![]() Ron Rivera has been saying for the past month that he was seeing progress, and this past Sunday, all three phases - defense, offense and special teams - did what was necessary to beat one of the NFC’s best teams. The only way Washington wins enough to get there, and gets there with the chance of winning in the postseason, is to play the way they did against Tampa Bay. Let me be clear - there is no path to the playoffs that relies on Washington playing like they did in the first 8 weeks of the season. A couple of weeks ago, with starting QB Sam Darnold not playing very well, Christian McCaffrey out injured, and the Panthers having lost 5 games in 6 weeks, that task didn’t seem overly-challenging.īut this past Sunday, Carolina looked at least as good against the Kyler Murray-less Cardinals as Washington did against the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers, setting up a tough and interesting Week 11 matchup with wildcard implications. With 8 games remaining, a potentially realistic goal, in my mind, would be to go 2-1 in the games against the “playoff” teams remaining on the schedule (Panthers & Cowboys) and 4-1 against the “non-playoff” teams (Seahawks, Raiders, Eagles (twice), and the Giants).Ī 6-2 finish would probably get Washington into the playoffs as the #6 or #7 seed in the NFC.įor that to be possible, however, Washington has to beat Carolina in a road game this Sunday since a loss likely makes a winning record in 2021 a very dim possibility. ![]() Meanwhile, Washington is 2-1 against the other (“non-playoff”) teams on its schedule (Giants, Falcons and Broncos). Seven of those “playoff” teams are on the Washington Football Team’s 2021 schedule, and because Dallas is there twice, that’s for a total of 8 games against “playoff” teams (and 5 against division leaders) in this year’s 17-game season.Īlso interesting to me is that 6 of Washington’s 9 games already played were against teams on this list, with Washington going 1-5 against those “playoff” teams. The current AFC Playoff matchups /405bTeUUtB- PFF November 16, 2021 Take a look at the 14 teams that would be in the playoffs if they were to start today The Football Team has had a brutal road over the first ten weeks. I know that a lot of people have given up on the season and any hope of a late season surge, but this season was always going to be tougher in the first half. Suddenly, Washington would be tied with the Vikings & 49ers, a half-game out of the #7 seed (ahead of Atlanta based on tie-breaker).Īgain, I’m not trying to predict the playoff seedings at the end of this week I am trying to illustrate how close Washington will be to a playoff seeding if they get a win over the Panthers on Sunday, and stress that, with 8 weeks remaining in the season, the only team in the NFC that is really out of the playoff race is Detroit. If these results were to eventuate in Week 11, the wildcard race would change a lot: While getting all those outcomes isn’t realistic, only the SF loss would be an upset. Giants lose to Buccaneers, falling to 3-7.Seahawks lose to Cardinals, falling to 3-7.Vikings lose to Packers, falling to 4-6.Falcons lose to Patriots, falling to 4-6.Saints play the Eagles - one team stays even while one falls back a game.With 8 weeks left in the season, anything can happen in the wilcard race, but let’s imagine a ‘best case’ scenario just with the Week 11 games: Let’s imagine, for a moment, that Washington wins this week’s game, moving to 4-6 and dropping Carolina to 5-6. ![]() Only two games separate these ten teams, and the Panthers and Eagles (both ahead of Washington on this chart and both on WFT’s remaining schedule) have played 10 games, while the others have all played only nine. That leaves the 10 teams circled in red competing for two wildcard seedings. That makes 5 teams that appear close to being ‘locked in’ for the playoffs. The Rams, at 7-3 and circled in green, are strongly positioned for a playoff spot as well. The four division leaders are circled in blue. To illustrate the point, however, let’s look at the NFC Conference standings: Let me start this game preview with the assertion that Sunday’s matchup between Washington and Carolina has genuine playoff implications in the NFC, and that Washington is very much alive for a 6th or 7th seed in the NFC playoff picture, although I realize not a lot of people will see it that way.
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