NFC Playoff Outlook: Week 11

Now that we're into the last 6 games of the year.. time to break down the NFC Playoff Picture.. and who we should root for outside of the Seahawks. (Mods: A sticky would be appreciated if possible)

Your NFC Playoff Standings after the Eagles beat the Panthers down

1) Cardinals - 8-1
2) Lions - 7-2* (wins tie-break over PHI due to conf. record)

3) Eagles - 7-2
4) Saints - 4-5
5) Cowboys - 7-3
6) Seahawks - 6-3* (wins tie-break over GB due to H2H victory)
__________

In the hunt:
7) Packers - 6-3
8.) 49ers - 5-4
9) Vikings - 4-5
10) Panthers - 3-6-1* (1 GB in NFC South)
11) Falcons - 3-6* (1 GB in NFC South)


Key Matchups and how they affect Seattle:

Lions 7-2 at Cardinals 8-1:
The game of the week in the NFC by far pits the top two teams in the conference against one another. The obvious angle here is to pull for Detroit, as Arizona has a 2 game lead right now on the Seahawks in the division... will also be interesting to see how the underrated Lions defense attacks backup QB Drew Stanton. This game gives me a slight Bucs at Seahawks in 1999 feel when the Seahawks were 8-2, but never really tested by a physical defense. The Cardinals secondary vs. Calvin and Tate will be a very fun matchup to watch.

Root For: Detroit

Eagles 7-2 at Packers 6-3:

Another big time matchup in the NFC pits the Mark Sanchez led Eagles against the red-hot Green Bay Packers. In terms of the Seahawks quest for a top 2 seed, the outcome that would be beneficial would actually see the Packers beating the Eagles here .. however, the Seahawks would also not be hurt by a Packers loss to give the Seahawks some wiggle room in the event the two teams find themselves tied with another team at the end of the year.. as the Seahawks have the head-to-head tiebreaker on Green Bay, but in a 3-way tie.. that would no longer apply unless the Seahawks swept whoever they were tied with (risky proposition considering San Francisco and Dallas are in the mix for finishing with the same record as us). But playing the odds, I would rather see an Eagle loss.. considering the Seahawks do play Philly in a few weeks.

Root For: Green Bay (maybe)

49ers 5-4 at Giants 3-6:

Even though it seems very far fetched after the last two weeks.. maybe the Giants can string together the game of their lives and pull the upset? Come on Eli!

Root For: Never under any circumstance should you root for the 49ers.. come on man!

Bengals 5-3-1 at Saints 4-5:

In the event the Seahawks are unable to catch the Cardinals and win the division, there is a very real possibility they would be headed on the road to face the winner of the miserable NFC South. Now, while the Saints do not scare me one bit.. I personally would rather see the Falcons or Panthers in that scenario.. given the Saints ability to typically play out of their mind inside the Superdome. So while it may seem a bit odd to be concerned about a sub .500 team, it wouldn't hurt to see the Bengals go down to the Bayou and pull out a difficult road win.

Root For: 'Who dey' to beat 'Who dat'

Falcons 3-6 at Panthers 3-6-1:

Here's how bad the NFC South is. At 3-6, the Falcons are one game out of first.. and all 3 victories have come inside their own division (though playing TB twice already has probably helped).

Here's what is even more amusing.. a Bengals win and a Falcons win, puts the Falcons in first place.

This game is really cosmetic in terms of our desires.. but I'm kind of pulling for a Falcons division title, since yet again, we can very well be the #5 seed and I kind of wait some old fashioned playoff revenge in that game. Go Dirty Birds!

Root For: The Dirty Birds Who Are Not Very Good At Football

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Playoff Standings If All These Scenarios Miraculously Happen And Seattle Wins
1 - Detroit (8-2)
2 - Arizona (8-2)

3 - Philly (7-3)
4 - Atlanta (4-6)
5 - Seattle (7-3)* (wins 5 seed due to better conf record than GB and DAL)
6 - Green Bay (7-3)* (3 team tiebreaker leaves DAL out as of now due to conf record)

^^^Great analysis.

Also LOL@the NFC South. If they do get a division winner with a losing record, we can no longer be the laughing stock because of our 7-9 record in 2010. For sure they Saints are going to lose to either Baltimore, Pittsburgh or Cincy. As for the rest of the NFC South teams, they destined to earn a losing record for sure.

Love these posts Hass. Thanks for the effort.

I was at that 1999 TB game with NanoMoz, my last one in the Kingdome. Shaun King looked like Joe Montana and we were absolutely clobbered. Thanks for reminding me.

Arizona is going to finish 10-6
vs. Det- Loss
@ Seattle - Loss
@ Atlanta - Loss
vs. KC - Win
@STL - Win
vs. Seattle- Loss
@SF - Loss

I think we can win the division at 11-5, just win our remaining divisional games and the division and maybe even the #2 seed is ours.

Nice post. Only difference I would make is to root for Eagles and hope Pack don't make the playoffs. We will play the Foleless Eagles who really dont scare me if they are in the playoffs.

"Never under any circumstance should you root for the 49ers.. come on man!".

This ^^^

If NO wins the division at 7-9 and the Seahawks have to go to the Superdome as defending Champs that would have bad karma written all over it.

Awesome post, because sometimes it can be confusing on whom we should root for Great!

I am going to root for Arizona, does anybody think that we can't beat Arizona with Drew Stanton? Detroit only has three more losable games.

seahawk12thman":1tg6mvjp said:

I am going to root for Arizona, does anybody think that we can't beat Arizona with Drew Stanton? Detroit only has three more losable games.

Click to expand...

I can't buy that logic.. but thats all you man. :th2thumbs:

seahawk12thman":2priwv90 said:

I am going to root for Arizona, does anybody think that we can't beat Arizona with Drew Stanton? Detroit only has three more losable games.

Click to expand...

My thoughts too. Zona has a rough road ahead of them compared to Detroit. The Lions have only the Patriots and Packers as tough games after this weekend. Other than that they play Chicago twice, Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

We need them to start getting some losses.

Cards still have Hawks twice, KC, Rams, and Niners. I feel like they are going to declare themselves very soon and be recognized as either the dominate force they appear to be, in which case we are going to be looking for the best possible Wild Card seeding, or they are going to implode big time into what they are statistically and we will easily take the NFCW title.

They were my preseason pick to take the NFCW and ultimately face the Pats in February with the Hawks a very close second place in the NFCW, and it looks increasingly like they are going to take the division. I would love to see them implode so we can take it, but I just don't think it is going to happen. The Palmer injury, may just be the thing that pushes them over the edge into oblivion though.

Likewise, the Eagles have a tougher schedule ahead than GB so I am rooting Eagles this weekend. Still a little early to say for sure though.

- bsd

I want the NFC south division winner to be 6-10 or lower, if that's even possible. It would make me all warm and fuzzy inside to see every single pundit scream on how horrible it is that this happened. Plus, it would look worse than when it happened with us not so long ago...

I hope N.O. loses out after that game last Sunday.

:th2thumbs: :thirishdrinkers: Cheers fo r this update!!!