NFL playoff picture: How win over Giants impacts Patriots’ outlook

The New England Patriots are heading into their bye week as the owners of the No. 1 seed in the AFC. While they did briefly slide down to the second position in the conference following the Denver Broncos’ overtime win against the Washington Commanders on Sunday, they are back up following their own clash with an NFC East club on Monday Night Football.

The Patriots celebrated a convincing 33-15 victory over the visiting New York Giants to become the first team in the NFL to 11 wins. While Denver is still in position to overtake them in Week 14, they are for the moment back in the driver’s seat for the first-round playoff bye.

All in all, the playoff picture in the AFC looks as follows:

AFC playoff picture after Week 13

1. New England Patriots (11-2)

2. Denver Broncos (10-2)

3. Jacksonville Jaguars (8-4)

4. Baltimore Ravens (6-6)

5. Los Angeles Chargers (8-4)

6. Indianapolis Colts (8-4)

7. Buffalo Bills (8-4)

On the bubble: 8. Houston Texans (7-5), 9. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6), 10. Kansas City Chiefs (6-6)

Not technically eliminated but let’s be real here: 11. Miami Dolphins (5-7), 12. Cincinnati Bengals (4-8), 13. New York Jets (3-9). 14. Cleveland Browns (3-9)

Eliminated: 15. Las Vegas Raiders (2-10), 16. Tennessee Titans (1-11)

Week 13 saw some changes in the AFC. Up top, the Colts lost their third game in the last four weeks to drop out of the AFC South lead. In their place, the Jaguars moved up into the third overall seed.

On the other end of the conference, meanwhile, the first two teams were eliminated from postseason contention. Neither the Raiders nor the Titans will be playing deep into January, and instead are very much only competing for draft position from here on out — something that soon could be true for a lot of other teams in the AFC as well.