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Why Broncos hold the AFC 1-seed tiebreaker to be ahead of the Patriots originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Denver Broncos and New England Patriots both enter the final week of the NFL regular season with 13-3 records.
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If they both win, the Broncos will claim the AFC's No. 1 seed even though they'll match at 14-3. And the reason why is hilarious.
First, though, they have to take care of business.
The Broncos take on the Los Angeles Chargers, who have already announced they will be sitting QB Justin Herbert and starting his backup, Trey Lance.
The Patriots are facing the Miami Dolphins and their rookie QB, Quinn Ewers.
Both are certainly winnable games.
The tiebreaker could impact at least how New England ends up approaching their matchup, though.
MORE: Deion Sanders' reaction to Shedeur's terrible interception tells the whole story
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Why are Broncos ahead of Patriots in AFC standings?
The reason is about as funny as it gets: the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Broncos and Patriots are being seeded based off of results against common opponents, and this season, that's the Raiders.
New England lost to Vegas in Week 1.
The Broncos have beaten the Raiders in both their meetings.
So the reason the Patriots may end up missing that first-round bye and top seed is that all the way back in Week 1, before the Raiders went off the rails, New England couldn't beat them.
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