A Broncos win Sunday guarantees they win ANY two-way tiebreaker with New England.
Denver would win the common-opponent tiebreaker by defeating the Raiders. But because New England has completed interconference play, all of its remaining games are vs. AFC foes.
So, any future NE…
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) December 3, 2025
Believe it or not, the 10-2 Denver Broncos facing the 2-10 Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday could have massive implications in the AFC’s playoff race.
The Broncos are currently the No. 2 seed in the conference behind the New England Patriots (11-2), who are on a bye this week. After Sunday, Denver and New England will both have four games remaining as they race for the top seed.
As Andrew Mason of DenverSports.com astutely pointed out earlier this week, if the Broncos beat the Raiders, they would be guaranteed to win a two-way tiebreaker over the Patriots if it comes down to that at the end of the season.
A win in Las Vegas would give Denver a common-opponent tiebreaker (New England lost to the Raiders earlier this season), and the rest of the Patriots’ opponents are in the AFC. So if the Broncos win in Week 14, they’d also hold a conference-record tiebreaker if they end up with the same record as New England at the end of the season.
In short, Sunday’s game has huge playoff implications. We know which game Patriots fans will be watching this weekend.
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