Time for a bit of a midseason look at how the playoff picture looks. We'll start with the AFC East. The Patriots and Bills both seem likely to make the playoffs. The Patriots are 8-1 with some pretty tough games remaining (Eagles, Cowboys, Texans, Chiefs, Bengals, Bills, Dolphins) while the Bills are 6-2 with a much easier schedule ahead of them (Browns, Dolphins, Broncos, Cowboys, Ravens, Steelers, Patriots, Jets.) You could make a very good argument for the Bills to end up 11-5 or 12-4. The Patriots are likely to end up in that same range also. It's likely one or the other will be a wildcard team in the playoffs.
In the AFC North, it looks like the Ravens should win pretty easily and no wildcard team is likely to emerge. The Browns have arguably the most talent, but are playing horribly. I expect the Ravens to be the only AFC North team in the playoffs. The Steelers could sneak in, but it would take something of a miracle.
The AFC South has the Texans playing very well and currently leading followed closely by the Colts. I expect one of them to be the second wildcard team in the playoffs on the AFC side. Which one will win the South and which one will be the wildcard is up in the air, but that's how things look right now. The Jags or Titans could get hot and sneak in, more likely the Jags, but right now it looks like the Texans and Colts will dominate.
The AFC West is clearly the Chiefs unless they implode in a big way. I don't see that happening. Jon Gruden's done a good job of making the Raiders respectable again. I don't think they have enough this year, but next year they could be a playoff-caliber team.
So I see the AFC playoff teams being the Patriots, Bills, Ravens, Texans, Colts, and Chiefs. On to the NFC where the picture is a bit cloudier.
We'll start with the NFC East. The Eagles and Cowboys are the clear favorites for the NFC East. I expect that to stay ****** and tuck up to the last week of the season. The Eagles schedule (Patriots, Seahawks, Dolphins, Giants, Redskins, Cowboys, and Giants) isn't terribly daunting. The Patriots, Seahawks, and Dallas games are all in Philly. If the Eagles can win two of those three they'll likely finish out with six more wins putting them at 11-5. The Cowboys schedule (Giants, Vikings, Lions, Patriots, Bills, Bears, Rams, Eagles, Redskins) is a little more daunting depending on how the Lions, Rams and Bears are playing at the time. The only really easy appearing wins would be the Giants and Redskins. If they split the games with the Vikings, Lions, Patriots, Rams, Eagles, and Bears that would give them five wins and leave them at 9-7. I don't expect a wildcard team to emerge from the NFC East, but it could happen.
In the NFC North, the Packers and Vikings are leading the way and I would expect one to win and the other to be a wild card. The Packers schedule (Panthers, Niners, Giant, Redskins, Bears, Vikings, Lions) has some testers in it. There are two games that should be sure wins (Giants, Redskins) but the rest are iffy. If they go 3-2 in the other five games they'd end up with five total wins over the last few games and finish at 12-4. The Vikings schedule (Cowboys, Broncos, Seahawks, Lions, Chargers, Packers, Bears) only really has one seemingly easy game (Broncos). If they split the rest and get a total of four more wins they'd be at 10-6.
In the NFC South, the Saints are the clear favorite. The Panthers are hanging in there for now, but I don't see them catching the Saints. The Saints schedule (Falcons, Bucs, Panthers, Falcons, Niners, Colts, Titans, Panthers) has three likely sure thing wins against the Falcons twice (who are still playing to get Dan Quinn fired) and Bucs. If they get three wins out of their games with the Colts, Panthers (twice), Niners and Titans with those three "sure thing" wins they'd end up at 13-3. The Panthers schedule (Packers, Falcons, Saints, Redskins, Falcons, Seahawks, Colts, Saints) is a bit tougher with likely wins against the Falcons (twice) and Redskins. If they win two of the five games against the Saints (twice), Packers, Seahawks, and Colts they'd get a total of five more wins to put them at 10-6 and on the cusp of the playoffs and maybe a wildcard.
The NFC West is a mess. The Niners are out in front at 8-0, but Seattle is right behind them at 7-2. The Rams aren't out of things yet at 5-3 either. The Niners schedule (Seahawks, Cards, Packers, Ravens, Saints, Falcons, Rams, Seahawks) will test them a lot. The Falcons game is the only "easy" game on their remaining schedule. They should also beat the Cards, but the Cards are playing decent football right now. The Seahawk's schedule (Niners, Eagles, Vikings, Rams, Panthers, Cards, Niners) isn't especially easy either. The Rams remaining schedule (Steelers, Bears, Ravens, Cards, Seahawks, Cowboys Niners, Cards) has few easy wins either. Good luck predicting who emerges from this scrum with the NFC West title. Two of the teams could end up around the 11-5 mark while a third ends up 12-4. The Rams should have four wins (Steelers, Bears, Cards twice) which would put them at nine wins. If they split the games against the Ravens Seahawks, Cowboys and Niners they'd end up with eleven wins. If the Niners win just three of their remaining games they'd also be around 11-5. If the Seahawks win four of their final games they'd be at 11-5 also. It's not impossible that we'd see both wildcard teams emerge from the NFC West.
The NFC playoff picture is a lot fuzzier than the AFC one. We know which teams clearly won't be in the playoffs barring a miracle or two (Redskins, Giants, Lions, Bears, Bucs, Falcons, Cards) but the rest of the picture is a lot fuzzier than it is on the AFC side.
The Eagles need to find a way to get more production from their wide receivers if we're going to do much this year. I'm not sure we won't see some roster moves there during the bye week. DeSean Jackson was only able to play a few plays in the Bears game before his abdominal injury flared up again. I suspect he's heading to the IR for surgery and a nice long off-season rehab.
Alshon Jeffery has gotten the yips and isn't catching the ball well with three drops in yesterday's game and a near drop on a crucial third down. Nelson Agholor is playing awful this year and our third guy, the kid Mack Hollins has done nothing despite playing lots of snaps. In nine games Hollins has ten catches for 125 yards. JJ Arcega-Whiteside was our rookie this year and he's got two, count'em one, two catches for all of 14 yards this year. He had a great preseason but has disappeared once the season started.
The coaching staff seems to be babying JJ Arcega-Whiteside and not giving him opportunities, but given the output of the rest of the receivers, it might be time to take off the training wheels and get him on the field. Greg Ward (on the practice squad) and Marken Michel (a free agent currently) both had good training camps and couldn't be much worse than what we've got on the field now. We've got almost two weeks before the next game. It might be time to shake things up a bit in the receiver corps.
Wide receiver looked like a strength coming out of camp but injuries and just horrible play has made it into a pressing concern. So much so, that bringing in Antonio Brown is starting to look like a not so bad idea. Defenses are largely ignoring the Eagles wide receivers and double covering the tight ends and even using a corner or safety to cover Miles Sanders coming out fo the backfield. They're more or less assuming our wide receivers can't hurt them and they're right.
We've got to get that fixed. The guys on the roster now aren't getting the job done. A guy who's arguably the best wide receiver in football is sitting out there in Antonio Brown. He'd be an instant upgrade, but he's also a cancer who's been cut twice already this year. Do you take a chance on him? Jeez. I just don't know, but something has to be done. Adding AB would definitely improve the talent level, but the negatives of AB are huge also. We'll have to see what happens over the coming days, but I expect a roster move or two to take place at receiver.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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