Week 9 Playoff Picture (Only 8 Weeks to Go)

[CaliforniaCheez]

NFC

First Round Bye

1) Packers (1)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o3dS51f0is


2) 49'ers (2) (Winning % 7-1 > Giants 6-2)

Division Winners
3) Giants (3) (Winning % 6-2 > Saints 6-3)
4) Saints (4) (Winning % 6-3 > Falcons 5-3)

Wild Cards
5) Lions (5) (winning % 6-2 > Bears 5-3)
6) Bears (6) (Head to head win over Falcons)

The Rest in Order:
7) Falcons (8) (Winning % 5-3 > Cowoboys 4-4)
8) Cowboys (10) (Conference % 4-2 > Buccaneers 3-4)
9) Buccaneers (7) (Winning % 4-4 > Eagles 3-5)
10) Eagles (9) (Head to head win over Redskins)
11) Redskins (11) (Winning % 3-5 > Seahawks 2-6)
12) Seahawks (12) (Conference % 2-3 > viklings 2-4)
13) vikings (13) (Head to head win over Cardinals)
14) Cardinals (15) (Head to head win over Panthers)
15) Panthers (14) (Winning % 2-6 > Rams 1-7)
16) Rams (16)


AFC

First Round Bye
1) Bengals (5) (Conference record > Ravens; Record > Texans)
2) Texans (3) (Record 6-3 > Patriots 5-3)

Division Winners
3) Patriots (6) (Long winded; See notes)
4) Chiefs (4) (Again long winded explanation in notes)

Wild Cards
5) Ravens (7) (Record > Steelers)
6) Steelers (1) (Record > Jets)

The rest in order:
7) Jets (9) (Head to head win over Bills)
8) Bills (2) (Record 5-3 > Titans 4-4)
9) Titans (8) (SOV .375 > Chargers .313)
10) Chargers (10) (Division record 2-1 > Raiders 1-1)
11) Raiders (11) (Record 4-4 > Browns 3-5)
12) Broncos (13) (Conference Record 3-3 > Browns 2-4)
13) Browns (12) (Record 3-5 > Jaguars 2-6)
14) Jaguars (14) (Record 2-6 > 1-7 Dolphins)
15) Dolphins (16) (Record 1-7 > Colts 0-8)
16) Colts (15)


Notes:
1) AFC East: Patriots win v. Jets, Jets win v. Bills, Bills win v. Patriots so head to heads get thrown out. Division record Patriots + Jets 2-1, Bills 1-1 get thrown out. Patriots head to head over Jets. Jets #2 in division Bills #3.

2) AFC West: tied but head to head match ups with Chargers and Chiefs split, KC has head to head over Raiders (2-1), Chargers (1-1), Raiders (0-1). KC 1st in division, Chargers 2nd, Raiders 3rd.

3) NFC North has 3 teams in playoff position.

4) Next 5 weeks the Giants play at 49'ers, Eagles, at Saints, Packers, and at Cowboys. How they play will play a large part in the NFC positioning. Hope they beat the 49'ers this week!!

5) The Bears play the Lions at home this week. Hope the Bears win that one. More cushion over 2nd place in the division is always good.

[Upnorth]

Great tribute, and man do we have a tough division so far!
What I dislike about this is that SF will come to GB in January. They Run first and stop the run. Of any team beating us I really only fear SF in poor weather right now.

[pbmax]

Bengals with home field advantage just there for the taking. It must be my limited imagination that prevents me from seeing it actually happening.

[mraynrand]

Bengals with home field advantage just there for the taking. It must be my limited imagination that prevents me from seeing it actually happening.

Thanksgiving night should be interesting. Bengals Ravens for all the bananas.

[pbmax]

Thanksgiving night should be interesting. Bengals Ravens for all the bananas.

Marvin Lewis should get some kind of lifetime achievement award if he makes the playoffs. I think he has been about to be fired/quit about 4 times in his tenure.

[CaliforniaCheez]

Bengals with home field advantage just there for the taking. It must be my limited imagination that prevents me from seeing it actually happening.

Like the viklings, they will find a way to blow it.

The Bears have only lost to the Packers, Saints, and Lions. I hope they win this weekend for more breathing space.
Same with the Giants winning against the 49'ers.

5 of the Packers final 8 games are at home.

It is tough to troll the vikling message boards when all they are talking about is the draft 9 weeks into the season.

As to the video, a few weeks ago I got talked into going to the Def Leppard concert and they opened with that song "Undefeated". It is growing on me.

[Upnorth]

I pay way more attention to NFC than AFC, but the two north divisions are quite dominate at the half way mark this year. On the other hand the west is a very confusing place to be.

[Guiness]

Bengals with home field advantage just there for the taking. It must be my limited imagination that prevents me from seeing it actually happening.


lol, indeed it must be.

File their current ranking under the blind squirre/nut category. No way anything was actually 'built' there.

[Guiness]

I pay way more attention to NFC than AFC, but the two north divisions are quite dominate at the half way mark this year. On the other hand the west is a very confusing place to be.

Help me out here Upnorth. I'm all out of 'we control our own destiny' postings. Got one?

[Upnorth]

How is "so long as the league does not penalize the packers for being to awesome for their own good and make them loose through bs penalties (see @chicago 2010) we control our own destiny."
Does that work for you Guiness?

[channtheman]

I pay way more attention to NFC than AFC, but the two north divisions are quite dominate at the half way mark this year. On the other hand the west is a very confusing place to be.

How about this? The Cardinals, Ram, and Seahawks have a combined 5 wins. Division leading 49er's have more by themselves with 7. It's like a tiny dabble of frosting on a shit cake.

[channtheman]

Bengals with home field advantage just there for the taking. It must be my limited imagination that prevents me from seeing it actually happening.


