Raiders' Rooting Guide for NFL Playoff Implications of Week 12

The Las Vegas Raiders are flirting with the playoffs for the first time in four years, but they still have work to do over the final six weeks of the regular season.

Week 11's 35-31 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs dropped the Raiders' record to 6-4. The AFC playoffs are a jumbled mess heading into Week 12, but Las Vegas owns the No. 7 seed. There are seven teams in the conference that are either 7-3 or 6-4.

The Raiders have the final playoff spot thanks to having a better record in conference games (4-3) than the Baltimore Ravens (4-4) and Miami Dolphins (3-3). And Las Vegas has a winnable game Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. A victory would see the team match its win total from 2019.

Heading into the homestretch, here are the Week 11 games Raiders fans should be keeping a close eye on.

Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts

While the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts are still in a fight to determine who will win the AFC South, the Raiders will be happy no matter which team comes out on top.

The Colts and Titans are the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds in the AFC standings with identical 7-3 records. As long as this game doesn't end in a tie and the Raiders defeat the Falcons, Las Vegas is guaranteed to move up at least one spot in the seedings.

Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars

The Browns are one spot ahead of the Raiders in the AFC playoffs. That means Las Vegas is matched up with the Chiefs in the AFC Wild Card Round.

The race between Cleveland and Las Vegas is notable because the Raiders beat the Browns 16-6 in Week 8, so they will win any tiebreaker if they finish the season with identical records.

Even though the Raiders handed Kansas City its only loss of the season to date and nearly won the teams' most recent matchup, avoiding Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs is a good strategy for every team in the league to follow.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, this doesn't seem to be a game that will work out in their favor. The Jacksonville Jaguars have lost nine straight games since their Week 1 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Mike Glennon, who hasn't started a game since 2017, will be under center for Jacksonville with injuries to Gardner Minshew II and Jake Luton.

The Jaguars have allowed the ninth-most rushing yards this season (1,291), while the Browns have the third-most rushing yards in the NFL (1,568).

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

It's unclear at this point whether the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers will even be able to play this week. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Friday that the NFL has moved the game until Tuesday.

If the game goes ahead, Raiders fans will have to put their longstanding rivalry with Pittsburgh aside because it's in their best interest if the Ravens lose. If Baltimore wins, it will match the Raiders as being one game over .500 against AFC competition. If the Raiders lose to Atlanta, they will still be the No. 7 seed based on conference winning percentage, but the gap will be marginal (.571 to .556).

Baltimore's remaining schedule after the Steelers game comprises games against the Dallas Cowboys, Browns, Jaguars, New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals. Las Vegas closes with the New York Jets, Colts, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos.

Both teams have winnable games, but the Ravens' run looks slightly more favorable.

Miami Dolphins at New York Jets

The Dolphins are among the trio of AFC teams with 6-4 records heading into Week 11. They missed a golden opportunity to move ahead of the pack in Week 11 with a disappointing 20-13 loss to the Broncos.

Coming into Sunday's game against the Jets, there are questions about who will start at quarterback for Miami. Tua Tagovailoa is questionable with a thumb injury he suffered during practice Wednesday.

Head coach Brian Flores has shown he won't hesitate to make a change at quarterback if he thinks it's in the team's best interest. Tagovailoa replaced Ryan Fitzpatrick as the starter coming out of the bye in Week 8, even though the Dolphins had won three straight games with Fitzpatrick prior to that move.

When Tagovailoa struggled against the Broncos, Fitzpatrick took over in the fourth quarter. It wasn't enough to get the Dolphins a win, but it did send a message about where Flores thinks his team can go this season with quality quarterback play.

Fortunately, there's been no better cure for teams looking for answers than the New York Jets. Nothing would seem to indicate that the league's only winless team, which ranks 31st in scoring defense and last in scoring offense, is going to figure things out against the Dolphins.

That's bad news for the Raiders because if they win and Miami wins, the teams will have identical overall records (7-4) and conference records (4-3). These two go head-to-head in Week 16 in a game that could have huge playoff implications.