On Monday morning, the Dallas Cowboys had to have thought that if you beat a team 42 points or less, it should count as two victories. Every win feels like it is double in a race for the NFC Playoffs’ top seed and the highly-coveted first round bye. The Cowboys will need all the support they can get to beat the Green Bay Packers, who have two weeks remaining in the regular season.
The No. 2 seed is currently held by the Cowboys. The Cowboys currently hold the No. 2 seed, which they started Week 16. The top four teams on the leaderboard were victorious Sunday. Dallas was joined by the Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and tied for the second-best record. This is one game behind the Packers.
As the season enters Week 17, there is no clear winner. The Cowboys may find themselves in a tie for first place, or even a four-way tie, as they enter Week 17. For the Cowboys, the final seed, what must happen? These are the scenarios for Week 17.
The Cowboys are currently at 11-4. They are tied with the Rams, Buccaneers, and one game behind 12-3 Packers. The Cowboys will play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, their last home game of the regular-season. They were prominently involved in the race to be the top seed , but they have fallen into a terrible three-game losing streak. This leaves them with a playoff spot clinched at 10-5 but still looking for the top seed.
The Buccaneers will be able keep up the pace for the New York Jets for another week, but despite their 4-11 record the Jets have two home wins against AFC playoff-bound Tennessee, and Cincinnati. The Buccaneers were able to beat Carolina despite their many missing pieces, so even a talented Jets team shouldn’t pose any threat.
The Rams would love nothing more than to win in Dallas to give them the AFC West title. They have to travel east to face the desperate Baltimore Ravens who may be able to get Lamar Jackson back this season. It’s hard to believe that the Rams will be able to win this game so late in the season.
The Cowboys are currently at 11-4. They are tied with the Rams, Buccaneers, and one game behind 12-3 Packers. The Cowboys will play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, their last home game of the regular-season. They were prominently involved in the race to be the top seed , but they have fallen into a terrible three-game losing streak. This leaves them with a playoff spot clinched at 10-5 but still looking for the top seed.
The Buccaneers will be able keep up the pace for the New York Jets for another week, but despite their 4-11 record the Jets have two home wins against AFC playoff-bound Tennessee, and Cincinnati. Despite all the missing pieces, the Buccaneers were able to defeat Carolina without any problems. So even a talented Jets team shouldn’t pose much of a threat.
The Rams would love nothing more than to win in Dallas to give them the AFC West title. They have to travel east to face the desperate Baltimore Ravens who may be able to get Lamar Jackson back this season. It’s hard to believe that the Rams will be able to win this game so late in the season.
One scenario could see the Cowboys with both the best conference record and the best conference record and still be the No. 2 seed.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cowboys are currently tied at 11-4. They hold the head-to–head tiebreaker over Cowboys thanks to a Week 1 win that occurred a million years ago. They all count the exact same, so that tiebreaker could be in play.
The tiebreaker advantage is currently held by the Cowboys because the Rams are also 11-4, and have not played either Dallas or Tampa Bay during the regular season. If the teams that are tied don’t have any common games against one another, the tiebreaker moves down a rung to the conference record. This is why Dallas holds the advantage.
The Cowboys could lose the top seed if they tie Tampa Bay with Tampa Bay again. If the Cowboys win 2-0 and the Buccaneers lose both games to Minnesota (on the road), and the Rams lose both to Detroit (on the roads), the Rams split and both Dallas and Tampa Bay would be 13-4 and 12-5 respectively.
This would give the Buccaneers top seed. Dallas would then be moved back to No. 2, the Packers would be dropped to No. 3. The Rams would drop to No. 3 after their loss to Green Bay during the regular season. 4.