The NFL playoff picture remains fluid as we get set for the final week of the season on Sunday (there are no Thursday or Monday games for this week, it’s a full 16-game Sunday). The following remains up in the air…
The results of this past week have altered the NFL playoff picture, with a couple new teams moving into the current projections, two first-round byes changing hands and one of the teams going from a bye down to wild-card status. Here is the rundown on notable changes, the reasons why and how TheSportsNotebook sees the NFL playoff picture ultimately shaking out.
The NFC East race appears destined to come down to a Week 17 battle between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, a circumstance that gives the Cowboys a chance for a rare trifecta–they could lose a head-to-head battle for the division to the New York Giants in 2011, the Washington Redskins in 2012 and the Eagles in 2013. All that’s needed is to make sure NBC flexes this year’s game into prime-time so all three could take place for the nation on Sunday Night Football.
It was time for another visit to the ESPN Playoff Machine this morning, to see how the NFL playoff picture would shake out after you play out each game in the final three weeks. As was the case in last week’s projections, I used a conservative approach, deferring to home teams except when the road team seemed clearly superior.
My approach was conservative. I took whatever I felt would be the chalk pick in a game–if the teams seemed fairly even, I just deferred to the home team and I didn’t pick any upsets. Here’s how the results came out..