The 2009 NFL regular season comes to a close this week and while we know the six teams from the NFC that will be in the postseason, only one team; New Orleans knows exactly where they will be seeded.
With Minnesota losing to Chicago on Monday night 36-30 in overtime, the 13-2 Saints locked up the #1 seed despite the fact that they have lost their last two games.
Philadelphia ran their winning streak to six with a 30-27 win over Denver and is currently tied with the Vikings at 11-4. By virtue of the conference record tie breaker, if they beat Dallas on Sunday they would win the NFC East and be the #2 seed.
If the Eagles lose and Minnesota beats the N.Y. Giants then the Vikings would get the first round bye. If they both lose and Arizona beats Green Bay, then the Cardinals would be number two.
If Minnesota and Arizona lose, and the Cowboys win then they would be the division champion and get the two seed.
Simply tune into Fox at 4:15 P.M. for the Eagles-Cowboys showdown to watch how it all plays out.
Moving on to the final week, here is a review of the three games in the NFC that still have any playoff implications; Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants @ Minnesota Vikings, and Green Bay Packers @ Arizona Cardinals.
Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys (-3) Current Over/Under 47.5
Even though both of these teams already clinched a playoff berth, there is a ton riding on this game. If Dallas wins they take the NFC East division title and will host a wildcard round game next week. If both Minnesota and Arizona lose they would be the #2 seed and have a first round bye. If Philadelphia wins they claim the top spot in the East, but more importantly they would be the #2 seed and get the first round bye.
For the Cowboys to win they need to establish the run and control the tempo of the game. They would much rather grind it out than get involved in a shootout. For the Eagles, it will come down to their ability to create big plays downfield to try and jump on Dallas early forcing them to play from behind. With WR Jeremy Maclin and RB Brian Westbrook both healthy and WR’s DeSean Jackson and Jason Avant along with TE Brent Celek all playing at a high level, there are just too many weapons for the Cowboys defense to account for. I’m going with the Eagles and the OVER.
New York Giants @ Minnesota Vikings (-8.5) Current Over/Under 48
It hard to figure out what happened to New York this season but the end result has not been good. They started out winning their first five games, but lost their next four. Since then they have gone 3-3, looking unbeatable one week, and then looking absolutely horrible the next. It all came to an end last week when they were trounced by Carolina 41-9, ending any chance at making the playoffs.
Minnesota has become a head scratcher lately as well. They reeled off their first six in a row and at 10-1 were neck and neck with Saints for the #1 seed in the NFC. Since then they have lost three out of their last four and are no longer in control of even the #2 spot. Their problems have been a little easier to figure out; they are a much better team at home, as all three losses were on the road. Given the fact they find themselves in a must win situation to try and get some momentum back for the postseason and they are playing at home against a team that appears to have packed it in for the season, this pick becomes rather easy. The Vikings and the OVER.
Green Bay Packers @ Arizona Cardinals (-3) Current Over/Under 44
Based on how they end up being seeded, it is very likely that these two teams will be playing each other again next week in a wildcard playoff. With a win, the Cardinals still have an outside chance of ending up the number two seed so this game may still have some meaning if the Vikings lose earlier in the day.
As for Green Bay, winning this game does nothing to really help their playoff position, so if it appears that they may play each other again in six or seven days, they will most likely go with a very vanilla game plan and save the actual one for the following week. At the very least I would expect them to sit several of their key starters to give them an extra week’s rest. Since we will not know who will be playing in this game until right before kickoff, I’ll defer to the home team. Give me the Cardinals and the UNDER.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.