Playoff Tiebreaking Procedures

[JoeyBoy718]

Yeah by winning at Chicago we're kind of in a win-win situation concerning the Philly-Seattle game. If Philly wins we jump back over Seattle. If Seattle wins we are tied with Philly again with another chance to take control of the division. We need to just win at Chicago and take care of our business.

Good point. Beating Chicago is a must. But I'm starting to question if it will happen.

 

[mldardy]

Good point. Beating Chicago is a must. But I'm starting to question if it will happen.

I have a good feeling about that game. Chicago has a lot of problems internally and that carries out on the field. They also aren't explosive as much as people are making them out to be. They haven't reached 30 points once this year. I feel like we will bounce back strongly after a loss like this.

 

[Alexander]

They haven't reached 30 points once this year.

Our defense is weak enough to cure whatever ails them. Regardless of how little they score, they still have a dangerous player in Forte and if Riley Cooper can challenge our DBs, I think Marshall and Jeffery will be okay.

The run game has to get back on track and they need to keep the defense off the field. Simple as that.

 

[rcaldw]

My concern is that its not that Chicago CAN'T its that they HAVEN'T. You still have a pretty good RB, QB, and WR. All it takes is one game. Lately, it has been the pattern of our defense to give the other offense that one game.

 

[mldardy]

Our defense is weak enough to cure whatever ails them. Regardless of how little they score, they still have a dangerous player in Forte and if Riley Cooper can challenge our DBs, I think Marshall and Jeffery will be okay.

The run game has to get back on track and they need to keep the defense off the field. Simple as that.

Our defense isn't that weak. We don't give 30+ points that often this year. I think once and that was yesterday and I know what you are going to say the Rams did it too but one of their TD's was a defensive TD.

 

[mldardy]

My concern is that its not that Chicago CAN'T its that they HAVEN'T. You still have a pretty good RB, QB, and WR. All it takes is one game. Lately, it has been the pattern of our defense to give the other offense that one game.

You are giving the Bears way too much credit and you aren't giving us enough. Like I said our defense hasn't been lit up until yesterday and when we made the adjustments it stopped. The Bears have a lot of problems that we don't have. We came out flat yesterday. I don't expect that to happen with what is on the line next week.

 

[cowboyblue22]

the bears are out of contention so they will play there super bowl to knock the cowboys out of the playoffs.No way dallas wins that game
don't worry about playoff tie breaking procedures because dallas wont be in them .

 

[mldardy]

the bears are out of contention so they will play there super bowl to knock the cowboys out of the playoffs.No way dallas wins that game
don't worry about playoff tie breaking procedures because dallas wont be in them .

No way win that game. Wow ok. Then why are you here then since the season is over.

 

[cowboys1981]

No way Philly loses to Washington or NY, they will mop both of those teams up now that McCoy is running well. Our best bet is the wildcard.

Anything can happen. It'll be interesting to see them contend with Beckham.

 

[rcaldw]

Interesting scenario will be if Dallas beats Chicago and Philly loses to Seattle. Then we are both 9-4 heading into the showdown in Philly. If we win out (not saying we will, saying if we do) we win the division.

 

[Zman5]

Chicago has something like 16 ex-Cowboys players/coaches on the team. I'm sure they'll be hyped up to play us in a prime time game.

 

[Tenkamenin]

Anything can happen. It'll be interesting to see them contend with Beckham.

Don't forget that Eli is throwing the ball.

 

[Alexander]

Chicago has something like 16 ex-Cowboys players/coaches on the team. I'm sure they'll be hyped up to play us in a prime time game.

Thinking the same way. The only thing that might stop that is if Trestman has lost the team. They have been sputtering offensively for quite some time and if they do not feel particularly inclined to play hard to save his job, that might be in Dallas' favor.

 

[cowboys1981]

Don't forget that Eli is throwing the ball.

Yup and he can still make plays for both teams.

 

[mldardy]

Thinking the same way. The only thing that might stop that is if Trestman has lost the team. They have been sputtering offensively for quite some time and if they do not feel particularly inclined to play hard to save his job, that might be in Dallas' favor.

Well what does it matter. We aren't making the playoffs anyway according to you.

 

[dallasfan4lizife]

We have to go 11-5 to get in. I honestly can't comprehend a situation where dallas, seattle, detroit, greenbay, philli, and arizona all have a record of 11-5 and over, can you?

10-6 will more than likely not be enough to get in, especially if we lose tiebreak to seattle and detroit. Seattle OR Detroit will not go 1-3 in their last 4 games to finish 9-7. Dallas on the other hand, 1-3 in December is on par for most other years...what a jelly spined team.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

We have to finish with a better record than the loser of the NFC North or the loser of the NFC West in order to win the wild card. Our conference record is bad (5-4 and still have to play Philly, Chicago and Washington) compared to theirs (6-2). We seem to do well in the games that matter the least. He's the order of importance of games (followed by our record):

Most important: Division games (we are 2-2)
Next important: Conference games (we are 5-4)
Least important: AFC games (we are 3-0)

The Eagles are 3-0 in the division and 5-3 in the conference. Even if we beat them in the rematch, they'd still have a better division record than us. We'd need to beat them in the rematch and have them lose to the Giants or Commanders. That would give us both 2 division losses but it would give them 5 conference losses. Then we'd have to win the remaining conference games (we could afford to drop one to the Colts). That's a big IF. I don't see Philly losing 2 of their final 3 division games. Like people in other threads have said, our best shot at winning the division is Philly losing to Seattle, us beating Philly, and us winning the remainder of our games. That would give us a better record than Philly. But I don't know if I see us winning 4 in a row.

