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NFL Playoff Picture through Week 12
Here’s what the AFC and NFC playoff pictures look like after Sunday's action:
• NFL Week 12: Catch up on everything you may have missed
AFC
1. New England Patriots(9-2) AFC East leader
2. Denver Broncos (8-3) AFC West leader
3. Cincinnati Bengals (7-3-1) AFC North leader
4. Indianapolis Colts (7-4) AFC South leader
5. Kansas City Chiefs (7-4) Wild-card
6. San Diego Chargers(7-4) Wild-card
In the hunt: Baltimore Ravens (7-4), Pittsburgh Steelers (7-4), Cleveland Browns (7-4), Miami Dolphins (6-5).
Patriots utilize trademark adaptation, versatility to steamroll Lions
As you can see, the wild-card and in-the-hunt designations are pretty fungible; last week, it was the Chiefs and Dolphins who would have been the five- and six-seeds. But a loss to the Broncos pushed Miami into the basement of the hopefuls, while the Steelers and Browns popped up.
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NFC
1. Arizona Cardinals (9-2) NFC West leader
2. Green Bay Packers (8-3) NFC North leader
3. Philadelphia Eagles (8-3) NFC East leader
4. Atlanta Falcons (4-7) NFC South leader
5. Dallas Cowboys (8-3) Wild-card
6. Seattle Seahawks (7-4) Wild-card
In the hunt: Detroit Lions (7-4), San Francisco 49ers (7-4).
The Cardinals have been hot enough that Sunday's 19-3 loss to the Seahawks doesn't throw too much shade on their top-seed aspirations -- at least, for now. But they have to face Seattle again, and there's a slate of brutal NFC West tilts ahead for both teams. With Detroit's blowout loss to the Patriots, the Packers have taken over as the clear leader in the NFC North -- they're looking better these days on defense, and the way Aaron Rodgers is playing of late, it would be foolish to think that the road to the Super Bowl in this conference couldn't go through Titletown. And the Lions are just fighting for oxygen at this point.
Where the NFC gets really interesting is in the battle between the two top teams in the East -- the Eagles rolled over the Titans earlier in the day, and had a little time to enjoy the specter of a real lead in the division before Dallas' come-from-behind victory over the Giants on Sunday night. With both teams at 8-3, Philly has a fractional divisional lead based on a better win percentage in divisional games, but things will turn pretty quickly one way or the other -- these two teams face off on Thanksgiving Day, and then again on Dec. 14.
Meanwhile, someone with a much better record is going to have to travel to play an NFC South "champion" who will probably fall short of a .500 record on the season, and people all over the country will wonder if it's time to reconsider how the playoffs are seeded. And those people will be absolutely right. If the season ended today, the Cowboys would travel to Atlanta to face a four-win team ... as an eight-win team. That's just weird, America.
SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.