Don't talk about playoffs.. well, sorry

[bLACKpANTHER]

2022 NFL Playoff Machine - Simulate Matchups and Scenarios - ESPN

Waste some of your employers' time on your first day back to work in the Playoff Machine..

IF we get average QB play like we did yesterday (gulp), and the defense keeps ballin - I honestly think we can win out.. but doubt it
Also we don't need to - we MUST win the 2 division games and also the 2 home games against PIT & DET

-BYE-
@SEA
PIT
DET
@TB
@NO

There are multiple scenarios where we can lose to SEA and still make the playoffs.. it will all likely come down to the last 2 weeks where everyone in our division plays each other twice.. we probably will come up short and ATL or TB makes it in by a game and we lose out on a Top QB in the draft.. but at least my Preseason wish of meaningful football in December will be granted.. Happy Holidays!!

[joemac]

Gah, had we not completely poo the bed at the beginning of the season we could be in the drivers seat in the division right now.  Some many close losses that this team would win today.  Yeah, we're not gonna get a top 3 pick anymore most likely, but it is really good for the team overall to learn how to win and gain some confidence going into next season.  We can still get a good QB in the middle of the first.  A lot of guys who are stars today were taking outside the top 10.

[CanadianCat]

Im no tanker. 

Lets win! Playoffs!!

[t96]

FWIW we are winless on the road (only team in the NFL). I don't see us winning any of these 3 road games to close out the season either. 

[saX man]

We could be in 1st in the NFCS by week 15 hehe 

[Skack25]

It's almost like.. if we had Wilks instead of Rhule to begin the year, we'd be a playoff team.

[Sgt Schultz]

All of our last five games are winnable and that is not a stretch.  Now, whether they are winnable by US is a different question. We are 3-1 in the division, but 1-7 against everybody else and that one win was yesterday, against a team that is pretty much in train wreck mode.

To balance against those numbers, the Saints stink and look like what everybody expected the Falcons to look like at the beginning of the season. 

The Bucs can play down to anybody and have to be seeing buzzards circling.  The Bucs play @ San Fran and Cincy at home.  The rest is games against the division. 

The Falcons are the wild card in this discussion.  Their schedule is not much tougher than ours, playing the Steelers, Bucs, @ Ravens, Cardinals, and @ Saints.

It's a horse race to the finish.  Granted, it is a horse race between plow horses pulling plows, but never the less.....  We are alive because NFL rules state somebody from the NFCS must attend the playoffs.  But, if somebody would have told me the Panthers would start 1-4, and both us and the Falcons would be in the division race as we head into December, I would have called a cookie truck to collect them and haul them off to the Happy Valley Rest Home.

 

 

[rayzor]

i think we need to brace ourselves to the idea that we might win out the rest of the season or at least win all but one or two.

giving sammy the bye to prepare will only help him and the rest of the offense. chances are that we won't come out of the bye flat like we have in the past.

seahawks are very hit or miss. they've lost 2 in a row, to the bucs and raiders. and they've lost to the saints and falcons. are they seriously looking like they could get swept by the NFCS? i think it's a definite possibility. playing at home is the thing that will help them the most, except they lost to the falcons and raiders at home so who knows?

steelers just aren't good. they are looking at one of their worst records in over 30 years. worse...it seems like they've just given up. put that team on the road against a panthers team that still has fight and is actually winning at home with Wilkes, i'm not going to call it a gimme, but for those hoping for a loss for the panthers...i wouldn't bet on this one.

lions...who knows? true wildcard team. who knows what to expect? they have a good bit of fight in them, though. with the exception of blowout losses to the pats and cowboys, they've been really competitive in every game and kept it close when they lost. playing them at home will help, but i expect this one to be a fight.

then we've got the saints and the bucs, both on the road. we've already beat them both, even though it was at home, i think they are both definitely beatable at home. both are very inconsistent. 

as much as those hoping we tank, we could end up with anywhere from a 6-11 record to a 9-8 record and with any of those scenarios we could find ourselves in the playoffs. as crappy as the non-NFCEast has been, we could even win a game or two.

at this point nothing would surprise me.

 

[grimesgoat]

I said several weeks ago, there is a somewhat realistic scenario where everyone in our division finishes 7-10 and we make the playoffs with the best in-conference record. 

I realize we would then be picking around 18/19 and out of the top QB chase, but hosting a playoff game could be a positive building block.

[falconlynx]

Glad to see y’all coming around to a likely scenario.

 

Way easier to make the playoffs this year and even make some noise (with a strong run game and defense) rather than all the crazy draft/tank scenarios that keep coming up here. 

[Snake]

The Broncos are a awful team. The only reason we won that game is that Sam had to do almost nothing to win. There's zero chance we win out and there's a good chance we won't win another game. The Hawks are not a great team and the rest of our schedule is soft but in no way are they going to roll over like the Broncos. 

[Shocker]

4 hours ago, bLACKpANTHER said:

2022 NFL Playoff Machine - Simulate Matchups and Scenarios - ESPN

Waste some of your employers' time on your first day back to work in the Playoff Machine..

IF we get average QB play like we did yesterday (gulp), and the defense keeps ballin - I honestly think we can win out.. but doubt it
Also we don't need to - we MUST win the 2 division games and also the 2 home games against PIT & DET

-BYE-
@SEA
PIT
DET
@TB
@NO

There are multiple scenarios where we can lose to SEA and still make the playoffs.. it will all likely come down to the last 2 weeks where everyone in our division plays each other twice.. we probably will come up short and ATL or TB makes it in by a game and we lose out on a Top QB in the draft.. but at least my Preseason wish of meaningful football in December will be granted.. Happy Holidays!!

We can definitely beat every team left on our schedule 

If our kicker makes a chip shot against Atlanta we would be on top.  It’s that close

Edited November 28, 2022 by Shocker

[Seltzer]

1 hour ago, Snake said:

The Broncos are a awful team. The only reason we won that game is that Sam had to do almost nothing to win. There's zero chance we win out and there's a good chance we won't win another game. The Hawks are not a great team and the rest of our schedule is soft but in no way are they going to roll over like the Broncos. 

The Broncos still had a top 5 defense coming in. Much like us, their issues have been 99% on the offensive side, but they didn't roll over yesterday.  I don't think there was any lack of effort by either team, the Broncos offense is just that bad.

We've all seen way too much bad Sam to make any long-term prognostications, but Sam played good within the framework of the game yesterday, and he made several elite throws.  That TD and 52-yard bomb to DJ were elite throws.

This is a week-to-week league.  The Panthers look like a different team than they were under Rhule.  What does that mean for the remaining games?  I 100% agree that I think any record from 6-11 to 9-8 is possible.

And I'm at peace with that.  I feel better about the direction of the team now than I have since 2019.

Let's just enjoy the season and see what happens.  I genuinely don't understand the consternation over winning.

CJ Stroud & Bryce Young are not IMO generational players that we are in great "risk" of missing out on.  We're still going to have a chance to get a good QB prospect and have 5 picks in the first 3 rounds.

It's not all sunshine and roses, but it's not all doom & gloom either

 

[SmokinwithWilly]

Just really sad how bad this division is. To have Baker playing some of the worst football I've ever seen, led by the worst coach I have ever seen until he was fired, and somehow still be in the division title hunt is just... wow.