5821

Worse, Saints still have to play their second Falcons game on Monday night.

5822

True. But the Saints in the Superdome are a different team than on the road, and their remaining games are at home. Which is why leapfrogging SF would be nice for the playoffs.

5823

If I’m reading the tea leaves right, Cincinnati is likely going to be the second wild card team in the AFC. In seems if Cincinnati loses its final game and the Jets win, than the two teams will be tied. I am trying to figure out who wins the tie breaker. Since its likely that the Bengals will lose to Baltimore while the Jets beat Miami. Regardless, the AFC North was one tough division this year. Only the Browns stood out as a weak link, and even then they weren’t nearly as bad as the Colts or the Saints were.

5824

If the Bengals win they are in. But they only hold a same record tie-breaker over the Titans, so if they lose they need the other contenders (except the Titans) to all lose as well to stay alive.

The Titans path to the playoffs is even more convoluted.

Thats how I understand it, anyway.

5825

Here are the playoff scenarios explained.

If Cincy doesn’t win against the Ravens they may not get in. If Oakland wins, Cincy loses, and the Jets win in Miami the Raiders go as at least the sixth seed as a wildcard.

I would argue that it is more likely that the Raiders will win at home against a dispirited San Diego team than it is that Cincy will win at home against the top of the AFC, the Ravens. If the Ravens win, they get a first round bye, which should mean something to them, so they will play their starters etc. If San Diego wins, they get nothing more than if they lose. The scheduling is a little strange as Oak/SD, CIN/BAL, and DEN/KC are all at the same time, so no team will know what’s what until the end of their respective games, although the Jets play in the morning.

Yes, of course I’m a Raider fan, but I really do think that Cincy has the harder road.

5826

Here is something that is pretty useful if you want to know what needs to be done for a certain team to get in. It lets you pick who wins and then it does all the tiebreaking for you. ESPN NFL Playoffs Machine

You could also just read the link Lorini posted for the breakdown, but that isn’t as fun!

5827

Raiders can get in with wild card with a win and Bengals loss or division with a win and Broncos loss. I like the chances of a division win (Kyle Orton beating his former team).

5828

The Bears loss ends the last bit of playoff participant drama in the NFC, putting the Falcons in. All thats left is some seeding to be determined.

5829

Man, the Packers freak me out so much. Sure, they ended up blowing out the Bears, but for the first half of the game, the Bears were dominating, and that despite not having their starting QB and two starting RBs.

I just have a hard time seeing how the Packers really win in the playoffs against good teams when their defense keeps being awful and the offense keeps being “off”. And yet somehow they keep blowing teams out and/or winning close games, so I dunno.

5830

I see the Saints beating the packers in the playoffs this year. The packers defense will get destroyed by them.

5831

The Saints have a tough road to even facing the Packers this year, let alone beating them; the earliest they could play would be the NFC Championship and the Packers would have home field advantage.

5832

Uh, the Giants and Cowboys game decides participants.

5833

Yes, but that’s not very dramatic now, is it?

5834

It’s possible; the week 1 matchup went to the very end of the game.

Of course, the Saint’s defense won’t do much to stop the Packers, either…so it’ll be shootout city…

5835

What is interesting is if its a game with bad weather the Saints are actually the team best suited to deal with that as they have a better running game then the packers do at this time.

5836

Some thoughts, considering there are a few teams that thought they’d make the playoffs at the start of the year that won’t:

-Who do the Jets cut bait on? In order of decreasing “This is a bad move”-ness, is it Ryan, Sanchez, or Younger Schotty? IMO, Schotty the Younger gets it in this setup (who do you replace him with is then the question), but that team needs a for real running back and Ryan to shut his pie-hole.

-It would be absolutely insane for Philly to fire Reid, but there’s a whole pile of D-cells that show they are not sane up there. Realistically, they’re getting a new DC most likely, but that’s not solving the problems they’ve got on that end. There’s also the issue of paying Deshaun Jackson and/or Shady McCoy (my personal opinion is that I’d pay Shady if the ‘or’ is there). In addition, they’re gonna need a decent backup for Vick; he’s going to miss 3-5 games a year going forward.

-Rahim Morris is likely out at TB, but they’re going to bring in…who? Chucky Gruden’s been there and had better talent at the time, and Cowher can’t coach two teams. I don’t think any coach/GM makes this team better off the bat. Can someone start a Parcells rumor on this one?

-Bye Norv, and probably bye idiot GM that fired Schotty the Elder in San Diego. I think that this is the most likely destination for Cowher (should he decide to return to coaching). Most of the pieces are in place on offence at least.

-THE HALEY is already out at KC. I think Romeo is probably the best candidate for what they want to do there, but McDanials as the OC? Even with the lockout, he’s not pulling up stumps in St. Louis as an OC.

-Lovie’s probably safe for this year, but I don’t think Mike Martz is employable at this point anywhere. Guy may be an offensive genius, but you need both the ability to translate (which he doesn’t have) and tools (which the Bears don’t have) to do the job. If the Bears franchise Forte, I would not be surprised if he holds out the whole year and lives on his agent’s credit card.

5837

I think you right on with most of that Brandon. Rex and Sanchez will get another year, for sure and the Eagles played well enough late that Reid is safe as well.

5838

Except the Saints are noticeably worse in bad weather.

5839

Yeah, if Forte gets franchised, I think he’s got a lot of league and fan support if he holds out. They fucked up with him.

5840

Well, Brees won’t get the record this drive, but I have this vision that he’s going to break it shortly, not on a 10 yard screen, but a long bomb.

And as a Dolphins fan, who remembers watching the crazy ending of the 1984 Miami/Dallas MNF game where Marino and Clayton set a variety of records, I tip my cap to Brees and can’t help wonder if the dimwit Dolphins exec who decided to sign Duante Culpepper instead of Brees still has a job in the NFL.