Playoff picture: Colts can clinch in Week 14

The Colts could become the first team to clinch a playoff berth. (USATSI)

A few teams made statements in Week 13, including several that took home key road wins:

• Philadelphia won at Dallas to stake a claim to the NFC East lead


• Green Bay outplayed New England in the latest mega-matchup


• Seattle tamed San Francisco on the road and jumped back into a playoff slot


• Cincinnati earned a nail-biting win at Tampa Bay to become the lone AFC North winner of the week


• Denver went to frigid Kansas City and completed a season sweep of the Chiefs


• San Diego jumped into the AFC No. 5 seed position with a road win at Baltimore

We lost the New York Giants and Washington Redskins from playoff contention during Week 13 but still have 26 teams left, which is the lowest number of teams alive for the playoffs with four weeks to play since 2009 (26).

As we head into Week 14, we have one playoff clinching scenario and it's in the AFC.

The Indianapolis Colts can clinch the AFC South division title with:

1) A WIN + Houston loss

A Colts win at Cleveland next week will get Indy to 9-7 at worst and a Texans loss at Jacksonville will leave Houston at 9-7 at best. Houston can still split the season head-to-head series on Week 15 and they could tie Indy in division record at 4-2. However, Indianapolis would win the tiebreaker with Houston on record against common opponents at 8-4 vs. 6-6. Thus, an Indy win and Houston loss clinches the AFC South for the Colts.

Other playoff picture notes heading into Week 14:

• Philadelphia can clinch the NFC East title in two weeks by EITHER winning their next two games at home against Seattle and Dallas OR losing to Seattle AND Dallas loses to Chicago AND Philadelphia beats Dallas in Week 15.


• If Arizona continues to stumble (they have a tough finish with Kansas City and Seattle at home and St. Louis and San Francisco on the road), Green Bay would have the inside track on the No. 1 seed with their head-to-head win over Philadelphia.


• Dallas is disadvantaged in wild card ties as all four of their losses are against conference foes (Seattle and Detroit both have two conference losses), but Dallas does have a head-to-head win against Seattle if they are matched up in a two-team tie.


• With Arizona's loss on Sunday, Seattle now controls its destiny for a division title as they are one game back and can sweep the Cardinals with a win at Arizona in Week 16.


• Even with their loss at Green Bay, New England still is in control of the No. 1 seed in the AFC as they have head-to-head wins against all three other division leaders (Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver). HOWEVER, if New England loses at San Diego next week and Miami beats the N.Y. Jets on Monday night and Baltimore next week, Miami could take the division lead with a win at New England in Week 15 due to a season sweep of the Patriots.


• Cincinnati now has a 1.5 game lead in the AFC North as all three other division teams lost in Week 13, but the Bengals still have three division games left including a pair against Pittsburgh which starts at home in Week 14.


• With two games left against Cincinnati, Pittsburgh controls its destiny for the AFC North title despite being 1.5 games back of Cincinnati and currently losing a three-way tiebreaker to Baltimore. If Pittsburgh wins out to go 11-5, Baltimore could get to 11-5 but would be the only other team as they play Cleveland and the Steelers would win a tiebreaker on division record. If Cleveland gets to 11-5 to tie Pittsburgh (including a win over Baltimore), Pittsburgh and Cleveland will tie on division record and common opponents, but the Steelers would win on conference record (9-3 to 7-5).


• If Indianapolis loses next week and Houston wins, the Texans would be back in the division race as they would travel to Indy in Week 15 to attempt to tie the Colts, although they would still trail Indianapolis in record against common opponents.


• Even with the loss to Denver at home, Kansas City still has the lead among the 7-5 teams for the No. 6 seed based on conference record.

Based on how teams are performing, upcoming schedules and tiebreakers, here's how I see the season playing out for conference seeds:

AFC: 1) New England 2) Denver 3) Indianapolis 4) Cincinnati 5) Miami 6) San Diego

NFC: 1) Green Bay 2) Philadelphia 3) Seattle 4) New Orleans 5) Arizona 6) Detroit

Playoff picture standings and tiebreakers

Joe Ferreira is an NFL playoffs expert in his 23rd season of handling official playoff scenarios for the NFL. Follow Joe on Twitter: @JoeNFL.

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Former Baltimore Ravens RB Ray Rice wins appeal



Free agent running back Ray Rice has won the appeal of his suspension and has officially been reinstated to the NFL. Rice is now eligible to sign with any team. Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USJAX-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Rice was suspended indefinitely after video evidence of him hitting his then-fianceacute;e was released to the public. The act led to the NFL suspending the three-time Pro Bowler indefinitely for violation of the league's personal conduct policy.



Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USJAX-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} The 27-year-old RB must have sighed in relief when the judge ruled in his favor today. Rice, whose career was in jeopardy, is now cleared to sign with any NFL team. Finding a suitor will be a major task as the team that signs him will likely have to deal with a public relations nightmare. Rice may get his second chance, but he will not be on the fantasy radar this season. Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USJAX-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}