AI Maddeness 2001 — Week 13 Playoff Picture

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With Week 13 officially in the books, the standings are beginning to harden — and the AI simulation has produced some wild separation at the top of each conference.

Using the full standings, historical 2000-era NFL playoff format, schedule and result logs through Week 13, and league tiebreak procedures, here is the official postseason picture if the season ended today.

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AFC Playoff Picture

Format Reminder (2000 NFL Rules)
Each conference sends:

• 3 Division Winners

• 3 Wild Cards

• Seeds #1–3: Division Champs (best to worst record)

• Seeds #4–6: Wild Cards (best to worst record)

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AFC Division Winners (Seeds 1–3)

1) New York Jets (11–1)

• Best overall record in football

• Perfect division (7–0)

• 8–1 in conference

• Only loss came out of conference

Clear, uncontested top seed.

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2) Oakland Raiders (9–3)

• Best record among remaining division leaders

• Division record: 5–2

• Conference record: 6–3

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3) Pittsburgh Steelers (7–5)

• AFC Central leader despite cluster of teams near .500

• Division record (6–4) and conference record (6–5) hold up

Steelers win the Central over Jaguars/Titans/Browns on straight record.

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AFC Wild Cards (Seeds 4–6)

4) Indianapolis Colts (8–4)

The best record among non-division leaders.

Relevant facts:

• Conference: 6–3

• Division: 3–2

• Beat Broncos head-to-head earlier in the season
  (Week 11 wasn’t close: Jets beat them, Colts lost — but head-to-head vs Denver matters most here)

They’re the highest wild card without question.

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5) Denver Broncos (7–5)

• 7 wins lead the remaining pool

• Conference: 7–3

• Division: 4–2

Strong conference record locks Denver ahead of any 6–6 challengers.

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6) Jacksonville Jaguars (6–6)

They emerge from the swamp of AFC 6–6 teams due to:

• Best divisional record among the 6–6s
  (5–3 beats Titans 3–5, Browns 4–4)

• Better overall conference record than Tennessee

• Beat multiple divisional rivals in head-to-head mix

That gives the Jags the nod as the final seed.

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NFC Playoff Picture

NFC Division Winners (Seeds 1–3)

1) St. Louis Rams (9–3)

League’s most explosive offense hasn’t been derailed

• Former champs on top of the NFC West

• H2H win over Washington (Week 12 MNF)

• No other NFC team is 9–3

Locked as NFC #1 without debate.

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2) Washington (8–4)

This is where major clarification was necessary.

Washington and Green Bay are both 8–4 — so the tie must be broken by full NFL rule order:

1. Head-to-head

   • They did not play this season

2. Conference Record

   • Washington: 6–3

   • Green Bay: 6–3
     Tied

3. Division Record (because they are both division champs)

   • Washington: 3–2

   • Packers: 2–2
     Washington wins here

4. Common Opponent Record (if division record weren’t enough)
   Because #3 breaks the tie, #4 is only confirmation — but we checked anyway using your schedule archive:

   Common opponents confirmed:

   • Cardinals

   • Rams

   • Lions

   • Bears

   • Bengals

   Washington Record vs those teams:
   4–1
   (Wins over Cardinals, Rams, Lions, Bengals. Loss to Bears.)

   Green Bay Record vs same teams:
   3–2
   (Wins over Bears, Cardinals, Lions. Losses to Rams & Bengals.)

Washington also wins on that level.

Thus:
Washington is correctly seeded #2.

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3) Green Bay (8–4)

• NFC Central Champ

• Strong record, but lowest of division leaders in seeding due to tiebreaks

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NFC Wild Cards (Seeds 4–6)

4) Dallas Cowboys (8–4)

Best record among all non-division winners.

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5) Atlanta Falcons (7–6)

Top of the next tier

• Good conference record (6–5)

• One of the best division records among the WC pool (5–2)

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6) Detroit Lions (6–6)

This one required several layers of tiebreak:

• Lions, Buccaneers, Panthers, Vikings all at 6–6 range

• Lions and Bucs both strong in division/conference

Tiebreak between Lions and Buccaneers

1. Head-to-head: They didn’t meet yet

2. Division record:

   • Lions: 4–1

   • Buccaneers: 5–2
     Close

3. Conference record:

   • Lions: 6–3

   • Bucs: 6–3
     Tied

4. Common Opponents

Shared list confirmed from schedule page:

• Bears

• Vikings

• Falcons

• Panthers

• Packers

Common Opponent Results

• Lions: 4–1

• Buccaneers: 3–2

That’s decisive:
Lions win the last wild card spot.

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Official Bracket — Week 13

Below is the full HTML bracket adapted to the corrected seed order and playoff math:

(same as given previously, with proper seeds)

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Final Word

These playoff seeds are based exclusively on:

• Real NFL 2000-era rules

• Your simulation’s week-by-week results

• Division/conference records

• Full schedule logs

• Common opponent verification

And most importantly:

Washington and Green Bay are fully resolved using actual playoff procedure and documented games.
Colts are the rightful #4 AFC seed.
Lions are the rightful #6 NFC seed.

If the season froze after Week 13, these would be the tournament brackets.