In the NFC South race, the Falcons (6-5) are five games behind the streaking Carolina Panthers (11-0) with five games to play.
The Panthers appear headed for a three-peat in the NFC South unless they stumble miserably down the stretch. They’d have to lose all five of their games and the Falcons would have to run the table, which would include beating Carolina twice.
While going 1-5 over their past six games, the Falcons are in control of their own destiny in the wildcard race. But they probably need to sweep the upcoming three-game road swing at Tampa Bay (Dec. 6), at Carolina (Dec. 13) and Jacksonville (Dec. 20).
The Falcons know that, too.
“We can’t just depend on people to keep losing,” Falcons wide receiver Roddy White said. “This (isn’t) last year where we were just waiting on people to lose and we just get it. We have to go out there and win. It don’t feel good when I go home and we’ve lost. That (isn’t) the way you want to go into the playoffs anyway if you make it.”
The Falcons are tied with Seattle, which defeated Pittsburgh, to improve to 6-5. If the playoffs started today, the Seahawks would get the sixth seed because of they have a better conference record.
The Seahawks are 5-4 in the NFC, while the Falcons are 4-4. (Here’s where not going for the win on the 1-yard line is San Francisco comes back to haunt the Falcons.)
“We are still in the hunt for it,” Falcons cornerback Robert Alford said. “As a team, we’re going to take it one game at a time. We are not just going to lay down. We’re going to come out an compete each and every week to come away with victories.”
Here’s a link if you need to review the NFL tie-breaker procedures.
Washington (5-6) leads the Giants (5-6) in the NFC East. The Falcons have the head-to-head tiebreaker over both of them.
Tampa Bay (5-6) and Chicago (5-6) are both one-game back from the Falcons.
The longshot group includes St. Louis (4-7), New Orleans (4-7), Lions (4-7) and Eagles (4-7).
If the playoffs started today, the Panthers (11-0) and Arizona (9-2) would have byes as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds from the NFC.
The Seahawks, as the sixth seed, would open the playoffs on the road against Minnesota (8-3), the No. 3 seed.
Green Bay (7-4), the fifth seed, would play at Washington, the fourth seed.
About the Author