That leaves the wild card. We're currently tied with Detroit and Seattle but we rank 7th in the conference because those two teams have a better conference record than us (both 6-2). We do own the head-to-head tie breaker over Seattle, but that doesn't apply if there are other teams tied with us. It would be impossible to be tied with both those teams and win the tie breaker (since they'd need to lose two more conference games to match our 4 losses, but then if we lost two more games we'd have at least 5 conference losses). That means we need to finish tied with Seattle and no one else, OR we need to finish with a better record than one of the other wild card teams. We also have to hope Arizona doesn't slip and let Seattle take the division, because Arizona owns the tie breaker against us.

Lions play the Bucs, Vikings, Bears and Packers. The only team they wouldn't be favored to beat is the Packers.
Seahawks play the Eagles, 49ers, Cardinals and Rams. There are 3 loseable games on their schedule.
Cardinals are 7-1 in the conference and play the Falcons, Chiefs, Rams, Seahawks and 49ers.

Our best bet is to hope the Cardinals hang on and win the division. They beat us in the head-to-head and they're too ahead in conference wins for us to possibly be able to finish tied with them and win the tie breaker. Same goes for Detroit and Seattle. We need to finish better than one of them or finish tied with only Seattle to have a shot. At the moment, we need too many lucky breaks to get into the playoffs. For the first team all season, we no longer control our own destiny.

 

[mldardy]

We have to finish with a better record than the loser of the NFC North or the loser of the NFC West in order to win the wild card. Our conference record is bad (5-4 and still have to play Philly, Chicago and Washington) compared to theirs (6-2). We seem to do well in the games that matter the least. He's the order of importance of games (followed by our record):

Most important: Division games (we are 2-2)
Next important: Conference games (we are 5-4)
Least important: AFC games (we are 3-0)

The Eagles are 3-0 in the division and 5-3 in the conference. Even if we beat them in the rematch, they'd still have a better division record than us. We'd need to beat them in the rematch and have them lose to the Giants or Commanders. That would give us both 2 division losses but it would give them 5 conference losses. Then we'd have to win the remaining conference games (we could afford to drop one to the Colts). That's a big IF. I don't see Philly losing 2 of their final 3 division games. Like people in other threads have said, our best shot at winning the division is Philly losing to Seattle, us beating Philly, and us winning the remainder of our games. That would give us a better record than Philly. But I don't know if I see us winning 4 in a row.

That leaves the wild card. We're currently tied with Detroit and Seattle but we rank 7th in the conference because those two teams have a better conference record than us (both 6-2). We do own the head-to-head tie breaker over Seattle, but that doesn't apply if there are other teams tied with us. It would be impossible to be tied with both those teams and win the tie breaker (since they'd need to lose two more conference games to match our 4 losses, but then if we lost two more games we'd have at least 5 conference losses). That means we need to finish tied with Seattle and no one else, OR we need to finish with a better record than one of the other wild card teams. We also have to hope Arizona doesn't slip and let Seattle take the division, because Arizona own the tie breaker against us.

Lions play the Bucs, Vikings, Bears and Packers. The only team they wouldn't be favored to beat is the Packers.
Seahawks play the Eagles, 49ers, Cardinals and Rams. There are 3 loseable games on their schedule.
Cardinals are 7-1 in the conference and play the Falcons, Chiefs, Rams, Seahawks and 49ers.

Our best bet is to hope the Cardinals hang on and win the division. They beat us in the head-to-head and they're too ahead in conference wins for us to possibly be able to finish tied with them and win the tie breaker. Same goes for Detroit and Seattle. We need to finish than one of them or finish tied with only Seattle to have a shot. At the moment, we need to many lucky breaks to get into the playoffs. For the first team all season, we no longer control our own destiny.

To clear up one thing they could also lose to Seattle as well. If we beat them we would be a full game ahead of them.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

To clear up one thing they could also lose to Seattle as well. If we beat them we would be a full game ahead of them.

I know. I said that later in the paragraph. The only way we could finish tied with Philly and win the tie breaker is if they also lose to NY or Wash. Our best bet is to have them lose to Seattle and us.

 

[mldardy]

I know. I said that later in the paragraph. The only way we could finish tied with Philly and win the tie breaker is if they also lose to NY or Wash. Our best bet is to have them lose to Seattle and us.

I'm trying to take things one week at a time but I would love for both us and Philly to be 9-4 headed into that Sunday Night matchup as basically a do over. I feel like if we get another opportunity with them under that scenario we would be more than ready to take back the division. This is why I don't understand why everyone is ready to quit on this season. Things can change very quickly in this league.