Can someone explain this playoff tiebreaker

I know its been reported that the Seahawks have clinched a playoff spot with 2 games to go. However I need someone to explain to me how the Seahawks would qualify based on the following scenario:

Current records of only teams remaining in wild card race with 2 games remaining:

Green Bay: 10-4 (current NFC North leaders - clinched playoff berth either as Division winner or 1st wild card seed (#5 berth))
Minnesota: 9-5 (NFC North - currently 2nd to GB.)
Seattle: 9-5
Atlanta: 7-7

My understanding after reading playoff scenario news articles that the only way that Atlanta can qualify is in the event of a 3 way tie: Minnesota and Seattle losing both their games, and Atlanta winning out. This would mean all teams finish at 9-7 and Minnesota loses the three way tie break due to strength of victory as Atlanta has best strength of victory, and Seattle is second best in strength of victory compared to Minnesota.

Otherwise it is reported that they cannot qualify. However, I don't understand how Seattle qualifies if the following occurs:

1. Minnesota wins 1 more of their final two games (which means that either GB or Minn wins the division, and the other would get 1 of the two wild card playoff seeds as both teams would finish with 10+ wins; AND

2. Seattle loses out to go to 9-7; AND

3. Atlanta wins out and finishes tied with Seattle only at 9-7.

This would mean that the following tie breaker procedure would occur:

"TO BREAK A TIE FOR THE WILD-CARD TEAM

If it is necessary to break ties to determine the two Wild-Card clubs from each conference, the following steps will be taken.

If the tied clubs are from the same division, apply division tie breaker.
If the tied clubs are from different divisions, apply the following steps.

Two Clubs

1. Head-to-head, if applicable. (NOT APPLICABLE)
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference. (BOTH TEAMS FINISH 6-6)
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four. (MINIMUM OF FOUR THRESHOLD NOT MET)
4. Strength of victory. (THIS IS A QUOTE FROM AN SB NATION ARTICLE REGARDING A 3 WAY TIE SCENARIO...BUT YOU COULD INFER THAT ATLANTA WOULD BEAT SEATTLE BASED ON THIS IN A TWO WAY TIE SCENARIO TOO!! " Strength of victory pretty much is what it says it is. . .a computation of how good the teams that each team beat were. According to Yahoo! Sports, the teams that the Falcons would have beaten currently have 57 victories, while the teams Seattle has beaten currently have 49 and the teams the Vikings have beaten have 45. In the 9-7, three-way tie scenario, neither Seattle nor Minnesota would add anything to those totals, as neither would collect another victory, so the Falcons would remain ahead of both in that case. ")

5. Strength of schedule.
6. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
7. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best net points in conference games.
9. net points in all games.
10. Best net touchdowns in all games.
11. Coin toss."

So where does Seattle win in a two way tiebreak situation? Could someone please explain to me what I'm missing/screwing up?

Thanks

Seattle and Atlanta have four common opponents: San Francisco, Dallas, Minnesota, and Carolina.

Seahawks went 4-1, while Atlanta would go 2-3 (beating Dallas and splitting games against Carolina).

Seahawks would, therefore, win the 3rd two-way tiebreaker for "Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four."

Your mistake, I think, was applying the results from the three-way tiebreaker to the two-way tiebreaker. Seattle and Atlanta share more common opponents than Seattle, Atlanta, and Minnesota. And Seattle and Atlanta have a different SOV in the two-way tiebreaker than Seattle, Atlanta, and Minnesota have in the three-way tiebreaker. Hope that helps.

Go Hawks!

hawknation2015":wjfmwkt2 said:

Seattle and Atlanta have four common opponents: San Francisco, Dallas, Minnesota, and Carolina.

Seahawks went 4-1, while Atlanta would go 2-3 (beating Dallas and splitting games against Carolina).

Seahawks would, therefore, win the 3rd two-way tiebreaker for "Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four."

Your mistake, I think, was applying the results from the three-way tiebreaker to the two-way tiebreaker. Seattle and Atlanta share more common opponents than Seattle, Atlanta, and Minnesota. And Seattle and Atlanta have a different SOV in the two-way tiebreaker than Seattle, Atlanta, and Minnesota have in the three-way tiebreaker. Hope that helps.

Go Hawks!

Click to expand...

Thank you very much. You're right, I missed the four common opponents.

Feel much better now!!!!! :thirishdrinkers: :th2thumbs: :3-1: :0190l: