Also, fellas, let us keep in mind going forward in future playoff years, that we now have 17 game schedules. Meaning the stats of HALF the teams will benefit from playing one extra home game, while the other HALF must be measured against being forced to play an extra ROAD game. This is a critical consideration in my handicapping of every sport. Fictional example: two teams have identical 7 - 7 records and nearly the same pt. differential.....but the ROAD team achieved that playing 2 extra road games and the HOME team benefited from 2 extra home games - and this fortunate home team is favored -3.5. No brainer for me. The road team is likely the better team!
This year, 12 - 4 Bengals (in reg. season) only benefited from playing 7 home games against 9 on the road and despite that they still managed a very respectable +96 pts differential! Yes, the 13 - 3 Bills have a significantly higher pts differential but those stats were aided by getting to play 1 more home game than Bengals and 1 less on the road.
These two teams are very close when this is considered.
Of those, a nice 
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