Dolphins Playoff Picture Clear After Owners Vote

NFL owners adopted Friday the proposed alternatives offered by the league office in regards to the playoffs, and it made things clearer for the Miami Dolphins.

Simply put, the Cincinnati Bengals have been removed as a potential first-round opponent for the Dolphins, who either will face the Buffalo Bills or Kansas City Chiefs in the first round on the weekend of Jan. 15-16 should they make the playoffs.

In order to make the playoffs, the Dolphins have to defeat the New York Jets on Sunday and have the Bills defeat the New England Patriots.

A Buffalo victory would guarantee the Bills no worse than the No. 2 seed and would get them the top seed should the Las Vegas Raiders defeat the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday.

So, to put simply:

-- If the Chiefs defeat the Raiders, the Dolphins' first-round playoff game would be at Buffalo.

-- If the Raiders upset the Chiefs, the Dolphins' first-round playoff game would be at Kansas City.

The plan adopted Friday after the cancellation of the Buffalo-Cincinnati — it offically will be declared no contest — calls for the final AFC standings and playoff seedings to proceed based on winning percentage with some caveats.

If Buffalo and Kansas City finish with the same number of losses, the AFC Championship Game would take place at a neutral site (to be determined).

Cincinnati already has been declared AFC North champion, but the Bengals could end having to win a coin toss to host a first-round game against Baltimore in the event the Ravens defeat them Sunday to move within half a game with a season sweep.

This would happen if Baltimore defeats Cincinnati and the Los Angeles Chargers defeat the Denver Broncos later Sunday afternoon to clinch the No. 5 seed.

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DOLPHINS PLAYOFF HISTORY AGAINST BUFFALO AND K.C.

A matchup against buffalo would make the Bills the Dolphins' most common playoff opponent.

The teams already have faced each other four times in the playoffs, with Buffalo winning three of those.

The Bills won in Buffalo in the divisional round in 1990, 44-34; in Miami in the AFC Championship Game in 1992, 29-10; and in Buffalo in the AFC wild-card round in 1995, 37-22.

The Dolphins won in Miami in the first round in 1998, 24-17.

The Dolphins have faced Kansas City three times in the playoffs, winning all three matchups.

The first, of course, was the Christmas Day classic in 1971 when the Dolphins won 27-24 in double-overtime in the longest game (in game time) in NFL history.

The Dolphins won first-round matchups in Miami in 1990 (17-16 and 1994 (27-17).

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