NFL playoff picture ... from the future How itll look in Week 17

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NFL playoff picture ... from the future! How it'll look in Week 17 Published: Sep 03, 2018 at 07:07 AM Around The NFL Podcast Co-Host It was destined to come down to a week like this in the loaded NFC. Three playoff spots are still available, with seven teams angling to snap them up. In an NFL designed to create parity, the uneven distribution of power between conferences this season has sparked a conversation about changing the NFL's seeding procedures -- a consideration that will be explored in earnest by NFL owners beginning in March. In the precarious present, teams with aspirations and double-digit wins like the and could be on the outside looking in when the tournament starts next week. Below is an overview of where things stand in both conferences entering Week 17. The drama David Schlemko Jersey -resistant AFC goes second, with a straightforward final week wrapping up a season where the conference was clearly a supporting actor. Will the road to Atlanta go through Atlanta? Three NFC teams have already punched their playoff tickets: Atlanta, Los Angeles and Green Bay. The have the most at stake this Sunday, although all three teams will be compelled to play their starters with both byes still up for grabs. If Atlanta wins on the road against the surging Bucs, the will sew up the No. 1 seed and bolster 's dark-horse MVP chances. (And with that, a shockingly strong resume.) But the could drop all the way to the No. 5 seed with the lurking just behind them. Atlanta is 0-2 against New Orleans and 12-1 against the rest of the NFL, a fact that Twitter has handled with typical cla s and restraint. The can still get the last laugh in the dirty NFC South. They are just one road win away from a playoff schedule where they don't leave home. The don't control their fate in the division and the team's 11 wins haven't yet clinched a playoff spot. A season mired in mediocrity by the and their deflated defense could still end on a high note if they can knock the out of the playoffs entirely with a Week 17 win. While the and both know they will host a home game to start the playoffs, Green Bay needs help to get a playoff bye. It's safe to a sume coach Sean McVay won't sit his starters again in the season finale against the , like he did a year ago. wideout needs 72 yards to join teammates and with more than 1,000, which would make them only the sixth trio ever to crack quadruple-digits together. (And the first since the 2008 .) Green Bay faces the dispirited , who were eliminated last week after their second straight lo s. While needs help to get a bye, it would take an uncharacteristic meltdown for him to lose his grip on a third MVP award. A top-10 Green Bay defense led by Mike Pettine's band of marauding young cornerbacks will make the a brutal playoff opponent no matter where they play. The NFC race for the rest There are so many insane scenarios and permutations facing the rest of the NFC, so I'll try to simplify what we absolutely know in a list: 1) Only the , , , , and have been eliminated. Seven teams are still vying for the three remaining playoff spots. 2) The , and have the clearest paths to the playoffs with win-and-in scenarios. NBC executives had to be thrilled when they realized Sunday night's Eagles- game would have playoff implications regardle s of what happens earlier in the day. After a rocky initial return to the field, has done a strong impre sion of 2017 over the last month -- and is one win away from his first home playoff game. 3) The can still win the NFC East with a victory against 's a lo s by the . There's also a delicious scenario -- based on what happens earlier in the day -- that the could be playing for a win-and-in wild-card scenario. will need a lot of results to go his way for a triumphant ride to the playoffs in Washington. 4) That would be a bitter pill in a season full of them for Minnesota. 9-6 doesn't sound so bad until it only leaves you eighth in a conference many believed the would win. They need a win against the gestating and help with lo ses by the wild-card hopefuls in front of them -- starting with Seattle. 5) coach Pete Carroll hasn't hosed down those retirement rumors, leaving open the chance that he goes out with a Coach of the Year nod. Few expected him to win with his remodeled crew so quickly and even fewer expected Brian Schottenheimer to make the ' offense efficient again. A win over the lackluster would set the 12s aflame, although it's worth noting that Arizona rookie quarterback has shown the ability to get hot enough in a given week to score on anyone. (Or barely move the ball. Joel Ward Jersey That's the life of a hotshot rookie quarterback playing behind a lackluster line.) 6) The final team in the mix for the final playoff spot is perhaps the most surprising. The high-flying Bucs have won four of five games, with an 8-4 overall record since 's return from suspension. The tiebreakers are mostly unkind for Tampa, and the Week 17 opponent (Atlanta) remains daunting, but the have been counted out plenty of times before this season. That gets you up to date on the NFC. The AFC cleared up in the last few weeks, when the haves and the have nots started to separate ... The Chargers are chilling coach Anthony Lynn isn't the type to call off the dogs. Lynn announced immediately after the ' 12th victory that his team would play to win in Week 17 despite clinching home-field advantage in thrilling fashion versus the . That previous sentence is extremely strange to write, and so is the next one. Los Angeles is the center of the profe sional football world, with playing the role of LeBron in Cowboy boots. The don't have a chance for the top seed because they lose the conference-record tiebreaker to the , but Bill Belichick's much-improved defense still has plenty to play for. A win against a feisty squad would clinch New England's ninth straight top-two finish in the AFC, extending perhaps the most ridiculous streak from a franchise that has specialized in ridiculous streaks this century. The game is no gimme, with Gang Green's strong secondary doing its best to save Todd Bowles' job. Only the could prevent the from hosting a game on Divisional Round Chris Tierney Jersey weekend. The didn't exactly back into the division title last week, despite their lo s in L.A. Coordinator Don Martindale's defense has been greater than the sum of its parts all season, and the unit's dominant Week 16 performance against the should only bolster the team's confidence it can win anywhere in the playoffs. Maybe the AFC isn't so bad if it can field three teams that would hardly be ma sive underdogs in the . The le ser conference was undone, instead, by a wide, soft underbelly of disappointing teams stuck between four and six wins, including Oakland, Houston and Denver. Perhaps the most disappointing team has one final shot to get lucky ... Three AFC teams, one spot The and the have nothing to play for this week, as Tenne see clinched the division and Jacksonville secured a wild-card spot a week ago. The Jags could theoretically fall to the six seed, but avoiding the again might not be such a bad thing, considering the current state of the rivalry. That leaves three teams -- Cincinnati, Kansas City and Pittsburgh -- battling over one final playoff spot. Whispers about Mike Tomlin's job status have started up after the team's lifele s defensive performance in New Orleans last week, with ownership quick to voice support for the embattled head coach. A win over the this week would re-establish Cincinnati's little-brother status and perhaps make Marvin Lewis' head explode. But a victory won't nece sarily mean they are dancing. The will remain ahead of Pittsburgh and sneak into the playoffs if both teams win this week, due to the Kansas City win over the way back in Week 2. (Yes, the game that featured three touchdowns, two ejections and celebrationgasm.) For middling teams like the , the end of the season can't come soon enough. For sunken teams like the and , the season has felt over for a while. And for the feel-good , an eighth win would feel halfway to heaven after what Hue Jackson's crew suffered through a year ago. Don't tell that a game needs a playoff spot on the line to mean something. While there are some clunkers on the schedule this week, there are just 26 games left before LIII. Savor them all. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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