Between the Top 7: What Loss Would Each Team Want Back?

[ryguy101]

Between the Top 7: What Loss Would Each Team Want Back? 

Week 15 Edition

 

Broncos

Pats

Jags 

Steelers

Chargers

Bills 

Texans

 

[BearNorth]

Bills - def Pats at home.  

[BruceVilanch]

9 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

Bills - def Pats at home.  

Pretty easy pick

[dayman]

Whatever loss each team had to their closest division competitor, or conference competitor, or just conference loss….depending on the situation.

 

Not trying to be an ass, but there is actually and answer to this for every team that is objectively correct and you just look at their place in the standings and schedule to determine it, it isn’t very hard to do and therefore this just isn’t a very interesting question for discussion.

 

Obviously the Pats for the Bills. Each other team has a fairly obvious answer for themselves as well.

Edited 18 hours ago by dayman

[Billsfanatic8989]

Broncos- Colts. They had it won and got porked by the refs. 

 

Patriots-Raiders game. I know opening day is weird. And is not a sign of things to come. But that is a disastrous organization from top to bottom. If the two teams played Sunday, the Raiders would get obliterated.

 

Jags-Texans game. Huge lead blown to the backup

 

Steelers-Bills. They probably find a way to win if the first turnover does not happen

 

Chargers-Washington. In retrospect, that was a terrible loss.

 

Bills-Dolphins game. The Patriots are good. Losing like that to Miami might be what puts us on the road in the postseason. That was the ugliest game all year. Where there was no hope from start to end

 

Texans-Bucs game. One Mayfield scramble stop from a win

1 minute ago, dayman said:

Whatever loss each team had to their closest division competitor, or conference competitor, or just conference loss….depending on the situation.

 

Not trying to be an ass, but there is actually and answer to this for every team that is objectively correct and you just look at their place in the standings and schedule to determine it, it isn’t very hard to do and therefore this just isn’t a very interesting question for discussion.

 

Obviously the Pats for the Bills. Each other team has a fairly obvious answer for themselves as well.

I only choose Miami because it was shocking, unacceptable and disheartening. 

[dayman]

Here are the answers:
 

Seed

Team

Record

Most Damaging Loss

Opponent (Rec)

Primary Consequence

1

Denver Broncos

11-2

Week 3

Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6)

Surrendered H2H leverage to a potential Divisional Round opponent and blemished an otherwise perfect AFC resume.

2

New England Patriots

11-2

Week 1

Las Vegas Raiders (2-11)

A catastrophic "Common Opponent" failure that currently hands the No. 1 seed tiebreaker to Denver.

3

Jacksonville Jaguars

9-4

Week 10

Houston Texans (8-5)

Nullified a potential season sweep, splitting the H2H tiebreaker and keeping the division race a toss-up.

4

Pittsburgh Steelers

7-6

Week 7

Cincinnati Bengals (4-9)

A division loss to a non-playoff team that severely weakens their hold on the AFC North against Baltimore.

5

Los Angeles Chargers

9-4

Week 7

Indianapolis Colts (8-5)

Handed a direct H2H tiebreaker advantage to the primary team chasing them for a Wild Card spot.

6

Buffalo Bills

9-4

Week 5

New England Patriots (11-2)

Effectively destroyed realistic hopes of winning the AFC East, locking them into the Wild Card road path.

7

Houston Texans

8-5

Week 3

Jacksonville Jaguars (9-4)

The root cause of their current deficit in the AFC South; a win here would have them leading the division today.

Edited 18 hours ago by dayman

[RiotAct]

Pats… however, the loss against Miami was inexcusable.  

[Richard Noggin]

1 hour ago, dayman said:

Whatever loss each team had to their closest division competitor, or conference competitor, or just conference loss….depending on the situation.

 

Not trying to be an ass, but there is actually and answer to this for every team that is objectively correct and you just look at their place in the standings and schedule to determine it, it isn’t very hard to do and therefore this just isn’t a very interesting question for discussion.

 

Obviously the Pats for the Bills. Each other team has a fairly obvious answer for themselves as well.

