Jeff Saturday compliments the Patriots' coaching staff for improving the defense throughout the season while Ryan Clark says Tom Brady keeps setting such a high bar for himself, that his greatness is going under the radar. (2:32)

The NFL's playoff race remains dominated by NFC teams and notable for the dearth of qualified AFC candidates. Here is a snapshot of the situation at the moment.

AFC

Five consecutive wins, most recently a Week 11 demolition of the Titans, have kept the Steelers on track for a first-round bye and possibly home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Their remaining schedule is one of the most favorable among NFL playoff contenders, with only one game remaining against a team that currently has a winning record -- Week 15 against the Patriots. And four of their six games are at Heinz Field, where they are 3-1 this season and 21-7 since the start of 2014.

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The Patriots, on a six-game winning streak, are keeping pace with the Steelers as that Week 15 matchup moves ever closer. Their lead in the AFC East has grown to three games, after losses Sunday by the Bills and Dolphins, and they are the only team in the division above .500. The Patriots' ninth consecutive division title appears inevitable.

The Jaguars have already exceeded their win total for any of the past six seasons, and their win Sunday over the Browns put them up a game on the Titans in the AFC South. Things are starting to get real for the Jaguars, whose upcoming games against the Colts (3-7) and Cardinals (4-6) in the next two weeks provide a chance for them to clinch a winning season. The last time that happened was 2007, which is also the last time the Jaguars made the playoffs. And as a possible division championship game looms in Week 17 against the Titans, we should note that the Jaguars have never won this division. Their last division title came in 1999, when they were a part of the AFC Central.

The best thing that can be said about the Chiefs' playoff chances is that the rest of their division is in even worse shape. Even after losses in four of their past five games, the Chiefs still have a two-game lead in the AFC West. The Raiders, Chargers and Broncos all have losing records. If there is any solace after Sunday's loss to the Giants, it's that they remain a strong favorite to win the AFC West. ESPN's Football Power Index projects their division title chances at 93 percent.

Thursday night's loss to the Steelers, combined with the Jaguars' win over the Browns, diminished their chances to win the AFC South. But the Titans remain a strong playoff contender, thanks to the conference's relative weakness. Although FPI puts their chances at a division title at 18 percent, they are still a strong 73 percent likelihood to make the playoffs. If not the Titans, then who?

A shutout of the Packers at Lambeau Field, combined with the Bills' third consecutive loss, has deposited the Ravens squarely into the wild-card race; at the moment, they have a better conference record than the Bills. The Ravens are highly unlikely to overtake the Steelers in the AFC North, but the conference's relative dearth of strong teams gives the Ravens -- a team that absorbed four losses between Weeks 3 and 7 -- a decent chance to advance.

In the hunt: Buffalo Bills (5-5). Six teams -- the Dolphins, Jets, Bengals, Texans, Chargers and Raiders -- are 4-6.

NFC

Sunday night's victory in Dallas gives the Eagles a commanding four-game lead in the NFC East. Unofficially, it appears they can clinch the division as early as Week 12 with a home victory over the Bears combined with losses by the Cowboys and Redskins. Whether it's next week or not, it'll happen soon. But the continued success of Minnesota and New Orleans means the Eagles will be pushing for a while to secure home-field advantage.

The Vikings won't have much time to celebrate Sunday's victory over the Rams. They'll travel to Detroit on Thanksgiving for a game that will have enormous impact on the NFC North race. A victory would wipe out the Lions' current head-to-head advantage, by virtue of a Week 4 victory at U.S. Bank Stadium, and put the Vikings ahead by three games with five to play. But a loss would narrow the Vikings' lead to one game and cement the Lions the head-to-head tiebreaker. The fun is just beginning.

We've never seen an NFL team do what the Saints have done: Eight consecutive victories after an 0-2 start. Now they'll need to navigate a three-game stretch against three playoff contenders: at the Rams, followed by a home game against the Panthers and then a road date at the Falcons. Their Week 1 loss at Minnesota remains a tiebreaker problem in these seedings, and for as well as they've played, the Saints are nowhere close to putting the NFC South away.

A season-defining stretch began poorly for the Rams, whose high-powered offense went scoreless in the final 55 minutes, 18 seconds of their loss to the Vikings. They could drop out of the top spot in the NFC West by Monday night, if the Seahawks defeat the Falcons, and their schedule won't get any easier. They host the Saints in Week 12, and still have games remaining against the Eagles, Seahawks and Titans. Without question, the Rams snuck up on the league this season, but they're playing with -- er, against -- the big boys now.

Nothing of relevance changed during the Panthers' bye. They remain in the NFC's top wild-card spot, and a game off the pace in the NFC South, with a challenging stretch in sight. After a trip to play the Jets in Week 12, they'll play at the Saints and then host the Vikings. Victories in all three games would put them in the conversation for a first-round bye.

The Falcons jumped into this spot after Monday night’s victory over the Seahawks. For the moment, they hold the tiebreaker over the Seahawks (6-4) and Lions (6-4) by virtue of their head-to-head sweep. But the Falcons have a tough stretch to finish the season. They’ll play the Saints twice, the Vikings once, the Panthers once and the Buccaneers twice. But those games would have been mostly irrelevant were it not for Monday night’s victory.

In the hunt: Detroit Lions (6-4), Seattle Seahawks (6-4), Dallas Cowboys (5-5), Green Bay Packers (5-5).