Updated Eagles playoff scenarios
With the Cowboys' win over the Redskins and the Eagles' win over the Broncos Sunday afternoon, the NFC playoff scenarios became a little bit clearer.
Updated Eagles playoff scenarios
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
With the Cowboys' win over the Redskins and the Eagles' win over the Broncos Sunday afternoon, the NFC playoff scenarios became a little bit clearer.
A little bit. Not a lot.
Full warning: If you are prone to headaches, do not read any further. I got one writing this. And you will likely get one reading it.
If you can't get enough of this stuff, well, here's what we know: The Eagles can still finish as high as the No. 2 seed and as low as the No. 6 seed.
And next week's matchup is for the NFC East crown.
If the Eagles win next week, they will finish as the No. 2 seed or the No. 3 seed.
If the Eagles lose next week, they will be either the No. 5 seed or the No. 6 seed.
On wild card weekend, there are four scenarios that could play out:
- The Eagles could have a bye as the No. 2 seed.
- The Eagles could host the Cowboys as the No. 3 seed.
- The Eagles could travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys as the No. 5 or No. 6 seed.
- The Eagles could travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings as the No. 5 or No. 6 seed.
Here's how we can get to each of those four scenarios.
How can the Eagles get the No. 2 seed?
This hasn't changed. If the Eagles win in Dallas next week AND the Vikings lose one of their remaining two games, the Birds get the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye.
How can the Eagles earn the No. 3 seed and host the Cowboys?
If the Vikings win their final two games AND the Eagles beat the Cowboys, the Birds are the No. 3 seed and host Dallas in the wild-card round, regardless of what happens in next week's Packers-Cardinals matchup.
How can the Eagles drop to the No. 5 seed and play the Cowboys?
If the Vikings win one of their final two games AND the Cowboys beat the Eagles AND the Cardinals beat the Packers, the Birds would travel to Dallas in the first round as the No. 5 seed.
How can the Eagles drop to the No. 6 seed and play the Cowboys?
If the Vikings win one of their final two games AND the Cowboys beat the Eagles AND the Packers beat the Cardinals, Dallas is the No. 3 seed and hosts the Birds in the wild-card round.
How can the Eagles drop to the No. 5 seed and play the Vikings?
If the Vikings lose out, the Cowboys beat the Eagles AND the Cardinals beat the Packers, Arizona earns the No. 2 seed, and the Birds travel to Minnesota in the wild-card round.
How can the Eagles drop to the No. 6 seed and play the Vikings?
If the Vikings lose out, the Cowboys beat the Eagles AND the Packers beat the Cardinals, Dallas earns the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. The Eagles would then travel to Minnesota in the wild-card round.
Other nuggets:
** Five different teams could end up being the No. 2 seed: the Saints, Vikings, Eagles, Cowboys and Cardinals.
** If the Vikings win out and the Saints lose next week, Minnesota gets the No. 1 seed and New Orleans drops to No. 2.
** If the Vikings beat the Bears Monday night, any possibility of the Cardinals or Cowboys getting the No. 2 seed is eliminated.
** We will post again after the Monday night game and continue to try and make sense of it all.
Awesome.— ICDogg
wow....very thorough..— chinny- Play like in the 2nd half, 5 or 6, and some traveling music.— montco1
- Thanks for doing all the dirty work with the scenarios!!! This is just what I was looking for.— spiralzoid
Ok...now a challenge...how about all those 8-7 AFC teams....figure THAT one out.- If the Jets win, they are in. Either way, the jints are done for the year and Usi says he is done with them. Usi, how about signing with the Eagles?— P Even
Comment removed.- Prediction. Cowboys win this weekend in Dallas 27-10....and then win again in Dallas 38-14.— BigTex10
- If ifs and butts were candy and nuts, it would be Christmas Every Day! Good job.— tsump
- Romo will revert to his normal self at some point. It will be next game against Eagles. Stop Cowgirls run game and we will win the game.— Seed
- Wow, that's a lot of what ifs...best to take care of business yourself first. But I do NOT like the No 6 seed where the Eagles would play Dallas at home back to back games...best to avoid that one.— DeTom
- Prediction: BigTex is a large, uneducated, over-nourished redneck who likes to come on other teams boards (before playoffs) to talk....cough....smack. Good work, Tex, good work. Tell me: are there any other people called "Tex" where you live????— dr.elektrika
- The Eagles need to take care of business and step up big this week.. Home field is big and I have a feeling Minn is going to lose a game.— bradco
- Do any of these playoff scenarios come with free Advil? I got a headache just reading it. Good job on the breakdown though
- The DLine has to continue to play like studs and stuff the run. Contain/Cut off the outside. Blitz, Blitz, and Blitz some more.— komplex2005
- Comment removed.
