Rooting Guide + Playoff Picture: 12/13

by rhys on Dec 13, 2009 11:32 AM CST Comment 10 comments

This week finds the Packers in a fairly comfortable playoff niché, locked into second place spot in the NFC Wild Card, and having won 4 straight games. Here are the current Wild Card standings:

1. Philadelphia Eagles 8-4 (7-2 in conference)

2. Green Bay Packers 8-4 (6-3 in conference)

3. NY Giants 7-5 (5-3 in conference)

For those astute readers who are wondering about tiebreaking procedures and why the Eagles are currently behind the Cowboys, look no farther than this passage, copied from expert Joe Ferreira:

Dallas is the NFC East Division winner over Philadelphia based on head to head (1-0).
Philadelphia earns the No. 5 seed over Green Bay based on conference record (7-2 to the Packers' 6-3).

This is a very good website for checking out the total playoff picture.

Now here's how a Packers fan should root today to improve our playoff hopes:

1. The Falcons are at home to take on the unbeaten New Orleans Saints. Root for the Saints. The Falcons are already practically dead in the water at 6-6, but a loss would put them at 6-7, and, realistically, completely out of it.

2. The Bengals are at home against the hated Vikings. Why the heck not, root Bengals. A Vikings loss combined with a Packers win would make the former 10-3, and the latter 9-4. It'll never happen, but it would be awesome to win the division.

3. The Cowboys are at home against the Chargers. Root Cowboys. Honestly, I'd rather play the "Amazing Disappearing Offense" than the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs, and the best way to ensure that is the Cowboys wining the overrated NFC East. The Eagles are less dangerous to us as a fellow wild card team. However...

4. The Eagles are in the Meadowlands to take on the Giants tonight. In a tough one, I'm going to have to root for the Giants. Even thought it would be nice to knock the G-Men out of the race (7-6), I still don't see them as a major threat at 8-5. An Eagles loss allows a hopefully victorious Packers team to move up to the # 5 spot (wild card leaders), and that is some nice insurance to have. All that being said, this is two NFC East teams beating up on each other, neither outcome would be bad for the Pack.

5. I really don't need to say this, but, the Packers need to take care of business in Chicago. Go Pack go!

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Comments

1. The Pack took care of business.
2. The Falcons lost, they are toast.
3. The Bengals didn’t win, but that was more of a dream scenario.

We’ll see about the NFC East w/ the late games.

88-74 - Giants Series Record: 28-18-5, 19-7 at home.

Adopted Giant: Daryl "Dealio" Maday - Not reassigned after all. Still a mediocre AA pitcher.

by rhys on Dec 13, 2009 3:09 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

The best playoff rooting guide is this:

1. Cheer for the Packers to win out.
2. Worry about the other teams later.

Honestly, the Packers have their playoff destiny under their control. They are not going to be knocked out of the playoffs at 12-4. They probably won’t even be at 11-5 and most likely not at 10-6, either. After today’s win, they’re very close to making the postseason a reality with the Steelers, Seahawks, and Cardinals left to go. Again, even if they lose all but one of those games, they are likely to get in- as long as the lone win doesn’t come against the only AFC team there, Pittsburgh.

by vitaminx on Dec 13, 2009 4:32 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Late to promote

But it’s on the front page before the Giants/Eagles game. I don’t have faith in the Iggles, but I’d like them to beat the Giants and put the only serious wild card contender 2 games back. I expect the Eagles are in one way or another (wild card or division champ). I was rooting for the Chargers figuring it couldn’t hurt to have them take another loss.

by Brandon on Dec 13, 2009 6:46 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

WOW

After the Cards loss, this Green Bay schedule is looking better and better. I really really hate to be overly optomistic but I think they can win the rest of these games.

by turd on Dec 15, 2009 12:29 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed!

