I'll be honest, I haven't dissected every possible way things could've gone, because I don't have a dog in that fight and have too busy a life outside football right now. Can you illustrate for me, now that the week is over, exactly what impacts calling it a no-contest had on the playoffs? Because I'm not really getting the severity of your argument.
Saints SOS: 146/288 = 0.5069 Titans SOS w Packers L: 146/287 = 0.5087 So imagine adding one win to both (Bengals over Bills) and having them both over 289. It'd be tied at 147/ 289. New tiebreakers have it go to SOV instead of a coin flip. Titans would get the 10 because the Saints won vs the much better teams.
Bills are the #2 seed. Had they won vs Bengals they would have been the 1, lost and been the 3, tie and stayed the 2. Bengals at #3 would have been the #2 with a win and would host a divisional game vs Buffalo. Now what I was saying was assume KC lost. The current seeding would be 1. Buffalo 2. KC 3. Cincy. Had Cincy beat Buffalo it would be. 1. Cincy 2. Buffalo 3. KC. However despite that anomoly, they refused to give Cincy a neutral AFCCG vs Buffalo. Also no divisional round neutral games despite the Bengals being even with Buffalo had they won their cancelled game. But had the Ravens won this week they said they'd flip a coin instead of giving Cincy the home game (as they are doing for Buffalo in the divisional round or the hypothetical AFCCG that can no longer happen since the Chiefs won).
Dolphins got really, really lucky. Did anyone catch the end of the game? The game was tied when the Jets were called for a horse collar tackle that looked to me like an atrocious call. That gave Miami a first down and 15 yards on their way to kicking the game-winning 50-yard field goal with 18 seconds remaining. (Jets tried for a Cal-Stanford finish that resulted in a safety.)
He's talking about the draft order. Not playing the game will impact the winning percentages (and to a lesser degree, strength of schedule) as those two teams have different total numbers of games from the other teams. That will have an effect on the draft order in April.
Ridder is getting better from game to game. Falcons appear to have their starting QB for next year. Bucs sat some guys (mainly on offense), but Ridder still threw the ball with velocity and for the most part with accuracy. His first two deep balls were a bit off, but the next two were on target. The bummer on the first one is that an obvious pass interference went uncalled. The same thing happened on his only deep attempt last week against the Cardinals, so that was two straight long throws that counted as incompletions against him but should have been no play and 85 yards gained for the team. Allgeier is a beast and became only the second Falcons rookie to rush for 1000+ yards. Drake London had a strong performance and it was obvious that he and Ridder already have good timing/chemistry. Atlanta fans have a lot to look forward to next season.
One twist about Atlanta's final scoring drive... it took the game out to a two-score Atlanta lead (30-17), and Tampa mailed it in with their third string QB getting his first NFL snaps in garbage time. If the game had ended with a one-score lead, Atlanta would have tied the record with 14 one-score games in a season. Atlanta went 5-8 in one-score games this season and 2-2 in games decided by more than 8 points. That's something else Falcons fans should appreciate. The over-under on their season was 4.5 wins, and they entered the season with the most dead money in NFL history (Chicago passed them with their mid-season fire sale). But they still managed to go 7-10, and 8 of those 10 losses were close games. They were competitive almost every week. And next year they get a hellacious amount of cap space back. Kyle Pitts, Ta'Quon Graham and others will be back from IR, and they have a solid young core. Something you don't see every day: the QB, top receiver and top RB for the end of the season are all rookies.
And to clarify the original post... Philadelphia gets the 10th pick, not the 10th seed. Also, the pick in question is New Orleans' first round pick, which they traded to the Eagles last year. Kinda wild that Atlanta, Carolina and New Orleans ended with consecutive draft positions.
The Falcons only dropped 1 spot in the 1st round with their win, but they dropped 6 spots in the 2nd, 5 in the 3rd and 4 in the 4th.
Totally worth it to send Tampa into the postseason with a losing record. Especially after Jerome Boger gift-wrapped the earlier game in Tampa for that douchebag Brady by ignoring a personal foul committed by Brady (kicking Grady Jarrett) on the same play where he personally flagged Jarrett for one of the worst roughing the passer miscalls of the season. Can't wait to see Tampa lose in the playoffs. Unfortunately they ended the season on a serious hot streak, so they might be the team that no one wants to face for the next two or three weeks.
I have a feeling it will be easier to find people to rep the Bears in this year's mock drafts than it was last year...
It will be nice when all the trash from the NFCE and the AFCE is dumped into the dumpster. The Bengals will dispose of the Bills and the 49ers will dispose of the eagles
Sunday Night Football: Lions beat Packers, giving Seahawks’ final playoff berth The Seahawks are headed to the postseason, and they owe the Lions for that. Detroit upset Green Bay 20-16, knocking the Packers out of the playoffs. The Seahawks earlier eliminated the Lions. Jamaal Williams had two touchdown runs, his 16th and 17th of the season, and Kerby Joseph had his third interception of Aaron Rodgers this season as the Lions swept the Packers. Detroit finishes its season 9-8, one game better than the Packers, and with its first winning record since 2017. The Lions talked all week about wanting to earn the respect of Rodgers and the Packers, no matter what happened earlier in the day in Seattle. They did that and won the appreciation of the Seahawks. Joseph, a rookie safety, made three of his four interceptions this season against Rodgers. He had another overturned by a hands to the face penalty on teammate John Cominsky in the third quarter. His 23-yard interception return to the Green Bay 45 on a deep pass intended for Christian Watson came with 3:27 remaining. The Packers never saw the ball again. The aggressiveness of Dan Campbell and play calling of Ben Johnson ran out the clock. Lions tight end James Mitchell‘s holding penalty with 2:12 left looked like it might get Rodgers another chance. But on second-and-17 from the Green Bay 31, Jared Goff threw a short pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who lateraled to D'Andre Swift. It went for 14 yards. The Lions came up a yard short of the first down on a third down run by Williams, but they went for it instead of kicking the field goal to give them a touchdown lead, and Goff hit DJ Chark for a 9-yard gain and a first down. Goff went 23-of-34 for 224 yards, and Williams went for 72 yards on 16 carries. Rodgers was 17-of-27 for 205 yards with a touchdown and an interception and now faces questions about whether he will retire. PFT