Week 15 Arizona clinching scenarios

[TheCardinal]

For WEEK 15, here is what I've got:

The Cardinals can clinch the NFC West with:
ARI win/tie vs PHI
OR
SEA loss/tie vs CLE
OR
CIN over SF + NO over DET + DEN over PIT + NYJ over DAL

The Cardinals can clinch a first-round bye with:
ARI over PHI + OAK over GB

The Cardinals stay alive for the 1-seed with:
ARI over PHI
OR
NYG over CRL

 

[Dude]

I just want the division won next week and over.

 

[TheCardinal]

As for the SOV tie-breaker with SEA, we picked up two "points" in Week 14, needing just FOUR of the remaining TWELVE (CIN/NO wins, PIT/DAL losses) to clinch.

Also, with the Panthers' victory, there is no longer a chance for a three-way tie-breaker involving the Cardinals. Division ties are broken first, and the division winners are in a separate pool from the wild-card teams. So, if the Cardinals win the West at 11-5, and the Vikings and Packers both go 11-5, the Vikings win the North and the Cardinals are the two-seed on h2h over Minnesota.

In tie-breakers:
- Arizona beats Carolina (conference record)
- Arizona beats Minnesota (head-to-head)
- ARI/SEA comes down to strength-of-victory (as outlined previously)
- Green Bay beats Arizona. . . unless their game ends in a draw, with both teams finishing 11-4-1; then it comes down to strength-of-victory (we have NO/BAL/CLE/CIN/oneSF, they have KC/SD/DAL/OAK/oneMIN, we trail 29 vs 26) -- if we beat GB, then tie-breaker is moot since we then can't finish with the same record

 

[ajcardfan]

For WEEK 15, here is what I've got:

The Cardinals can clinch the NFC West with:
ARI win/tie vs PHI
OR
SEA loss/tie vs CLE
OR
CIN over SF + NO over DET + DEN over PIT + NYJ over DAL

The Cardinals can clinch a first-round bye with:
ARI over PHI + OAK over GB

The Cardinals stay alive for the 1-seed with:
ARI over PHI
OR
NYG over CRL

The Cardinals will still be alive for the one seed even if Carolina wins. Any tie between us and Carolina goes to us because we would have just one NFC loss and they would have two NFC losses.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

The only way the Cards are going to win the division and get #2 seed is to win one more game...the SheHawks are going to enter the WK 17 matchup 10-5...

 

[TheCardinal]

The Cardinals will still be alive for the one seed even if Carolina wins. Any tie between us and Carolina goes to us because we would have just one NFC loss and they would have two NFC losses.

Agreed. I have it as either an ARI win or CRL loss, to stay alive for the 1-seed. If neither happens (with ARI losing and CRL winning), the Panthers would clinch the 1-seed with 14 wins.

 

[juza76]

if we get the first round bye with 2nd seed
and considering seattle will be the team with the best record not winning the division
which team we could face in the second round of the playoff

 

[Azlen]

if we get the first round bye with 2nd seed
and considering seattle will be the team with the best record not winning the division
which team we could face in the second round of the playoff

It depends on who wins the 3 vs 6 game. If we are the 2 then GB is probably the 3 and Minnesota the 6. If GB wins then they would come here and Seattle goes to Carolina. If Minnesota wins then they would go to Carolina and Seattle would come here.

 

[NJCardFan]

I just want the division won next week and over.

Ditto. Let's cross one bridge at a time. Truth is we control our own destiny. As long as we keep winning, nothing else matters.

 

[BillsCarnage]

All the Cards need to is beat GB. That's the only game that matters.

 

[Jim Otis]

Final three games , Beat Philly ---- Beat Green Bay ---- Beat Seattle , let everything else take care of itself .

 

[TheCardinal]

All the Cards need to is beat GB. That's the only game that matters.

Beating Philly and Seattle would accomplish the same thing as it relates to the #2 seed. Or one ARI win and one GB loss (individually, or in the head-to-head opportunity).

Any combination of Cardinals wins and Packers losses adding up to TWO would (almost certainly) give us at least the #2 seed. The only exception to this is if those TWO outcomes are satisfied by two GB losses, but we blow the division lead to Seattle. . . would take a very unlikely twist to lose the strength-of-victory advantage we currently hold.