I don’t want to play the Cardinals in Arizona two weeks in a row. If the Niners have a chance to win their horrible, nasty division, then please do! I’d much rather play Singletary’s boys again than have our secondary’s depth tested by Boldin, Fitzgerald, and Breaston, not to mention basically get a live scouting report on our defense the week before the postseason.

by vitaminx on Dec 15, 2009 3:40 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree about not wanting to play Arizona twice. However, I’d rather do that than play the Eagles in Philly.

Remember: 2nd best wild card team plays 3rd best division winner and best wild card team plays worst division winner.

Currently, the Eagles (3) would be playing the Cowboys (6) and we (5) would be playing Arizona(4). It’s not ideal, but that would be fine.

And there’s no way in hell SF will take the NFC West. They are 2 games back with three to play, although they do hold the tiebreaker. They would have to win at least 2 of three (Philly, Detroit, St. Louis remaining), and the Cardinals (Detroit, St. Louis, Us remaining) would have to lose at least 2 of three. The Cards won’t lose two of those games.

I think it’s pretty certain that we’re going to end up in Arizona two weeks in a row, unless Dallas or NY can win the East.

88-74 - Giants Series Record: 28-18-5, 19-7 at home.

Adopted Giant: Daryl "Dealio" Maday - Not reassigned after all. Still a mediocre AA pitcher.

by rhys on Dec 15, 2009 5:49 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Dallas

They still have a chance, as they play Philly week 17 I believe but I do think Philly will win the East.

by packallday555 on Dec 15, 2009 6:38 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'd rather have the Eagles, honestly.

Did you see their defense against New York? The Giants are a much worse team than we are on both sides of the ball, yet that game still turned into a shootout. Philadelphia has pretty much nothing running the ball and their whole game is centered around DeSean Jackson (who is something to be very, very scared of as a returner and big play receiver) but aside from that, I’m a lot more worried about our season ending to the Cardinals than to the Eagles. Arizona is the team that is best equipped to exploit our lack of depth in the secondary, but I guess it’s pick your poison with both teams, though- they both rank 3rd in the NFL in sacks (36)

And hey, all it would take is one nice upset from the Lions or Rams, and we can knock the Cardinals out of the playoffs in Week 17 and not even have to worry about them in the postseason.

If we’re going to try to make noise in the postseason, we can’t be scared of playing on the road against a tough team, because we’re a wildcard and that’s what we have to face. The Vikings in Minnesota. The Saints in New Orleans. It’s highly unlikely we’ll get the 5th and 6th seeds winning all the way to the NFC Championship and get another home game after we play Seattle in a couple weeks.

by vitaminx on Dec 16, 2009 4:59 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I prefer @ AZ

Consider this: in the last week of the season, you know both AZ and GB won’t be showing too much as they will both most likely have playoff spots locked up. We ALWAYS struggle at Philly and at Dallas, so I’d hate to play on their turf. I’d rather take my chances @ AZ. How about that, 3 trips to Arizona this year: Preseason, Regular Season, and the Playoffs.

by Jabooty on Dec 18, 2009 10:11 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

We’ll have to see what Arizona team shows up these last few weeks but I wouldn’t mind playing them in the first round of the playoffs. Simply because the Cardinals are so hit or miss, and most of this year, really besides the Vikings game they’ve been miss.

Their o-line was great against the Vikings, but then really struggled against the 49ers and their 3-4 defense. Their offense is scary and explosive but if you can get pressure on Warner he likely will throw a pick because he never wants to take a sack and sometimes tries to force throws in there.

Their defense looked pretty darn good against the 49ers but they did let Gore gash through them, and that was with what I would consider one of the worst passing attacks in the league. The 49ers o-line is pretty brutal and probably worse then ours. Grant is no Gore by any stretch but if we can open up a hole for Grant he can make things happen, and if we’re able to do that, I wish them good luck in trying to stop Rodgers and co.

I still don’t think we’d be doomed if we played Philly but their just so explosive on offense and defense. Their defense isn’t necessarily all that great but it seems like they always force a TO or two, and always return one back for a TD. I know Rodgers normally doesn’t turn the ball over but Philly brings blitzes and pressure in ways that really no one else does.

by packallday555 on Dec 18, 2009 1:23 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs