NFL Playoff Scenarios: Projecting New England Patriots' Path to the Super Bowl

The New England Patriots are hardly unbeatable, yet they seem to once again be the team to beat in the AFC this year.

The Pats can give themselves a huge boost in this regard if they beat the Buffalo Bills at home this coming Sunday. A win will allow them to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, which of course comes with a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

No matter how things pan out, there are all sorts paths the Pats could take to Super Bowl XLVI. 

I can't claim to know the future, but below is a rundown of the path the Pats might take to Indianapolis this postseason.

Seeding

I'm going to go out on a limb right now and guess that the Pats are going to beat the Bills on Sunday, thus clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC. 

I also have the Baltimore Ravens beating the Cincinnati Bengals to earn the No. 2 seed, which will result in the Pittsburgh Steelers earning a wild-card berth and the No. 5 seed. The Houston Texans will take the No. 3 seed.

I also have the Denver Broncos, New York Jets and Oakland Raiders winning all their games. That would give the Broncos the AFC West, and the Raiders the AFC's second wild-card spot.

In this scenario, the Texans would host the Raiders and the Broncos would host the Steelers in the wild-card round.

Wild-Card Round

The Patriots will gladly take a breather during the wild-card round, waiting patiently to host the lowest surviving seed in the divisional round.

Though they beat the Texans in Houston earlier in the season, I don't think the Raiders would be able to beat the Texans a second time. The Raiders simply haven't played well down the stretch, and I have a hard time seeing Carson Palmer and the Raiders offense getting the better of Houston's defense. It probably won't be pretty, but the Texans would beat them.

As for the Steelers vs. Broncos matchup, I have to say that I liked Denver's chances in this matchup much more a couple weeks ago. In the last two weeks, Denver's defense has looked human and Tim Tebow has made too many mistakes. Against Pittsburgh's defense, he would be downright doomed.

For what it's worth, I would pick the Texans to beat any of the wild card contenders they may come across, and I would pick the Steelers to beat whoever wins the AFC West. 

In other words, the Texans and Steelers are going to the divisional round no matter what happens.

Divisional Round

In the scenario outlined above, the fifth-seeded Steelers would be the lowest surviving seed, and that would mean a trip to New England to play the Patriots in the divisional round.

This is a matchup that should scare the Patriots. The Steelers dominated them when they met head-to-head in late October, and it's certainly possible that the Steelers would dominate again in a rematch.

But since the Patriots would have the home-field advantage, I would give them the edge. Besides, we're working with a hypothetical exercise in which the Patriots have to keep advancing, right?

As for the other divisional round game between the Texans and Ravens, I would give the Ravens the edge. The game would be in their backyard, and the Ravens are virtually unbeatable at home. Against a Texans team that has been severely weakened by injuries, it would be a shock if the Ravens didn't win.

AFC Championship Game

The last stop in this magical mystery tour is the AFC Championship game, which would feature a matchup between the Ravens and Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

This would be yet another tough matchup for the Pats. The Ravens have struggled on the road this season, but they're a team with more than enough defense to stand in Tom Brady's way. The Ravens could keep Brady in check and force the Pats into playing their kind of game.

If it were to come to this, the Pats would have to make Joe Flacco their best player. Flacco is occasionally great, but he will lay an egg now and again. Especially when it comes to the playoffs, as Flacco just hasn't demonstrated that he has what it takes to succeed in the postseason.

If the Pats win, it would be on to Lucas Oil Stadium for the Super Bowl.

In any case, that's one path the Pats could take to the Super Bowl. If you feel like sharing your own, please make good use of the comments section.