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All three games today will impact the NFC playoff race.
Happy Thanksgiving! Today, we get three NFL games and all three affect the NFC playoff picture. The Arizona Cardinals are barely in the picture right now but these three games impact seeding and potential playoff berths.
If the Cardinals can get hot, there is the slightest chance.
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The Cardinals are virtually eliminated from division contention and things look bleak for the wild card.
The Arizona Cardinals have greatly complicated their playoff chances. With their 38-10 loss Monday night to the San Francisco 49ers, they now have lost tiebreakers to two teams in their division.
The 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks are both 6-4 currently. The 49ers currently are the division leaders with a head-to-head tiebreaker over Seattle.
Both Seattle and San Francisco hold tiebreakers over the Cardinals.
Seattle beat the Cardinals twice this season already, so they hold a head-to-head tiebreaker.
With the 49ers’ win over the Cardinals Monday night, while the two teams will play again in Week 18 and the Cardinals could still beat them, but because the 49ers are 4-0 in division games and the Cardinals are 1-4, the 49ers already hold a divisional record tiebreaker.
So when it comes to both the division race and the wild-card race, as both Seattle and San Fran are both in the NFC top seven, it will take an extraordinary turnaround for Arizona and a colossal collapse by either team for the Cardinals to overtake them.
If they wish to finish ahead of either team, the Cardinals must win three more games in their final six than either the Seahawks or 49ers do in their final seven.
What does that look like? It would mean that if the Cardin als were to go 5-1 in their final six games, the Seahawks and 49ers would have to go no better than 2-5 in their final seven games.
It means that there is almost no chance for the Cardinals to get themselves out of the hole they began the year making. They are virtually eliminated from the division race and have badly hurt their chances for a wild card berth.
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The Cardinals, now 4-7, are two wins behind the Seahawks, who are the No. 7 seed in the NFC right now.
The Arizona Cardinals lost their game on Monday night 38-10 to the San Francisco 49ers, pushing them back in the NFC playoff race. They are now 4-7 and 12th in the conference.
They are one of the three teams that are 4-7, the others being the Packers and the Saints.
The Seattle Seahawks are the No. 7 seed currently, sitting at 6-4.
The Washington Commanders are next at 6-5, followed by the 5-6 Falcons and 4-6 Lions.
The Packers are ahead of the Cardinals in 11th place with a better conference record, but the Cardinals hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Saints.
What will be difficult to do will be to overtake the Seahawks if they maintain the No. 7 seed. As Seattle beat the Cardinals twice this season, they hold a head-to-head tiebreaker, so if the Cardinals want to get ahead of the Seahawks, they must finish with a better record.
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We take a look at the NFC playoff picture and how tight everything is for the wild card spots.
We are at the stage of the NFL season when we can start looking at the playoff picture. In the NFC, the final wild card spot and last place in the conference is separated by two wins, so no team is really eliminated yet.
The Arizona Cardinals, picking up a 27-17 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 10, moved up from 13th in the conference to 11th, but they have the same record as the Packers and Falcons, who are the 9th and 10th seeds, respectively.
Let’s take a look at the current NFC playoff picture and what is coming up in Week 11.
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The Cardinals can finish as either the No. 2 seed, the No. 3 seed or the No. 5 seed.
The Arizona Cardinals have clinched a playoff berth this year and will be playing in the wild card round of the postseason. However, where they will play and against whom has yet to be determined.
Depending on how things play out in Week 18, the Cardinals could be the No. 2 seed, the No. 3 seed or the No. 5 seed.
Let’s look at how the different scenarios are possible.
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A look at the current NFC West standings, what happened in Week 17 and what is coming up in Week 18, including a look at the playoff race.
We enter the final week of the regular season and the entire NFC West won in Week 17. Two teams have clinched postseason berths, another is in contention and the division title is still up for grabs.
Here are the division standings are 17 weeks.
What happened in Week 17 and what is coming up in Week 18? We go over each team’s situation below.
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There is only one playoff spot up for grabs in the NFC entering the final week of the regular season.
There is only one spot remaining in the NFC playoffs and the top seed has been determined. The Green Bay Packers clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC, a playoff bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a 37-10 home win over the Minnesota Vikings to improve to 13-3.
The Philadelphia Eagles also clinched a playoff berth. The final spot will come down to the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints.
This is what the playoff standings look like entering Week 18.
The New Orleans Saints are still alive in Week 18 at 8-8.
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The NFC West will come down to the Cardinals or the Rams and will depend on their respective games in Week 18.
The NFC West is still up for grabs entering the final week of the season. The Los Angeles Rams hold a one-game lead over the Arizona Cardinals.
The Rams are 12-4 and the Cardinals are 11-5 but either team can win the division and host a playoff game in the wild card round of the postseason.
The Rams will clinch the division with a win in Week 18 over the San Francisco 49ers at home. The 49ers have won the last five matchups between the two teams.
The 49ers are hungry as well. They need a win in Week 18 to clinch a playoff berth.
The Cardinals, who led the NFC West pretty much the entire season until Week 16, can earn the division title if they beat the Seattle Seahawks at home in Week 18 and the 49ers beat the Rams.
That result would make both teams 12-5 but the Cardinals would own a divisional tiebreaker, having gone 5-1 in the division.
Both teams kick off at the same time at 4:25 p.m. ET in Week 18.
So Cardinals fans happen to be 49ers fans for a week as they hope Arizona can rally in the final week and reclaim the division lead they had almost all year.
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If the Cardinals lose and the Rams win this weekend, L.A. will have clinched the NFC West title.
The Arizona Cardinals led the NFC West for basically the entire season until last week. After three straight losses and four Rams wins in a row, the Cardinals now trail by a game.
The Rams can actually clinch the division with a week left in the regular season.
They have two scenarios to clinch.
The Rams will win the NFC West if they beat the Baltimore Ravens this weekend and the Cardinals lose their game to the Dallas Cowboys or if the game ends in a tie.
The Rams also win if they tie with the Ravens and the Cardinals lose.
If the Rams lose and the Cardinals win, Arizona will actually retake the division lead. Both teams would be 11-5 but the Cardinals would hold the divisional tiebreak, leading to a season finale where the division is on the line.
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Check out the latest edition of the show breaking down all that is going on with the Arizona Cardinals. It’s the best hour of Cardinals talk on the Web.
The Arizona Cardinals have clinched a spot in the NFL playoffs and the latest edition of the podcast talks about it. With Seth Cox away for the holidays, Revenge of the Birds podcast host Blake Murphy joined me on the show to talk about all that has been going on with the Cardinals.
We recorded the show on Tuesday night after the news of the passing of John Madden, so we began the show reminiscing about Madden from each of our perspectives. I, many years old than Blake, still remember his broadcaster days.
After that, we talk about how the Cardinals made the playoffs and whether it mattered. Did they back in? We break down the loss to the Colts, discuss what has to change in the final two games of the regular season, go over how the Cardinals can still win the division and then preview their Week 17 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
A big thanks to Blake for stepping in. Enjoy the show!
Enjoy the show with the embedded player above or by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform, so you never miss a show. Make sure as well to give it a five-star rating!
Here are the timestamps for our different topics of the show.
(1:00) Intros and remembering John Madden
(6:54) Does it matter how the Cardinals made the postseason?
(18:32) What happened against the Colts?
(34:47) What do the Cardinals need to change in the final two games of the regular season?
(41:55) How can the Cardinals still win the NFC West?
(48:00) Cardinals-Cowboys preview and predictions
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