The Playoff Race - What to Expect for Week 15

By Dustin Ehle (@ICRMON on Twitter)

Here it is - one of the best times in the NFL season!  It's now the few weeks before the playoffs when every team is fighting and scraping for those final playoffs spots.  Which teams will continue to rise this which and which teams will falter?  Let's take a look.

NFC

Wild Card leader Carolina missed a HUGE opportunity this week to take control of the NFC South with a harsh loss to the Saints.  The 49ers, on the other hand, had a big time victory over the “unstoppable” Seahawks (just take them away from their home earthquake generating stadium and they are beatable).  The Cardinals also had a statement win against the Rams, controlling the entire game.  So what's in store for the wild card race this week?


The Panthers play at host to the Jets. While the Jets offense seemed to be clicking last week, I think Carolina has a turnaround after their humiliating loss in New Orleans and shows the critics that they still are for real.

San Francisco travels to Tampa Bay to take on the Bucs.  While the Bucs beat the Bills last week, they did so with Mike Glennon going 9 of 25 passing.  That won't cut it against the 49ers, so I think the 49ers should keep pace with Carolina.

As for the Cardinals, they travel to Tennessee.  This could be a trap game for the Cards, who have been playing much better football recently.  Yet, the Titans have been so hard to predict this year, and the Cardinals defense is looking scary.  Plus the Palmer/Fitzgerald combination is finally starting to work, so I think the Cardinals can win as well this week, thus keeping the wild card race pretty much the same.

The NFC East and NFC North are even more intriguing.  It's fairly apparent that only the division winners from these divisions will reach the postseason (the other wild card teams are just too good).  The Eagles sit alone atop the NFC East since the Cowboys lost this week.  They play the Vikings this week, which could be interesting because the Vikings have been competitive in their last three.  However, the Eagles are on fire (5 straight wins) and should take care of business.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, are far more uncertain.  It really depends on whether Aaron Rodgers will finally come back from his collar bone injury.  If he does, Dallas is toast after giving up 4 TD passes to Josh McCown.  However, with Matt Flynn playing, I think the Cowboys have enough to pull out the victory.  So the NFC East race will remain the same this week.

   
For the NFC North, I've already mentioned I believe the Packers will lose, but they are still far from out of it.  The Lions have a tough game against the surging Ravens this week.  The Ravens are pumped after a thrilling victory against the Vikings, and I think they can keep that momentum going against an inconsistent Lions team.  I'm thinking the Lions fall in this one, and lose control of the NFC North, especially since the Bears and playing in Cleveland.  While the Browns did put up a valiant effort against the Patriots, I think the Bears will take care of business and continue to fuel their playoff run.  So after this week, I expect the playoff picture to look as follows:

1.  Seahawks
2.  Saints
3.  Eagles
4.  Bears
5.  Panthers
6.  49ers
7.  Cardinals
8.  Cowboys
9.  Lions


AFC
   
For the AFC, the division winners are pretty much all decided.  You'll have the Patriots, the Bengals, the Colts, and the Broncos representing their respective divisions.  The Chiefs will take the #5 spot easily.  But what about that coveted final wild card slot?  There are several teams vying for it. The leader of the pack is the defending Super Bowl champs, the Baltimore Ravens.  I already mentioned above that I think they can go into Detroit and win, so they'll stay in the wild card slot for this week.  But what about the other teams?  Can they keep pace?

The runner up Miami Dolphins have their work cut out for them this week against the Patriots.  Seriously, the Patriots only seem to play well in one half or the other.  Generally, they win when their better half is the second half, as happened in their last meeting with the Dolphins.  The Dolphins have kept themselves in the race, but I think they fall short this week and thus the Patriots clinch the division.

The Chargers kept themselves alive with a resounding victory against the Giants last week.  This week, they have the daunting task of bringing down the Broncos.  The Broncos are beatable because their defense gives up too many points, but Peyton has never had a good defense and always seems to pull out the regular season wins, so look for the Broncos to win.  And both the Jets and the Titans will lose this week, making the AFC playoff picture after Week 15 as follows (no changes unfortunately):

1.  Broncos
2.  Patriots
3.  Bengals
4.  Colts
5.  Chiefs
6.  Ravens
7.  Dolphins
8.  Chargers