Can the Patriots clinch their division in Week 9?

[Rain Man]

So far, I think it's still possible if they win today, though they may have to wait until Week 10.

Patriots 5-0
Bills 1-4
Jets 1-5 without Herm
Dolphins 0-6

[FloridaMan88]

The Pats could outsource their offensive gameplanning to Slowlari and Curled Dick for the rest of the season and still win that garbage heap of a division by mid-November.

[Wa-Z]

Man - They are good!!

[007]

Why can't we be in THAT division. Lets ask the Pats to swap.

[kstater]

Division doesn't matter to them. They are going to have to keep winning to keep pace with Indy.

[Bowser]

Division doesn't matter to them. They are going to have to keep winning to keep pace with Indy.

They'll destroy Indy in the playoffs this year.

[JimNasium]

Brady is starting to look like he may be the best ever.

[007]

Brady is starting to look like he may be the best ever.
I like the sound of that much better than Peyton Manning.

[tommykat]

Brady is starting to look like he may be the best ever.

oh my, i agree :Lin:He is good.......... :rolleyes: We gotta deal with it again.

[Bowser]

And yet, Llyoyd Carr had Brady in a QB rotation at Michigan with Drew Henson. :spock:

[MichaelH]

They are extremely good but play in a division worse than the Chiefs if that's possible.

On a positive note, I'd rather root for Brady than Manning any day.

[alnorth]

Getting back to the topic, since I'm a math nerd I looked through the schedules and figured it out. No, the New England Patriots can NOT clinch the division under any circumstances at the end of week 9. The earliest it could happen is after week 10 or 11 (highly unlikely, but possible)

To figure this out, I assumed that New England wins out through week 9, and the worst thing that could happen to Buffalo, NYJ, and Miami through week 9 does happen. Then I see if those 3 teams have all been eliminated from the division race.

New England: At the end of week 9, they are 9-0 with a 3-0 division record. If they lose out from there, they are 9-7 with a 3-3 division record.

Buffalo: Not Eliminated. At the end of week 9, they are 1-7 with a 1-2 division record. If they win out and the Patriots lose out, they finish 9-7 with a 4-2 division record and win the division.

Miami: Eliminated. At the end of week 9, they are 0-8 and can't catch the Patriots. We dont have to think about Miami in the 11-week scenario either.

New York Jets: Eliminated, unless they beat Buffalo. If they lose out, they are 1-8 and can't catch the Patriots. However, if they lose out, that gives Buffalo another win which makes it even harder to eliminate the Bills in week 10. If you let the Jets win that week 8 game, then the Jets are back in it after week 9 with a 2-7 record and 2-2 in the division. If they won out from there and the Patriots lost out, they would be 9-7 and 4-2 in division, winning the AFC East.

Week 11 Scenarios: If Buffalo beats the Jets and loses in week 10 during New England's bye week, they are 2-7 and still not out of it until the Patriots finally take them out in week 11. If you let the Jets beat Buffalo, then the Jets are still in it during their 10th week bye, only to finally be eliminated in week 11 with their 8th loss vs Pittsburgh.

Edit:

Week 10 Scenario: If Buffalo and the Jets tie in week 8, the Jets are done, and then Buffalo can be eliminated with a loss in week 10.

[Rasputin]

Can somebody please ask Goat C how many TDs vs Ints, that Payton and Brady have?? He keeps dodging the question.

[Rain Man]

(Lots of scenario discussion to show earliest clinching week.)

So it sounds like the most they could rest their starters would be five games, eh?

[FloridaMan88]

So it sounds like the most they could rest their starters would be five games, eh?

Not if they want to clinch homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. They will probably be competing neck and neck with the Colts for that all season.