Tuesday Afternoon Linebacker

Not much has changed this week as far as who’s in and who’s out. But a couple of teams have distanced themselves from their competition.

*Clinched division, #Clinched playoff spot

AFC
Locks: New England*, Indianapolis#, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville
As someone who has Tom Brady on his fantasy football team I’m glad the Patriots defeated Pittsburgh this week. It didn’t do much for playoff seeding, but had the chance at perfection been lost the Pats would have been likely to go into hibernation once they clinch home-field.

Poor Jacksonville, until and unless Indianpolis falls apart, they will be forever relegated to the Wild Card. San Diego will likely win the AFC West title, and could do so at 9-7 or thereabouts. Which will add fuel to the fire for those that perfer a straight seeded tournament to what the NFL has now when the 11-5 Jags travel to (probably) 9-7 San Diego.

Maybe: San Diego, Cleveland, Tennessee
Why aren’t the Chargers a “Lock” you might ask. Because they could still go in the tank and lose two or three games to fall out of playoff contention. But San Deigo and Denver face each other one more time this season, the winner likely to emerge as the AFC West champ. But in reality all San Diego has to do is win one of three. In that abysmal division I have to think they own the tie-breakers. And with DET, DEN, and @OAK left I can’t imagine they’ll drop all three.

Not So Much: Buffalo, New York, Miami, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Oakland, Denver
What to do about Buffalo. They’re currently 8th in the AFC, and sit at 6-6 (just one game out of the playoffs). However, they have yet to defeat a team that currently has a winning record. And Denver just lost to Oakland two weeks ago. There should be a rule that any AFC West team that loses to Oakland is eliminated from playoff contention. At 6-7, they are only mathematically “in the hunt”.

NFC
Locks: Dallas*, Green Bay*, Tampa Bay, Seattle*
The Buckos missed out on the clinching party this past weekend. Not only did they not win, but New Orleans couldn’t manage to lose.

Maybe: New York, Minnesota, Washington, Arizona, New Orleans
New Orleans and Arizona are here out of courtesy (again). The same could be said of Washington and their 3-game deficit with the Giants. But the ‘Skins do have the Giants this weekend, Minnesota next week, and finish with a home date against Dallas. If they can manage to beat the Giants Sunday and beat-up on a likely resting Cowboys team in Week 17 they just might be in a good spot. Because the Giants famously will be up against the presumably 15-0 Patriots to close out the season. But, in the end, Week 16 will doom them; the Giants will face the Bills that weekend. Basically the ‘Skins need a three game winning streak, the Giants to drop three, and hope the tiebreakers go their way.

The Saints are hanging my a thread. They were given two gifts last Sunday; a Bucs loss and a Falcons team who coach was already out the door. When the Bucs destroy the Falcons this Sunday that should pretty much put the Saints to bed for the season. At that point they’ll turn their attention to Minnesota.

Not So Much: Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Carolina, Atlanta, St. Louis, San Francisco
I knew when the schedule came out that the Bucs-Niners collision next Sunday would be moved off of Sunday Night Football. Even if the season had gone as expected, the Niners would be in the playoff hunt while the Bucs were playing out the schedule. Too bad, it would have been nice for the nation to see how good the Bucs are.

Super Bowl XLII
Patriots vs. It Doesn’t Matter