- Andy reid is 6-5 against Dallas in Game 1 of the season, and 8-2 in the second one. Not a great gameday coach, but the man can prepare when he knows what he's facing.— Scholes
- Comment removed.
- Lets hope Cutler doesn't throw three picks tonight!— DerbyBound
- The Eagles stop that little crappy slant pattern that Dallas seems to like to do a lot of now, they win. I do not worry that much about the Dallas run game. They will get a few 10-15 yard runs, but they will not dominate the game. Stop the slant, move on....— hawaiiphillyfan
- Sheil, That was an excellent presentation of a complex topic! It's easily understandable why you may have had a headache organizing and wirting it. But your excellent "bite size" breakdown spared me that headache. Great job!— dendimarco
- Whatever! We take what we get! Just sayin'...— DJ
- Comment removed.
- Cowboys are America's Team. How can anyone root against them? It's unpatriotic. Cowboys will beat the Beagles twice in a row -- this weekend (27-10) and again at home -- here in Texas -- 38-14.— BigTex10
- Romo for President!— BigTex10
- Dallas is now a must-win, for home field and the season series split. Do not want to go back to Dallas for WC round having lost 2X already to them this season...— troubledog
- Good point troubledog.— BigTex10
- It really is a must-win against Dallas this week, as troubledog said. Green Bay will either be the fifth or sixth seed. They cannot finish higher than fifth as Minnesota has clinched their division, and Arizona is guaranteed at least a fourth seed. If the Eagles win, it locks Green Bay into the fifth seed regardless of whether or not they win against Arizona, as Dallas would finish behind them. If the Eagles and Minnesota both finish 12-4, the Eagles would own the better Conference record (10-2 vs. 9-3), and therefore finish as a second seed. Minnesota cannot finish worse than a fourth seed, as they have already won their division. They must lose out and Arizona must win in order for them to drop to a fourth seed.— jwilphl
- The scary thing that I just realized is we could possibly have two repeat matchups of Week 17 in the wild-card round. If the seeds go as follows: 3) Eagles; 4) Arizona; 5) Green Bay; 6) Dallas. That would result in repeat games from the last week of the season. It seems like the NFL would want to avoid such a scenario, so maybe they would shuffle the teams? Maybe not, but I'm not sure how the NFL would take to that idea.— jwilphl
- Now if the Flyers lose to the Rangers, do the Giants get a wild card?— robertwojciechowski
- Where was America founded? What is the symbol of this nation? What state has NEVER tried to secceed from the it? I'll answer for you, Tex, as most fans of the Dallas Cowboys graze just like the cattle they sleep with: 1) PHILADELPHIA 2) The EAGLE and 3) PENNSYLVANIA!!! America's team my a**. Out west here, being in a place with many transplants and talking to many different fans of the NFL, one thing is common: the utter annoyance and total hatred of decade upon decade of groupings of dooshbags wearing silver with that lame star. From Landry with that pompous fedora to your current coach (Newt Gingrich) that team is hated from Wildwood to San Fransisco. This is a fact. So, go back to the field, chew your straw and know that since Emmit Smith put another bird on every game, the Eagles have OWNED YOU!!! And most likely will again this Sunday....nice work against Washington, very impressive. DALLAS SUCKS, DALLAS SUCKS!!!!!— dr.elektrika
- Don't mess with Texas.— BigTex10
Follow
Sheil on Twitter. And become
a fan of Moving the Chains on Facebook.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for even more Birds
coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Download it here.
