Does anyone know the scenarios where the Saints would clinch this week? (1 Viewer)

[max]

The Saints would clinch at least a wild-card spot by

1. beating the Cowboys and

2. Minnesota lose or tie and

3a. having Carolina and Philadelphia both lose or

3b. have the New York Giants and Falcons lose or

4b. have the Eagles and Falcons fall

 

[Saint603]

New Orleans can clinch a playoff berth with:

* a win and Minnesota loss or tie and Carolina loss and Philadelphia loss OR
* a win and Minnesota loss or tie and N.Y. Giants loss and Atlanta loss OR
* a win and Minnesota loss or tie and Philadelphia loss and Atlanta loss

http://sportsline.com/nfl/playoffrace/scenarios

 

[ThibodauxSaint]

So basically we'll know before the game kicks off Sunday night if we can clinch with a win since all those teams in that scenario will have played by the time our game starts.

 

[Saint Matthew]

why is Minnesota a part of each of those scenarios?

 

[Saintsphere]

Because if we lose out and Minnesota wins out, they will make it over us.

 

[ThibodauxSaint]

why is Minnesota a part of each of those scenarios?

I think because if we win and they win they can still catch up to us if we lose out and they win out because the rest of our games are against NFC teams and they would have the same conference record as us so apparently they would have the tiebreaker over us, whatever the next tiebreaker is.

I doubt if I made any sense but it can get confusing trying to explain these playoffs scenerios. That's why its best if we just keep winning and not have to worry about what everyone else is doing.

 

[Super Dad]

There is always some spin like the average weight of the offensive line tie breaker but ESPN.com usually posts clinching cinereous on Wed.

 

[Scott B]

need to pull for Detroit, Tampa Bay, and Washington this week

 

[Saints382]

we really do need the vikes to lose...

i have a feeling the lions will thrash the vikes or at least beat them...that team is very very and very PO'ed.

 

[Father Markus]

need to pull for Detroit, Tampa Bay, and Washington this week

Actually Detroit is the only "Mandatory" one we have to pull for.. not like I'm expectiing help there.

Cause it can go either after that point
Detroit/NYG/TB
Detroit/Washington/TB
Detroit/Carolina/Washington

Any of the three combinations work after we win... so we'll know by 3 PM if we can clinch with a win. (Ironically, Dallas won't know until about 6:30 pm or so).

They want: Washington - Detroit - Chicago - GB - TB

So we've all got common cheering sections (everyone in Dallas and New Orleans wants Detroit to win.)

 

[Super Dad]

The Vikings also benched Johnson last week and do not know who will be the QB between the two backups as of yet!!!!!!

 

[Jackavelli]

i've seen online and on tv that the saints can't clinch this weekend.

 

[SaintsFan83]

Thats impossible. If the vikes and the saints tied with the same record and conference record, we would beat them, our divisional record would be better AND we score WAY more points than they do.

 

[Hoosierdaddee]

All this talk about clinching a playoff spot - the Saints can win the division if:
(I think I got this right)

a) The Saints win all 4 or 3 of the 4 remaining games (finishing 12/4 or 11/5) by having the best division record

b) Finishing 10/6 and tying with Atlanta (Carolina is out by virtue of losing to Atlanta and finishing no better than 9/3) - the Saints win the division regardless as:
a) the Saints beating Carolina would give them a division record of 5/1 vs Atlanta no better than 4/2
b) the Saints losing to Carolina and tying the division record with Atlanta at 4/2, the Saints win the tiebreaker by winning the head to head against Atlanta

If Carolina wins all 4 games (beating the Saints) and finishing tied with the Saints at 10/6 regardless if they beat Atlanta:
a) Carolina wins the division on head to head record (2/0) with a loss to Atlanta, or
b) Carolina wins the division by division record (5/1 vs 4/2) with a win over Atlanta

If all 3 teams end up at 9/7 the Saints can only win the division by beating Carolina, otherwise Carolina wins the division.

If all 3 teams finish 8/8, the winner will be determined by common game record then conference record if:

a) Atlanta beats Carolina and Tampa and all 3 teams finish tied with a divison record of 4/2 - the head to head is not used as The Saints beat Atlanta twice, Atlanta beat Carolina twice and Carolina beat the Saints twice. the division champ would be decided by first the common game tiebreaker.

The Saints have an advantage in the common game tiebreaker by beating Atlanta twice and Philadelphia who Carolina lost to and if Atlanta beats Carolina and Tampa to tie the W/L record at 8/8 and division record at 4/2 they would have had to lose to Philadelphia also.

Finishing 8/8 the Saints would have lost to Carolina twice, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, New York and Washington beating Green Bay, Cleveland, Philaldlphia San Francisco, Tampa twice and Atlanta twice.

Finishing 8/8 Carolina would have lost to Atlanta twice, Cincinnati, Dallas, Minnesota, Washington, Philadelphia, and either Pittsburgh or New York; beating Tampa twice, New Orleans twice, Cleveland, Baltimore, St. Louis, and either Pittsburgh or New York.

For the 8/8 common opponent scenerio Carolina must beat the Saints, lose to Atlanta and can only beat one of the 2 remaining opponents (Pittsburgh or New York):

Atlanta - Carolina L/L Saints W/W - Saints
Tampa - Carolina W/W Saints W/W - even
Dallas - Carolina L Saints L - even
New York - Carolina ? Saints L - ?
Philadelphia - Carolina L Saints W Saints
Washington - Carolina L Saints L - even
Baltimore - Carolina W Saints L - Carolina
Cincinnati - Carolina L Saints L - even
Pittsburgh - Carolina ? Saints L - ?
Cleveland - Carolina W Saints W - even

Carolina would need to beat New Orleans and beat any one of the two remining teams and doing so would tie them with New Orleans in common opponents which would push the tiebreaker to "conference record" which the Saints would win at 7/5 vs Carolina at 6/6.

At 8/8 Carolina can win the division by either:
a) beating Atlanta and the Saints and having a better division record than the Saints (5/1 vs 4/2) or
b) losing to Atlanta and an Atlanta loss to Tampa and tying the Saints with a 4/2 division record but winning the head to head tiebreaker (2/0).

Atlanta can only win the division by having a better W/L record than the Saints and Carolina

The keys to the division for the Saints are:
Saints win at least 3 of the 4 remaining games, or
Saints win at least 2 of the 4 remaining games and Atlanta beats Carolina, or
Saints win 1 conference game and beat Carolina, or
Saints lose all 4 games and Atlanta beats Carolina and Tampa (losing to Philly and Dallas)

Simple enough?