[TLD]

Just a reminder this week to take into account not only which teams are eliminated from the playoffs (a factor I actually think handicappers tend to overrate), but also which teams are locked into their playoff seed. Eliminated teams still often play hard, and except for the case of having a young backup quarterback they’d like to take a look at, in terms of whom to play/whom to bench they mostly treat these games as they would any other “real” games. Teams locked into their playoff seed, on the other hand, really do treat their games like exhibitions.

With that in mind, I believe the only teams currently locked into their seeds are:

CHI is the NFC #1 seed
NO is the NFC #2 seed.
SEA is the NFC #4 seed.

More could be added during the day Sunday. For instance, if DAL somehow loses in the early game to DET, PHIL will be locked into the NFC #3 seed so their late game won’t matter to them. Not sure which, if any, other teams could hypothetically be locked into their seed before their game starts.

[rightsideup]

sean payton has already stated that jaime martin will see more snaps than brees and that jamal branch-rb(practice squad) will get the bulk of the work against carolina. i think the saints still might be good enough to cover a +3, but i would tend to look at the under...

[Patrick McIrish]

Week 17 AFC Scenarios:

AFC East
New England has clinched the AFC East Division.

N.J. Jets can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win or tie OR
A Cincinnati loss or tie and a Jacksonville loss or tie OR
A Cincinnati loss or tie and a Tennessee win OR
A Denver loss and a Jacksonville loss


AFC North
Baltimore has clinched the AFC North Division.

Baltimore can clinch homefield advantage with:

A win and a San Diego loss
Baltimore can clinch a first-round bye with:

A win or tie OR
An Indianapolis loss or tie

Cincinnati can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a N.Y. Jets loss OR
A win and a Denver loss and a Kansas City win


AFC South
Indianapolis has clinched AFC South Division.

Indianapolis can clinch a first-round bye with:
A win and a Baltimore loss

Tennessee can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a Cincinnati loss or tie and a Denver loss and a Kansas City win

Jacksonville can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a N.Y. Jets loss and a Cincinnati loss or tie and a Tennessee loss or tie


AFC West
San Diego has clinched AFC West Division and a first-round bye.

San Diego can clinch homefield advantage with:

A win or tie OR
A Baltimore loss or tie

Denver can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win or tie OR
A Kansas City loss or tie

Kansas City can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a Cincinnati loss or tie and a Denver loss and a Tennessee loss or tie



Week 17 NFC Scenarios

NFC East
Dallas has clinched a playoff berth.

Dallas can clinch an NFC East title with:
A win and a Philadelphia loss or tie OR
A tie and a Philadelphia loss

Philadelphia has clinched a playoff berth.

Philadelphia can clinch the NFC East Division with:
A win OR
A Dallas loss OR
A tie and a Dallas tie

N.Y. Giants can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a strength-of-victory tiebreaker over Green Bay OR
A win and a Green Bay loss or tie OR
A tie and a Green Bay loss or tie and a St. Louis loss or tie and an Atlanta loss or tie and a Carolina loss or tie OR
A Green Bay loss and a St. Louis loss and an Atlanta loss and a Carolina loss


NFC North
Chicago has clinched NFC North Division, a 1st round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Green Bay can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a N.Y. Giants win and a clinch of stength-of-victory tiebreaker over the N.Y. Giants OR
A win and a N.Y. Giants loss or tie and a St. Louis loss or tie OR
A win and a N.Y. Giants loss or tie and a Carolina win OR
A win and a N.Y. Giants loss or tie and an Atlanta win OR
A tie and a N.Y. Giants loss and a St. Louis loss or tie and a Carolina loss or tie


NFC South
New Orleans has clinched NFC South Division and a first-round bye.
Carolina can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a N.Y. Giants loss or tie and a Green Bay loss or tie OR
A tie and a N.Y. Giants loss and a Green Bay loss and a St. Louis loss or tie and an Atlanta loss or tie

Atlanta can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a Carolina loss or tie and a Green Bay loss or tie and a St. Louis loss and tie OR
A tie and a Carolina loss and a Green Bay loss and a N.Y. Giants loss and a St. Louis loss


NFC West
Seattle has clinched NFC West division title
St. Louis can clinch a playoff berth with:
A win and a N.Y. Giants loss or tie and a Carolina loss or tie and an Atlanta loss or tie OR
A tie and a N.Y. Giants loss and a Carolina loss and an Atlanta loss and a Green Bay loss

[bigboydan]

This is the first time I have ever seen so many teams still alive in the playoff hunt in the last week of the season.

[Checkerboard]

Thanks Patrick . . .