 

[fatosber]

For WEEK 15, here is what I've got:

The Cardinals can clinch the NFC West with:
ARI win/tie vs PHI
OR
SEA loss/tie vs CLE
OR
CIN over SF + NO over DET + DEN over PIT + NYJ over DAL

The Cardinals can clinch a first-round bye with:
ARI over PHI + OAK over GB

The Cardinals stay alive for the 1-seed with:
ARI over PHI
OR
NYG over CRL

The Philly game scares me. They have just beaten the Pats and Bills in consecutive weeks and are full of confidence. Also, they are fighting for a playoff spot and are in survival mode. That is never a good situation for team to go and play away from home.

On the other hand, I do think Oakland has a legit chance of taking care of Green Bay.

Sunday cannot come soon enough.

 

[BillsCarnage]

Beating Philly and Seattle would accomplish the same thing as it relates to the #2 seed. Or one ARI win and one GB loss (individually, or in the head-to-head opportunity).

Any combination of Cardinals wins and Packers losses adding up to TWO would (almost certainly) give us at least the #2 seed. The only exception to this is if those TWO outcomes are satisfied by two GB losses, but we blow the division lead to Seattle. . . would take a very unlikely twist to lose the strength-of-victory advantage we currently hold.

But there's no reason to be concerned with any of that if the Cards own the head to head with GB. Beating GB both wins the division(12wins) and tie breaker over the Pack - GB would have 5 loses too.

GB is the most important game left.

 

[jw7]

The Cardinals will still be alive for the one seed even if Carolina wins. Any tie between us and Carolina goes to us because we would have just one NFC loss and they would have two NFC losses.

Where did you get that from? Carolina is undefeated. And their final games are all against teams with losing records.

 

[Azlen]

Where did you get that from? Carolina is undefeated. And their final games are all against teams with losing records.

It's unlikely but if Carolina goes 1-2 in their final 3 and the Cards go 3-0 then the Cardinals would be the number 1 seed based on their conference records so even if Carolina wins next week and the Cards also win, they still wouldn't have clinched the top seed yet.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

All the Cards need to is beat GB. That's the only game that matters.

Only one more win matters...doesn't matter who...I hope they just beat Philky and end the drama, but that wouldn't be the Cardinal way.

 

[Azlen]

Only one more win matters...doesn't matter who...I hope they just beat Philky and end the drama, but that wouldn't be the Cardinal way.

That's to win the NFC West. They need a combination two wins or GB losses to get the bye.

 

[ajcardfan]

Where did you get that from? Carolina is undefeated. And their final games are all against teams with losing records.

I was talking about if we wound up tied with Carolina. How we wind up tied doesn't matter. But, if we did we would have the tiebreaker based on NFC record. All of their remaining games are against NFC teams. See, that meltdown against Landry Jones in the Pitt game might work out for playoff seeding after all!

 

[OKCardFan]

Beating Philly and Seattle would accomplish the same thing as it relates to the #2 seed. Or one ARI win and one GB loss (individually, or in the head-to-head opportunity).

Any combination of Cardinals wins and Packers losses adding up to TWO would (almost certainly) give us at least the #2 seed. The only exception to this is if those TWO outcomes are satisfied by two GB losses, but we blow the division lead to Seattle. . . would take a very unlikely twist to lose the strength-of-victory advantage we currently hold.

The Philly game scares me. They have just beaten the Pats and Bills in consecutive weeks and are full of confidence. Also, they are fighting for a playoff spot and are in survival mode. That is never a good situation for team to go and play away from home...

Yeah, the Philly game is scary. If we lose to Philly and Green Bay wins out (with cheeseheads smelling up UoP ), then GB wins the #2 seed. The Seattle game could only be for the #3 seed.

Love your playoff clinching scenario write-up, BTW, TheCardinal.

...See, that meltdown against Landry Jones in the Pitt game might work out for playoff seeding after all!

And the HOME loss to the Rams! Just shows that EVERY game is important. One game at a time. Next - PHILADELPHIA.