Unfortunately for the Bengals, they have gone 6-2 without playing ANY of the first 8 games against the Ravens or Steelers. They could easily lose 5 of their final 8. On the other hand, if they can pull out one of those 4 (Ravens/Steelers) they could be looking at 10-6 and playoffs which is still great for the Bengals.

[MadScientist]

Unfortunately for the Bengals, they have gone 6-2 without playing ANY of the first 8 games against the Ravens or Steelers. They could easily lose 5 of their final 8. On the other hand, if they can pull out one of those 4 (Ravens/Steelers) they could be looking at 10-6 and playoffs which is still great for the Bengals.
Nothing short of stunning if they get to the playoffs, considering expectations. Given the extra 1 and 2 from the Raiders, they are in a good spot for the future.

[Joemailman]

So, the Packers still control their own destiny?

[channtheman]

So, the Packers still control their own destiny?

Not if you listen to Skip Bayless. Apparently, the Packers aren't going to win if they have a bad defense and average to good running game.

[Upnorth]

So, the Packers still control their own destiny?

You nailed it!
So how big does the Giants game look now? The way Eli is playing our secondary will need help.

[CaliforniaCheez]

You nailed it!
So how big does the Giants game look now? The way Eli is playing our secondary will need help.

Not so big if they beat the 49'ers this weekend. This weekend it is Go Giants and Go Bears.

A two game cushion on the 49'ers and 3 games ahead of the Lions with 7 games to go will be a large advantage.

[King Friday]

Great tribute, and man do we have a tough division so far!
What I dislike about this is that SF will come to GB in January. They Run first and stop the run. Of any team beating us I really only fear SF in poor weather right now.

I tend to agree, although I'm not convinced SF is good enough to beat the Giants/Lions/Saints/Bears in the Divisional Round. SF really isn't going to be tested too much during the season, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them be upset because they won't be as battle hardened as the other NFC contenders.

[King Friday]

Not if you listen to Skip Bayless. Apparently, the Packers aren't going to win if they have a bad defense and average to good running game.

He said that last year too...how's them apples Skippy-Bo-Peep?

[Smidgeon]

Not so big if they beat the 49'ers this weekend. This weekend it is Go Giants and Go Bears.

A two game cushion on the 49'ers and 3 games ahead of the Lions with 7 games to go will be a large advantage.

+1 I've been rooting for cushions in the rankings. That way if there's a game where the ball bounces the other way (or the refs call too many ridiculous pass interference or roughing the passer calls), the Packers still have a lead for home field.

[smuggler]

Actually, Bayless is right. In the playoffs, we will need to tighten up a little on D to be able to withstand the 3 game gauntlet and win the SB.

[Cheesehead Craig]

Actually, Bayless is right. In the playoffs, we will need to tighten up a little on D to be able to withstand the 3 game gauntlet and win the SB.

Wait, we have to go on a winning streak DURING the playoffs to win the SB? Aw shit.

[channtheman]

Actually, Bayless is right. In the playoffs, we will need to tighten up a little on D to be able to withstand the 3 game gauntlet and win the SB.

Oh believe me, I think our defense is suspect and we will eventually lose at least one game because of them if they do not get better. However, the way Bayless implies that the Packers suck because the defense is bad is laughable. Does he not know we are the only undefeated team in the league?

I do think our defense will begin to tighten it up, though, and we will not lose this year or in the playoffs or in the Super Bowl. 19-0 Baby!

[smuggler]

It sort of depends on Mike Neal. If he can come back and provide a boost or really any impact at all (the other guys aren't doing much) then that improves Raji's effectiveness and sets us up nicely for the postseason. If Neal can't do that for us, I don't see any releif, since a lot of the gambling our DBs are perpetrating is due IMO to the lack of pressure the line is generating. Get burned all day long and force some turnovers, or let offenses methodically march the field and score on every drive. Pick your poison. That's what we're dealing with right now.

[Smeefers]

It sort of depends on Mike Neal. If he can come back and provide a boost or really any impact at all (the other guys aren't doing much) then that improves Raji's effectiveness and sets us up nicely for the postseason. If Neal can't do that for us, I don't see any releif, since a lot of the gambling our DBs are perpetrating is due IMO to the lack of pressure the line is generating. Get burned all day long and force some turnovers, or let offenses methodically march the field and score on every drive. Pick your poison. That's what we're dealing with right now.

If the success of our defense rests in the hands of Mike Neal, I'm hanging up my coat and going home. There's a lot of other players on this D that need to step it up. I don't think it's a one guy fixes it all scenario either. I also don't think it's a packers only problem. Defenses around the league are giving up crazy numbers. If that wasn't the case, then there wouldn't be 3 QB's on pace to blast Dan Marino's single season passing yards record out of the water. (I'm looking at you Drew Brees. Seriously? 3k in 9 weeks?)

[Guiness]

It sort of depends on Mike Neal. If he can come back and provide a boost or really any impact at all (the other guys aren't doing much) then that improves Raji's effectiveness and sets us up nicely for the postseason. If Neal can't do that for us, I don't see any releif, since a lot of the gambling our DBs are perpetrating is due IMO to the lack of pressure the line is generating. Get burned all day long and force some turnovers, or let offenses methodically march the field and score on every drive. Pick your poison. That's what we're dealing with right now.

I can't see Neal being terribly effective. He hasn't played in some time, and barely at all at the pro level. It's going to take him a while to get up to speed on the field.

[Fritz]

If Neal can get his muscles strengthened in the next few weeks, then play a couple late-season games, and if he can avoid any more injury, he could help significantly in the playoffs. The few times he's been on the field, he looks and plays like a man amongst boys.