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 

[dfwgator]

As a fan of both the Lions and the Cowboys, all I can say is "Thank God that's all over."

[eldoradude]

49ers vs Raiders in the Super Bowl. Raiders 38, 49ers 17. HAHAHAHAHA.

[wi jd]

(Rodney Harrison)

Yes they do. But Gene Washington does his best to fine the "Nitschke" out of him.

[E Rocc]

Cleveland is still VERY in this.

The Browns have beaten or outplayed every AFC playoff team except Oakland this year. They took the Squealers to the limit twice this year...before William Green emerged.

-Eric

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I was really disappointed to see the Patriots get eliminated even though they won today.

Yep. It was a lousy way for me to start the week, too.
I still can't believe the Jets/Pack game. I don't know if it was the Jets coming alive or the Pack laying down or a combination of the two.

[hobbes1]

How any team can take the field against an inferior opponent

Inferior? Curtis Martin one of TWO RBs in the History of the NFL to gain 1000 yards in his first 8 Seasons...Chad Pennington of the gaudy 104 QB rating...Chrebet, Coles and Moss, against Donald Driver, and .... and.....nevermind, Bubba Franks is a better TE, and On the Defensive side of the ball, excepting Vonnie Holliday, it's not even close.

Lets Face it, Given the Packs road woes, and their relative invincability at home, they Had EVERYTHING to play for, yesterday, and came up woefully short of the mark.

[hobbes1]

Lets Face it, Favre, Behind probably Montana, and Steve Young, is probably the greatest Offensive player to lace up, in the last 30 years. BUT....

As a Team,GB is not all that great away from Lambeau Field. They were decidedly overmatched yesterday, and it showed.(even at Lambeau IIRC, they got beat by the NYJ in their last meeting.)

[Media Insurgent]

Now that Miami's season is over, who does everyone think the Dolphins' Annual Designated Messiah will be next year? Allow me to define the term:

Every year Miami starts off hot prompting all the "experts" to say "This is their year!" Then they tank in the second half of the season, and either lose early in the playoffs or miss them altogether. Inevitably, they make some change in the offseason that leads the same "experts" to proclaim they have FINALLY found the missing piece to the puzzle and this will certainly be their year. This piece is the Dolphins' Annual Designated Messiah. This year the ADM was Ricky Williams. Past ADMs have been Dave Wannstedt, Sam Madison, Zach Thomas, Jimmy Johnson, Keith Jackson and any number of journeyman running backs.

So getting back to my original question, now that the almighty Ricky Williams has failed to restore the Dolphins' past glory, what coach, coordinator or player will they add next year to make everyone proclaim them as the rightful heirs to the Miami dynasty of the early 70s?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Lets Face it, Given the Packs road woes, and their relative invincability at home, they Had EVERYTHING to play for, yesterday, and came up woefully short of the mark.

Which is exactly why I hate them like no other football team.

[Teacher317]

I think they'll stick with Ricky as the "DM"... they had a decent year. Of their 7 losses, 4 were to playoff-caliber teams (KC was a solid team all year, and lost only one game by more than a touchdown... to the AFC's top team). Every team slips once, so MIN is understandable... but the two losses to Buffalo were inexcusable, and the sole reason they are sitting at home until the summer. Only the Raiders had more convincing wins over good teams than MIA. The 'Phins won 30-3 over NYJ, 30-3 over SD and 26-7 over BAL.

(To be fair, the Jets did stomp SD 44-13 and drilled GB 42-17 and NE 30-17 when it mattered most... the Raiders had 9 winning spreads over 12 points, and 6 of those were against Week 17 playoff contenders.)

My calls:
CLE 20, PIT 17, last minute score wins it
NYJ 34, IND 30, with 31 pts in the 4th Quarter (21 by the Colts)
GB 30, ATL 17, the Packer-backers blood-thirsty after the Jets loss
NYG 16, SF 13, reversing the Week 1 final score

GB 20, TB 17, on a Favre 4th quarter drive in a violent game
PHI 28, NYG 17, in McNabb's emotional return
TEN 26, CLE 13, McNair runs wild
OAK 31, NYJ 28, in overtime

TEN 27, OAK 24, avenging the stomping the Titans got early in the year
PHI 24, GB 17, with GB too exhausted and bruised from the previous two games to keep up. (If PHI loses to the Giants, then GB wins at home and goes to SB37)

TEN 28, PHI 13, in a SuperBowl with crummy commercials. The Titans overcome "the tackle" and the Eagles go 0-2 in the Big One. Hey, one of them had to.

[motzman]

I wanted the Mets to get Rolen last year because I figured Fonzie was through. Bell's a good player, but Rolen always had that "impact" tag--

I think SF overpaid big time for Fonzie who is much older than advertised, and could have a chronic back problem.

