Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Jacksonville, and the Giants can all clinch playoff bearths with a win. Tennessee losing also gets Cleveland, Jacksonville, and Pittsburgh in. A Cleveland loss gets Jacksonville in, and a Brown loss plus a Steeler win clinches the North for Pittsburgh. Going by the NFL, Buffalo and Houston have been eliminated from playoff contention.
In the NFC, the Giants would back in with a loss, and losses/ties by Washington and New Orleans. Minnesota gets in with a win (against Washington), and a New Orleans loss or tie. The only other thing left to clinch is home field throughout the NFC playoffs, and Dallas gets that with a win, and a Green Bay loss.
So, the relevant games this weekend are:
Pittsburgh at St. Louis- Thursday Dallas at Carolina- Saturday Cleveland at Cincinnati Green Bay at Chicago NY Giants at Buffalo Philadelphia at New Orleans Oakland at Jacksonville NY Jets at Tennessee Washington at Minnesota
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Originally posted by The ThrillAfter blowing it vs. the Eagles, dare I hope for a Carolina team that just knocked off Seattle to do the same at home vs. Dallas?
The Pack is so close to home-field, man...
Better chance of a Washington team that might be playing for their playoff lives to knock off Dallas than a Panther team that knocked off a Seahawk team that rarely travels well to the East Coast for an early game and was playing its 2nd such game in 3 weeks, the week after clinching their division.
Originally posted by kwikPittsburgh, Cleveland, Jacksonville, and the Giants can all clinch playoff bearths with a win. Tennessee losing also gets Cleveland, Jacksonville, and Pittsburgh in. A Cleveland loss gets Jacksonville in, and a Brown loss plus a Steeler win clinches the North for Pittsburgh. Going by the NFL, Buffalo and Houston have been eliminated from playoff contention.
In the NFC, the Giants would back in with a loss, and losses/ties by Washington and New Orleans. Minnesota gets in with a win (against Washington), and a New Orleans loss or tie. The only other thing left to clinch is home field throughout the NFC playoffs, and Dallas gets that with a win, and a Green Bay loss.
So, the relevant games this weekend are:
Pittsburgh at St. Louis- Thursday Dallas at Carolina- Saturday Cleveland at Cincinnati Green Bay at Chicago NY Giants at Buffalo Philadelphia at New Orleans Oakland at Jacksonville NY Jets at Tennessee Washington at Minnesota
I can't believe that in week 16 that every team that is in, or almost in, the playoffs (except one, Indy) is in a must-win situation for either getting in, keeping a higher seed, keeping their home-field advantage, or keeping their perfect season alive.
I love my Sunday Ticket more than ever now.
-- 2006 Time magazine Person of the Year --
"Let me see if I can get inside his mouth." -- Michael Wilbon on PTI August 28, 2007
NFC SCENARIOS (HOW THEY CAN GET IN, NOT COUNTING TIES): Carolina needs 6 out of 7 games to go their way to make the playoffs. If they get to 8 wins, they will have tiebreakers over every other 8-8 team. So they need two wins (vs. Dallas and vs. Tampa Bay). Then they needs Dallas to beat Washington, Washington to beat Minnesota, Minnesota to lose to Denver, and have New Orleans lose to either Philadelphia or Chicago. If every game had a 50-50 chance, their odds of making the playoffs would be 2.3%.
New Orleans likewise ends up with the tiebreaker against any other team it is tied with (except Carolina). They're in with two wins (vs. Philadelphia and Chicago) and either a Minnesota loss (against either Washington or Denver) or two New York losses (to New England and Buffalo). They also can get in with one win, two Minnesota loses, a Washington loss to Dallas, and at least one Carolina loss. If every game had a 50-50 chance, their odds of making the playoffs would be 25.8%.
Washington definitely needs a win over Minnesota. If they beat Dallas, they need a New Orleans loss or two Giants losses. If they lose to Dallas, they need Minnesota to lose to Denver, New Orleans to lose both, and Carolina to lose at least one. If every game had a 50-50 chance, their odds of making the playoffs would be 22.6%.
Minnesota has the tiebreaker with New York, and the tiebreaker with Washington will be decided when they play each other. They're in with two wins. If they beat only Washington, they're in with a New Orleans loss. If they beat only Denver, they're in with two out of three of the following: a Washington loss to Dallas, two Giants losses, and a New Orleans loss. If every game had a 50-50 chance, their odds of making the playoffs would be 57.8%.
New York would really have to be unlucky to not make it into the playoffs. The only way they miss the playoffs is if they lose both games, and have 2 of the 3 of the following: a Minnesota win, 2 Washington wins, or 2 New Orleans wins. If every game had a 50-50 chance, their odds of making the playoffs would be 92.2%.
Originally posted by Mr. Boffo>Washington was swept by New York
Um, no. They beat NY Sunday night. Both teams are 1-1 against each other and won as the away team.
THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING! Crap, I always make a mistake like that at some point.
Ok, so if New York and Washington are tied at 9-7, it goes to the Strength of Victory tiebreaker. With wins over Dallas and Minnesota, Washington would have enough to win SoV. So that changes things. Update coming eventually.
The NFC has been updated. Here's the AFC.
Pittsburgh has pretty good odds. They're in with a win, a Tennessee loss, or two Cleveland losses. If Pittsburgh beats St. Louis but loses to Baltimore, Cleveland wins both games, Jacksonville wins at least one game, and Tennessee wins both games, then Pittsburgh and Tennessee go down to Strength of Victory for the last slot, which is currently undecided. Pittsburgh currently has 53 SoV, and Tennesseee has 48. They also win the division with a win and a Cleveland loss, or two wins, or two Cleveland losses. If every game had 50-50 odds, Pittsburgh would have a 94.53% chance of making the playoffs.
Cleveland is in the playoffs with a win or a Tennessee loss. They win the division with two wins and a Pittsburgh lose, or a win and two Pittsburgh losses. If every game had 50-50 odds, Cleveland would have a 89.06% chance of making the playoffs.
Jacksonville is in the playoffs with a win, a Pittsburgh loss, a Cleveland loss to Cincinnati, or a Tennessee loss. If every game had 50-50 odds, Jacksonville has a 97.66% chance of making the playoffs.
Tennessee has the toughest row to hoe. First off, they need to win both of their remaining games. Then they need two Pittsburgh losses, two Jacksonville losses, or one Cleveland loss. They could still make it in with one Pittsburgh loss (to Baltimore), two Cleveland wins, and at least one Jacksonville win, but they would have to win the Strength of Victory tiebreaker with Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh currently leads 53-48). If every game had 50-50 odds, Tennessee has a 18.36% chance of making the playoffs.
So, one game down, one team clinched. Pittsburgh won tonight, so they're in.
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Thread ahead: Patriots-Giants game to be simulcast on CBS & NBC Next thread: NFL Playoff seedings after week 16 Previous thread: Surprise! Parcells is back.
The Bengals supposedly lost four starters in their game against the Jets. Not that ESPN cared about telling us WHO those guys were, because TEBOW! Well, one of those guys is guard Travelle Wharton, who's out for the season with a knee injury.