The 10-2 Denver Broncos enter Week 14 sitting atop the AFC West and in the No. 2 seed in the conference behind the New England Patriots.
The Patriots own the advantage over the Broncos going into Sunday because the Pats have one more win than Denver, but New England is also idle, so the Broncos can jump into the No. 1 seed with a win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
That's because the Broncos would temporarily own the superior conference record at 7-2 as compared to New England's 6-2 mark.
Conference record is the top tie-breaker for the two teams, as the head-to-head tie-breaker is ruled out since Denver and New England didn't meet this season.
With their conference records so close, it's worth taking a look at the next tie-breaker, which is record in common games. That will be relevant if the Patriots and Broncos finish with identical conference records.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, if the Broncos defeat the Raiders on Sunday, they will clinch the common games tie-breaker over the Patriots, who lost to Las Vegas earlier this season.
"Denver can’t clinch a playoff spot today, but it can clinch something of significance," Schefter reported. "If Denver beats Las Vegas today, the Broncos clinch any two-way tiebreaker with New England for playoff seeding based on better record against common opponents. The Patriots lost in Week 1 to the Raiders."
Unfortunately, a win on Sunday won't lock up Denver's playoff berth, but it will obviously put the Broncos one step closer to doing that.
Las Vegas and Denver will kick off from Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. ET.
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