The "meat" of the schedule hasn't really turned out to be all that meaty, and the majority of the remaining games are at home.
Really all Miami has to do is beat all the teams with losing records to get in. That means beating the Bills, Eagles, Cowboys, Ravens, Chargers, and Colts. And two of the other three teams we face are the Jets (4-3) and Giants (4-4), so really, other than the Patriots our schedule looks great now that we've seen what the 2015 versions of most of those teams we thought were real good look like. Oh, and I'll also point out that as things stand, an 8-8 team should be statistically speaking expected to be good enough to get that last wild card spot if you just randomly assign wins/losses to all remaining games. Reason is that one of the two 4-3 teams (Jets and Raiders) will be expected to finish with at least 9 wins while the other with at most 8 wins. So 8 wins should be enough, but I'm not sure Miami will have the edge there unless it gets a better division record (we need to beat Buffalo and the Jets and get a bit lucky if we want to get in with 8 wins).
My hopes for playoffs have decreased substantially after the injuries to Wake and James. If the pass rush reverts back to the first 4 games of the season this team is toast.
I think it's realistic that we have as good a chance as those other teams getting that 2nd wild card spot. All those teams have problems too.
True, but you left the Steelers out of your equation, with Ben back they will be a tough team to beat, even with the loss of Bell, because they have Williams backing him up, I seriously doubt that 8-8 will be enough, and with the Bills getting Taylor back they could also make a run. I still think it will take 10 wins, possibly more, because of those teams, a couple will get hot, none of those 4 teams, Pitt, steJ, Bills and Raiders have tough schedules either.
Not leaving them out. I think we've seen how difficult it is to predict which teams will be weak or strong (even including injuries). This far out, it's not a bad idea to just assume randomness in W/L and see what it seems to take to get that 2nd WC spot. Right now it seems that the first WC spot requires at least 9 wins and the second at most 8 wins.
Cough...wait what? Pitt: Oakland Cleveland @ Seattle Indianapolis @ Cincinnati Denver @ Baltimore @ Cleveland Pitt plays Oakland...whos playing well...plays @ Seattle...Plays @ Cinci...plays Denver at home.... thats not a hard schedule?
Williams was running like a man possessed for them before they got Bell back. Can he do that for an extended period of time? I don't know, but I wouldn't write him off just yet.
Oakland has to make the dreaded west to east coast trip, Seattle is .500, Cleveland twice, Indy and Baltimore, that's not what I'd call a tough schedule.
I think we have to be 9-7 at worst. Edit: What ever happened to the site that wold let you pick the future games to see where you would be?
