The Miami Dolphins will spend their Sunday battling the Dallas Cowboys, a team that, like the Dolphins, hasn’t had much success against winning teams but is near the top of the conference.
With a 10-4 record entering Week 16, the Dolphins have a lead in the AFC East and are second in the conference. Other teams will also take the field this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, which will impact Miami’s playoff odds and scenarios with less than a quarter of the season remaining.
Below is our rooting guide for this weekend’s slate of games while the Dolphins take on the Cowboys at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Steelers over Bengals
A division battle with the third and fourth-place teams could only impact the wild-card standings. A loss for the Bengals would drop them to 8-7 and lower the threshold for those final spots.
Chargers over Bills
This may be asking for a lot, but if the Dolphins win and the Bills lose, Miami would win the AFC East for the first time since 2008.
Falcons over Colts
The Colts currently hold the seventh seed with the same record as the Bengals. As mentioned for that game, a loss would give the Dolphins the best chance at the top wild-card seed if things were to go horribly wrong in these last three weeks.
Texans over Browns
The Browns have the top wild-card spot while the Texans are just on the outside looking in. A victory for Houston would have two teams in the playoffs with nine wins at the moment. The Dolphins don’t want that first wild-card team to have 10 wins just yet.
Raiders over Chiefs
A Chiefs loss would protect the Dolphins from falling into the third seed if they were to lose to the Cowboys this week.
49ers over Ravens
At the moment, Baltimore holds the top seed in the AFC, and they’re the only team in the conference to punch their ticket to the playoffs. A loss and Dolphins win, would put them in a tie for the top seed again.
