The Pittsburgh Steelers will again have their hands full Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field when they host the 4-3 Oakland Raiders as they look to avoid a third-straight loss. A win will allow the Steelers to climb back into one of the two AFC Wild Card spots while a loss certainly could wind up being a back-breaker later in the season when it comes to tiebreakers.
Regardless of Sunday’s outcome, as usual, you know we’ll be doing a little bit of scoreboard watching over the course of the weekend and into Monday night so here is your fan rooting interest guide for Week 9:
Miami Dolphins (3-4) at Buffalo Bills (3-4) 1:00 PM ET (Sun)
The Dolphins are coming off of a blowout loss to the New England Patriots while the Bills are coming off of a much needed bye. Much like the Steelers, neither of these two teams have a shot at winning their division with 9 weeks left to play. The loser of this game will certainly need a lot of help down the road so you might as well consider it a must-win for both of them. With that said, Steelers fans should probably be cheering on the Dolphins in this one being as the Bills have the better conference records of the two teams.
Jacksonville Jaguars (2-5) at New York Jets (4-3) 1:00 PM ET (Sun)
The AFC South is a mess this year and because of that, the Jaguars still have a fighting chance even though they enter Week 9 with just two wins. The Jets, on the other hand, are currently the No. 6 team in the AFC and one of a few teams that figure to be battling for a Wild Card spot the rest of the way. The Jets enter this game with a couple of banged-up offensive players and if you’re a Steelers fan, you’re hoping that the Jaguars can take advantage of that and get the road upset.
Denver Broncos (7-0) at Indianapolis Colts (3-5) 4:25 PM ET (SUN)
In the grand scheme of things, the outcome of this game probably won’t mean much to the Steelers, but being as the Colts figure to be the weakest of the four division leaders, it sure would be nice to get the opportunity to face them in a Wild Card game later on. The Steelers will host the Colts in Week 13, so we’ll go ahead and cheer on the Broncos in this late Sunday afternoon contest.