[Teacher317]

Oops! Gotta correct myself, before a Bucs fan gets here... they had 4 big wins over playoff-contending teams: Baltimore 25-0, Cleveland 17-3, Green Bay 21-7, Atlanta 34-10... and all 4 losses to playoff contenders (no "slips" against poor teams)

Defense wins championships, and the Bucs held opponents to two scores or less EIGHT times... which doesn't even include Carolina's 3 FG's and 130 total yards.

(There. Does THAT make up for my faux pas, TB fans??)

[motzman]

PHI 28, NYG 17, in McNabb's emotional return

Nice analysis, but Rusty McNabb is not going to beat the Giants after sitting out for 8-9 weeks. McFly is a great player, but the Giants have too tuff of a Defense and too many offensive weapons for the Filthy one's to handle...

[motzman]

The Vikes have never been the same since the NFC Championship game of 2000.

At least you got rid of D. Green (worst coach in the NFL).

I like Tice, I'd give him two more years to turn your ship around.

[BenLurkin]

GO BROWNS!

[Teacher317]

Yeah, but that gives GB the home field for the NFC Championship game... and nobody wants THAT!!!

Sorry, the Giants will just have to lay down for that one. ;^)

[mr.pink]

This Steeler fan will congratulate the Browns on a job well done.

Should be a great game sunday. How's Couch's situation?

Also, how `bout them Miami Dolphins!!...LOL

[motzman]

Sorry, the Giants will just have to lay down for that one. ;^)

Not bloody likely! (lol)

Jeremy Shockey is the Blonde Beast!

[Allegra]

It's so bad that I curse the NFL blackout rules because the fox station can't show the Cowboys when they're playing at the same time as the Texans. That's bad. LOL

How 'bout them Cowboys yesterday? My presence at FedEx Field last week broke the long-standing curse. :)

Booing Bud Adams yesterday at Reliant Stadium was great fun. He was wearing that awful rug on his head and had on an ugly brown suit.

[Diddle E. Squat]

What a complete and utter waste this stupid playoff system is. The regular season now has no meaning, every game isn't crucial, and it just isn't as exciting in the final weeks without the teams fighting for BCS rankings and bowl seedings. Plus there is nothing to argue about, and these playoff games don't come close to the tradition, excitement, and pagentry that the bowls would offer. Surely its time for a better system.

Wouldn't the world be perfect if instead of this boring playoff system we just took the top 2 teams for a single national championship game and then let all the rest with winning records play exhibition games in bowls? Let sports media members(who saw maybe 1/4th of the relevant games) and computer geeks subjectively select the top 2 teams, and perhaps 6 more to play in 'premium' exhibition bowls. Less pressure and worry for all but 2 teams and their fans, and half the teams and their fans end the season with a win. Utopia within grasp.

So how would it be right now if the NFL idiots(who despite themselves for some unexplainable reason have crafted by far the most successful sports league) would adopt the far superior BCS system(which would better reflect 'the will of the people' and the 'popular vote', since the BCS is a 'living, breathing system'):

Philadelphia and Tampa Bay meet in the national championship game down in Tempe. Clearly this is the game that everyone wants to see. Reward for dominating and standing out in the regular season. C'mon, can any team with 5 losses really have any legitimate claim to playing in the nat'l champ. game? Why should we reward mediocrity? The Eagles and Bucs have done all that was asked of them, why should we penalize them by allowing lesser teams to upset them from their rightly earned place in the title game?

The Orange Bowl would feature perhaps the best matchup, with the Jets(sells tickets in S. FL) playing the Titans, the team nobody wants to play right now. Too bad they struggled at the start of the season, nonetheless we can't have them polluting the champ. game with a good playoff run. Luckily for TN, the independent Dallas Cowboys' loss to the Redskins left them one game short of the required number of victories for BCS eligibility, and the disappointed Orange was unable to find a loophole to select them.

The Rose would take the Raiders and Green Bay(both travel well), while the Sugar takes Pittsburgh and New Orleans(since they would draw better than the 49'ers). The 49'ers cry foul, but hey, its not a playoff, so what does it really matter? San Francisco can still look forward to a nice trip to San Diego and the Holiday Bowl against the Chargers. Wouldn't Cincinnatians have a much better holiday if the Bengals were playing Atlanta in the Pissant City Music Bowl. Nothing like a nice trip to Tennessee in January to relieve a disappointing season.

Yes, clearly the NFL could learn a thing or two from college football. What a shame that we are stuck with this boring playoff system that makes a sham of the regular season. Yesterday's games just weren't the same.