NFL Football Discussion Thread ~ Final Week of Regular Season

NFL ^

[CounterCounterCulture]

*** USELESS VANITY THREAD ***

And thus begins the official end to the season of 20 NFL teams as the 12 survivors jockey for their post-season slots this weekend.

AFC East  
  Team           W  L T 
  Miami          9  6 0 
  N.Y. Jets      8  7 0 
  New England    8  7 0  
  Buffalo        7  8 0 
 
AFC North  
  Team           W  L T 
y-Pittsburgh     9  5 1 
  Cleveland      8  7 0 
  Baltimore      7  8 0 
  Cincinnati     2 13 0  
 
AFC South  
  Team           W  L T 
y-Tennessee     10  5 0 
  Indianapolis   9  6 0 
  Jacksonville   6  9 0 
  Houston        4 11 0 
 
AFC West  
  Team           W  L T 
y-Oakland       10  5 0 
  Denver         8  7 0 
  Kansas City    8  7 0 
  San Diego      8  7 0 
 
NFC East  
  Team           W  L T 
yz-Philadelphia 12  3 0  
  N.Y. Giants    9  6 0 
  Washington     6  9 0 
  Dallas         5 10 0  
 
NFC North  
  Team           W  L T 
y-Green Bay     12  3 0
  Minnesota      5 10 0 
  Chicago        4 11 0 
  Detroit        3 12 0 
 
NFC South  
  Team           W  L T 
y-Tampa Bay     11  4 0  
  Atlanta        9  5 1 
  New Orleans    9  6 0  
  Carolina       6  9 0 
 
NFC West  
  Team           W  L T 
y-San Francisco 10  5 0 
  Seattle        6  9 0 
  St. Louis      6  9 0 
  Arizona        5 10 0  
x-clinched playoff berth
y-clinched division title
z-clinched first-round bye
*-clinched homefield advantage 

Official playoff scenarios

The following are the official playoff scenarios in each conference and division as determined by the NFL. Strength of victory is the season-ending winning percentage of all the opponents a team has defeated. Strength of victory can change after final week.

AFC EAST

Miami Dolphins: Can clinch AFC East division with win or tie.
To clinch home-field advantage: 1) Win AND Oakland loss AND Tennessee loss AND Pittsburgh loss AND Miami wins strength of victory tiebreaker over Oakland and Tennessee.
To clinch a first-round bye: 1) Win AND Pittsburgh loss or tie AND Oakland loss; 2) Win AND Pittsburgh loss or tie AND Tennessee loss; 3) Win AND Tennessee loss AND Oakland loss AND Miami wins strength of victory tiebreaker over Oakland and Tennessee.
To clinch a playoff spot: 1) N.Y. Jets loss or tie AND Denver win; 2) N.Y. Jets loss or tie AND Kansas City loss or tie.

New England Patriots: Can clinch AFC East division: 1) Win AND N.Y. Jets loss or tie.
To clinch a playoff spot: 1) Win AND Cleveland loss or tie AND Denver loss or tie AND Kansas City win; 2) Win AND Cleveland loss or tie AND Denver loss or tie AND San Diego loss or tie; 3) Tie AND N.Y. Jets loss AND Cleveland loss AND Denver loss AND San Diego loss AND Kansas City loss or tie.

New York Jets: Can clinch AFC East division: 1) Win AND Miami loss.
Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win AND Cleveland loss or tie AND Denver win; 2) Win AND Cleveland loss or tie AND Kansas City loss or tie; 3) Tie AND New England loss or tie AND Cleveland loss AND Denver loss or tie AND Kansas City loss AND San Diego loss or tie.

AFC NORTH

Pittsburgh Steelers: Have clinched the AFC North title.
Can clinch home-field advantage: 1) Win AND Tennessee loss AND Oakland loss.
Can clinch a first-round bye: 1) Win AND Tennessee loss; 2) Win AND Oakland loss.

Cleveland Browns: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win AND Denver win AND N.Y. Jets win; 2) Win AND Kansas City loss or tie AND N.Y. Jets win; 3) Win AND Denver win AND Miami win or tie; 4) Win AND Kansas City loss or tie AND Miami win or tie; 5) Tie AND N.Y. Jets loss or tie AND New England loss or tie AND Denver loss or tie AND San Diego loss or tie AND Kansas City loss; 6) New England loss AND N.Y. Jets loss AND Baltimore loss or tie AND Denver loss AND San Diego loss AND Kansas City loss.

Baltimore Ravens: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win AND New England loss AND N.Y. Jets loss AND Cleveland loss AND Denver loss AND San Diego loss AND Kansas City loss.

AFC SOUTH

Tennessee Titans: Have clinched AFC South title.
Can clinch home-field advantage: 1) Win AND Oakland loss or tie; 2) Tie AND Oakland loss; 3) Pittsburgh loss or tie AND Miami win AND Oakland loss AND Tennessee wins on strength of victory tiebreaker over Miami and Oakland.
Can clinch a first-round bye: 1) Win or tie; 2) Miami loss AND Pittsburgh loss or tie; 3) Oakland loss AND Miami win AND Tennessee wins strength of victory tiebreaker over Oakland and Miami.

