowboys...the strength of victory for the Texans would go up and Patriots would go down.

A Jacksonville win tonight is also better for the Texans since they beat Jax twice and the Patriots beat the Chargers.

There are a lot of BCS type scenarios where the tiebreaker shifts back and forth.

[LikeMike]

Hey guys, I have a couple of officiating questions:

On the incomplete pass/fumble play we had players from both teams running on the field. Both teams were flagged. Why did these 2 flags not offset each other and cause a replay of the down?

With 8 seconds left in the game Julio Jones was flagged for stepping out of bounce and being the first to touch it again - isn`t every offensive penalty at the end of the game also a 10 second run off on the clock if you can`t take a TO?

[ChampionTexan]

Originally Posted by LikeMike

Hey guys, I have a couple of officiating questions:

On the incomplete pass/fumble play we had players from both teams running on the field. Both teams were flagged. Why did these 2 flags not offset each other and cause a replay of the down?

With 8 seconds left in the game Julio Jones was flagged for stepping out of bounce and being the first to touch it again - isn`t every offensive penalty at the end of the game also a 10 second run off on the clock if you can`t take a TO?

Don't know about the second one, but in regard to the offsetting penalties, they were post possession fouls, so them offsetting (or even if it had only been a penalty on the Falcons) wouldn't have given us the ball back.

It's similar to a penalty on the return team on a punt (possession has already changed), or perhaps a better example is if a CB intercepts a pass, runs it back for a TD, and one of his teammates is called for a block in the back on the return, it negates the TD, but it doesn't negate the interception.

[TejasTom]

Originally Posted by LikeMike

With 8 seconds left in the game Julio Jones was flagged for stepping out of bounce and being the first to touch it again - isn`t every offensive penalty at the end of the game also a 10 second run off on the clock if you can`t take a TO?

If the offense has no time outs and is losing or tied in the last two minutes of either half. The following six penalities result in a 10 second run off.

1. False start
2. Intentional grounding
3. Illegal forward pass beyond the line of scrimmage
4. Throwing a backwards pass out of bounds
5. Spiking or throwing the ball away after a down (unless after a touchdown)
6. Any other intentional act that causes the clock to stop

The Julio Jones penalty did not qualify.