From my perspective, even if there were a solid chance of getting the #2 seed, which is very unlikely btw, I would feel like it was better to finish at #3. Off time doesn't bode well for this team imo and thats probably because of coaching.
Remember what happened after this season's bye week. Garrett's going to a baseball game and the team's looking totally unprepared for the game and going flat on MNF against the Titans, which could have easily ended the season right at that point.
I still think losing to the Packers in the playoffs in 2016 had something to do with that. We had already beaten them in GB that season but in the playoffs Dallas again looked unprepared and came out to that game without almost any adjustments. It was all Dak that kept the team in the game.
The only bad thing I feel about the game against Philly come Sunday is truly this. Dallas played 4 games in 18 days against very tough teams and won all, out of which the last one was the most spectecular. You would expect a team to run out of gas in such a stretch in such a physically dominant sport but they did pretty well. Now they have a 10-day rest and I have my questions, again. Because of what? The coaching. Again. Hopefully I will be wrong this weekend, though.
I don't why it took me so long to get to the main topic (I might well be trying to improve my English, idk) but as for the playoff picture, finishing 3rd might very likely mean playing the Saints should we win the wildcard game. While the Rams have the upperhand, they lost H2H to the Saints and one loss might drop them out of the 1st place. Still don't see this happening but still gotta watch that closely.
Next week, the MNF is huge in terms of making a clearer picture in NFC. If the Hawks win, they almost lock that 5th seed, meaning they are our opponent, which I don't feel very good about. If they lose, they are still in the playoffs since they have a tiebreaker on the Panthers even though they get to play the Chiefs later in the season. Don't see the Panthers, who are in the hunt to sneak in which requires winning out with two games vs. the Saints looming.
After all these, hopefully the Vikes beat the Hawks and thats my prediction;
1- Rams
2-Saints
3-Bears vs 6-Seahawks
4-Cowboys vs 5-Vikings
And then, the Seahawks will beat the Bears and all this talk and urge to escape the Saints is going to be trash.