Indianapolis Colts: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win or tie; 2) New England loss or tie; 3) N.Y. Jets win; 4) Cleveland loss or tie AND Kansas City loss or tie; 5) Cleveland loss or tie AND Denver win.

AFC WEST

OAKLAND Raiders: Have clinched AFC West title.
Can clinch home-field advantage: 1) Win; 2) Tie AND Tennessee loss or tie; 3) Pittsburgh loss or tie AND Tennessee loss AND Miami loss; 4) Pittsburgh loss or tie AND Tennessee loss AND Oakland wins strength of victory tiebreaker over Tennessee and Miami.
Can clinch first-round bye: 1) Tie; 2) Miami loss or tie AND Pittsburgh loss or tie; 3) Miami loss or tie AND Tennessee loss; 4) Tennessee loss AND Oakland wins strength of victory tiebreaker over Tennessee and Miami.

Denver Broncos: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win AND Cleveland loss or tie AND New England loss or tie AND N.Y. Jets loss or tie; 2) Win AND Cleveland loss or tie AND Miami loss AND N.Y. Jets win; 3) Tie AND New England loss or tie AND N.Y. Jets loss AND Cleveland loss AND Kansas City loss or tie AND San Diego loss or tie.

Kansas City Chiefs: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win AND Denver loss or tie AND New England loss or tie; 2) Win AND Denver loss or tie AND Indianapolis win or tie AND N.Y. Jets loss or tie; 3) Win AND Denver loss or tie AND Indianapolis loss AND N.Y. Jets win AND Cleveland win; 4) Tie AND New England loss AND N.Y. Jets loss or tie AND Cleveland loss or tie AND Denver loss AND San Diego loss or tie.

San Diego Chargers: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win AND Denver loss or tie AND Kansas City loss or tie AND New England loss or tie AND N.Y. Jets loss or tie AND Cleveland loss or tie; 2) Win AND Denver loss or tie AND Kansas City loss or tie AND Miami loss AND N.Y. Jets win AND Cleveland loss or tie; 3) Tie AND Denver loss AND Kansas City loss AND New England loss AND N.Y. Jets loss AND Cleveland loss.

NFC EAST

Philadelphia Eagles: Have clinched NFC East title and a first-round bye.
Can clinch home-field advantage: 1) Win; 2) Tie AND Green Bay loss or tie; 3) Green Bay loss.

New York Giants: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win; 2) Tie AND New Orleans loss or tie; 3) New Orleans loss.

NFC NORTH

Green Bay Packers: Have clinched NFC North title.
Can clinch home-field advantage: 1) Win AND Philadelphia loss or tie; 2) Tie AND Philadelphia loss; Can clinch first-round bye: 1) Win or tie; 2) Tampa Bay loss or tie.

NFC SOUTH

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Have clinched NFC South title.
Can clinch first-round bye: 1) Win AND Green Bay loss.

Atlanta Falcons: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win or tie; 2) N.Y. Giants loss or tie; 3) New Orlean loss or tie.

New Orleans Saints: Can clinch playoff spot: 1) Win AND N.Y. Giants loss or tie; 2) Win AND Atlanta loss; 3) Tie AND N.Y. Giants loss.

NFC WEST

49ers: Have clinched NFC West title.

Source

The following teams have been officially eliminated from playoff contention:

Arizona, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Minnesota, St. Louis, Seattle and Washington

WEEK 17 SCHEDULE

(all times Eastern Standard Time)

Saturday, Dec. 28 
Philadelphia at N.Y. Giants, 1:30 pm
Kansas City at Oakland, 5:00 pm 
Sunday, Dec. 29 
Atlanta at Cleveland, 1:00 pm
Baltimore at Pittsburgh, 1:00 pm 
Carolina at New Orleans, 1:00 pm
Cincinnati at Buffalo, 1:00 pm 
Dallas at Washington, 1:00 pm
Miami at New England, 1:00 pm 
Minnesota at Detroit, 1:00 pm
Tennessee at Houston, 1:00 pm 
Jacksonville at Indianapolis, 4:05 pm
Arizona at Denver, 4:15 pm 
Green Bay at N.Y. Jets, 4:15 pm
Seattle at San Diego, 4:15 pm 
Tampa Bay at Chicago, 8:30 pm  
Monday, Dec. 30 
San Francisco at St. Louis, 9:00 pm  

POSTSEASON

Wild-Card Weekend 
Saturday, Jan. 4
AFC or NFC game, 4:30 pm on ABC
AFC or NFC game, 8:00 pm on ABC 
Sunday, Jan. 5
AFC game, 1:00 pm on CBS
NFC game, 4:30 pm on FOX 
Divisional Playoffs 
Saturday, Jan. 11
AFC game, 4:30 pm on CBS
NFC game, 8:00 pm on FOX
Sunday, Jan. 12
NFC game, 1:00 pm on FOX
AFC game, 4:30 pm on CBS 
Conference Championships 
Sunday, Jan. 19
NFC Championship Game, 3:00 pm on FOX
AFC Championship Game, 6:30 pm on CBS 
Super Bowl XXXVII 
Sunday, Jan. 26
Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, Calif.
6:00 pm on ABC 

[CounterCounterCulture]

15 Tampa Bay
00 Chicago
FINAL

Bucs end < 40 degree (at kickoff) 0-21 streak.