 

See, the spirit of the question could be interpreted differently, in that when we say a player or team would "want (a play or game) back" we usually mean that they should have succeeded if they'd simply done their jobs. Generally speaking, the Bills should be MORE REGRETFUL of the Dolphins loss compared to the Patriots loss. The Patriots are legit, so losing to the Dolphins likely involves more self-inflicted, unforced errors (in preparation, execution, etc.) from a perennial contender like Buffalo. 

 

Obviously the Patriots loss is more impactful for playoff seeding, so changing the result is more immediately helpful, but that's not how I would interpret the phrasing in the OP. 

[strive_for_five_guy]

9 hours ago, RiotAct said:

Pats… however, the loss against Miami was inexcusable.  

If we hadn’t lost to Miami, we’d still own our destiny in terms of winning the division and would be right on the Broncos tail for the #1 seed too.

Edited 8 hours ago by strive_for_five_guy

[DrDawkinstein]

Pats gives us back the division, and maybe even home field.

 

Selfishly, I'd say the Falcons since I went to that game and it suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. And so do the Falcons.

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by DrDawkinstein

[BfloPa]

15 hours ago, BearNorth said:

Bills - def Pats at home.  

Yes this is the one that would have us in a good position for the Division vs having to go wild card route.

[Process]

Patriots would obviously have the biggest impact but the loss to Miami was top 3 worst loss in the McBeane era. 

 

That game could end up costing us a Superbowl because this team as a 1 seed, needing two wins at home vs this playoff field, would almost feel like a lock to win the AFC. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Process

[GunnerBill]

13 hours ago, RiotAct said:

Pats… however, the loss against Miami was inexcusable.  

 

Meh, not sure I agree. Losing on the road to a divisional opponent can happen, even when you are more talented than them. The Brady Patriots had a relatively poor record in Miami actually. 

 

Despite mainly facing three inept franchises I think the Patriots dynasty swept the AFC East just five times in 20 years. 

2 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Pats gives us back the division, and maybe even home field.

 

Selfishly, I'd say the Falcons since I went to that game and it suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. And so do the Falcons.

 

 

 

I think the Falcons is our worst loss of the year. 100%. The Patriots one hurts most in terms of impact on the season, but the Falcons defeat was diabolical. 

[Process]

9 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Meh, not sure I agree. Losing on the road to a divisional opponent can happen, even when you are more talented than them. The Brady Patriots had a relatively poor record in Miami actually. 

 

Despite mainly facing three inept franchises I think the Patriots dynasty swept the AFC East just five times in 20 years. 

 

I think the Falcons is our worst loss of the year. 100%. The Patriots one hurts most in terms of impact on the season, but the Falcons defeat was diabolical. 

Disagree with you strongly on this one GB (they were both awful losses). I think you even said yourself after the Miami game it was one of the worst losses we've had under Sean?

 

We didn't score a point until 12 minutes left in the 4Q. Against a bottom tier defense that was riddled by injuries. 

 

At least vs the Falcons we can point to Ulbrich historically owning Josh Allen.

 

Can't really comprehend the Miami game. Still blows my mind. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Process

[JMM]

I remember thinking before the Pat's game that it was BIG. Beat them and they put a strangle hold on the division and important to get the 1 overall seed. And I KNEW that Pat's were coming in thinking this was a measuring stick for them and with a very motivated Diggs. So NO WAY the Bills wouldn't be ready. And then they came out and played one of their worst games at home in several years.  Sigh...

[GunnerBill]

14 minutes ago, Process said:

Disagree with you strongly on this one GB (they were both awful losses). I think you even said yourself after the Miami game it was one of the worst losses we've had under Sean?

 

We didn't score a point until 12 minutes left in the 4Q. Against a bottom tier defense that was riddled by injuries. 

 

At least vs the Falcons we can point to Ulbrich historically owning Josh Allen.

 

Can't really comprehend the Miami game. Still blows my mind. 

 

It was a dreadful performance, no doubt. But divisional road losses to inferior teams can happen - we see it every year across the league.