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AFC Playoff Picture: Ravens Have Great Shot At Top Seed, Patriots Could Slip To Fourth

BOSTON (CBS) - As we look to the second half of the regular season, the playoff picture is still a little cluttered.

With 12 AFC teams still in the mix with a realistic possibility to make the playoffs, 98.5 the Sports Hub's Andy Gresh and Scott Zolak discussed the teams that have the best chance of staying in the playoff race and which matchups would be most appealing for the Patriots.

If the playoffs began today, the first round byes would go to the Denver Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots would be the three seed, hosting the Cincinnati Bengals (6) on the Wild Card weekend, and Baltimore would host the San Diego Chargers as the four and five seeds, respectively.

"I think we would all feel good about the Bengals coming here, correct?" Gresh asked to lead the discussion. They think that's all but a definitive victory for the Patriots which sets them up for a date in Indy to play the Colts in the Divisional Round. The Broncos would play host to the winner of the Chargers and Ravens. Both Gresh and Zo agree that these scenarios, though still a far ways away, are very favorable for the Patriots.

Now this is where it gets fun.

Tonight on Thursday Night Football the Broncos host the Chargers. If the Chargers win, which is certainly a possibility, that would obviously alter the seeding. San Diego would flip to the one seed while the Broncos would move down to the five seed. These two teams still have another game in San Diego come mid-December in Week 15, which will also have big playoff seed implications.

The Broncos and Chargers may be two of the best teams in the AFC, but one of them will have to be a Wild Card team and that cannibalistic nature may keep them from being a top seed.

When taking a look at the remaining schedules of all the contending teams, the Ravens have the easiest road by far, with their remaining opponents owning a combined record of 25-32-1.

"The Ravens have a great chance to be the one seed," said Gresh. Even Hardy agrees that they have the easiest schedule remaining, besides the couple of tough games after their bye week.

With 10 weeks left on the schedule, a lot of mixing and matching could make this year's playoff chase very exciting, and with the Patriots about to play one of the hardest six-game stretches in recent memory, they'll need to take care of business -- especially against AFC opponents -- in order to make their playoff seed manageable.

It's all very premature, and admittedly very confusing. But it's important to know where you stand with the season almost halfway over.

Listen below!

After discussing the AFC, Andy Gresh, Scott Zolak and Hardy take a look at the NFC standings and the remaining schedules of contending teams to predict how the playoff seeds will shake out.

Listen below!

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