Playoff implications
Tampa Bay clinches a first-round bye (#2 seed). Green Bay will play next week, hosting Atlanta.
Niners/Rams game Monday night is totally meaningless, as if it wasn’t enough before. Now the Niners will get the hotter playoff opponent.

NFC Seedings
#1 Philadelphia Eagles
#2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
#3 Green Bay Packers
#4 San Francisco 49ers
#5 New York Giants
#6 Atlanta Falcons

Next week’s games
NY Giants @ San Francisco 49ers
Atlanta Falcons @ Green Bay Packers

[mtngrl@vrwc]

How about those Raiders? ;-)

[CounterCounterCulture]

Liking their prospects in the playoffs right now. GO RAIDERS! :-)

[Captain Beyond]

Will Steve Spurrier give Dan Snyder the game ball now?

[Teacher317]

Wow... what a great year... look at the teams who collapsed, and who brought it on at the end...

The Saints were 9-4 and had 3 EASY games left... and lost their way out of the playoffs. SD Chargers were 6-1, the Broncos were 6-2, the 'Phins were 5-1, and all found a way to miss out... The defending champion Patriots were 8-5 and hot (winning 5 of 6), but couldn't get in.

On the other side of the coin, the Jets and the Titans both start 1-4 (both losing 4 straight)... the Browns were 2-4 and even found a way to lose a game after the clock had expired.... Oakland was collapsing into a 4-4 record (losing 4 straight)... Pittsburgh and Atlanta started 1-3 (and tied each other later in the season)... the Giants were 3-4... and all are in at the end.

[E Rocc]

Glad to see the modell gone, now to get rid of the black and yellow garbage as well. >:)

Go Buckeyes too.....busy weekend coming up in Ohio...hehehe

-Eric

[NormsRevenge]

Too bad the Vikes and the Rams sucked so bad. They both have explosive offenses. Randy Moss is still one of the most exciting player on the field, IMO... his "personal" escapades aside.

I'm glad to see Coach Tice got a new contract.

As always, Im a "Bud Grant/Vikes of Old" fan from way back.

[E Rocc]

Dear Mike,
Please remove my name from the stadium.
Love,
Dad

In the opening game at Paul Brown Stadium, dad's original team spanked the one that's become his son's toy, establishing a trend. It seems the only games that sell out there are the ones where they shall-we-say "sell a lot of tickets north of I-70". My section at the opening game was at least 2/3 brown and orange, and that doesn't even count the Kentucky jerseys.

-Eric

[mlo]

Raiders huh? They're pretty good, but don't really have a running game (Garner is versatile and good, a poor man's Tiki Barber..Wheatley, well, stinks) and they don't have a very good secondary (14th in AFC). Their run defense is good, but not unbeatable.

What Raider team have you been watching?

[mlo]

The Jets an "inferior opponent"? Are you joking? They are the hottest team in the NFL right now. And Pennington is twice the quarterback Favre is this year.

The Jets are a very good team, but the hottest? No way. Take a look at how the Raiders totally destroyed Denver and KC in the last two weeks. That is hot.

[mlo]

My brother thinks it might be a NY-NY Super Bowl.

Your brother needs better drugs. :-)

[RFP]

Browns-Steelers game next week will be awesome! GO BROWNS!! What a defense!

[rebootd]

Go Browns!!!! (This time not to Baltimore. Otherwise I'd have to root for my surrogate, the Packers.)

[chance33_98]

Go raiders.

[RFP]

Win or lose, EVERY Browns game this year has been CLOSE! It's no fluke, Cleveland is still VERY in this.

[motzman]

Everything I said is accurate--what Raider games have you been watching? They're beatable.

[WarSlut]

Considering what we lost in Rolen, it's nice having Bell to fill in. We only give up about 15 points in batting average, 10 homers and 20 RBI's... and Rolen's considered a star.

Bell's also a Gold Glove caliber third baseman (.972 lifetime fielding percentage).

Nice player. Not a star, but a nice role player all the same.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

That game was a sleeper. Chicago couldn't complete a pass to save their life. They couldn't even hit a field goal, they were totally shut out (final score 15-0). Pathetic.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I was really disappointed to see the Patriots get eliminated even though they won today. (I'm not being sarcastic.)

[copycat]

All I have to say is J-E-T-S jets, jets, jets!