The Matrix: Who Will Play Who

Tandler's Redskins Blog Ver. 12.28.05.1--If you want to know ALL of the NFC playoff possibilities, including who and where the Redskins will play if they make it, you're come to the right place.

The Matrix

NFL.com made a quite useful chart that showed what the playoff seeds will under all possible combinations of results in this weekend’s games with playoff implications. There are five such games and you see them listed in the left half of the chart. Then, going down each column the possible combinations of winners are listed. On the right, there is the playoff seeding that will emerge from those results.

This version of the chart is sorted into the four possible scenarios for the Redskins. In the green section, the Redskins are the division champs (Redskins and Raiders win). In the yellow there are the “win and in” combinations where Washington is a Wild Card (Redskins and Giants win). The orange represents the “back in” sets of circumstances (Eagles and Rams win) and the white is the unthinkable where the Redskins go home (Eagles and Cowboys win).

Winning team listed below						Playoff Seed (Seattle is #1 and Chicago is #2 regardless of results this weekend)
NYG	NO	CAR	WAS	STL		3	4	5	6
at	at	at	at	at
OAK	TB	ATL	PHI	DAL
OAK	TB	CAR	WAS			TB	WAS	CAR	NYG
OAK	TB	ATL	WAS	DAL		TB	WAS	NYG	DAL
OAK	TB	ATL	WAS	STL		TB	WAS	NYG	CAR
OAK	NO	CAR	WAS	DAL		CAR	WAS	TB/NYG	TB/NYG/ DAL
OAK	NO	CAR	WAS	STL		CAR	WAS	TB/NYG	TB/NYG
OAK	NO	ATL	WAS	DAL		TB	WAS	NYG	DAL
OAK	NO	ATL	WAS	STL		TB	WAS	NYG	CAR
NYG	TB	CAR	WAS			TB	NYG	CAR	WAS
NYG	TB	ATL	WAS	DAL		TB	NYG	WAS	DAL
NYG	TB	ATL	WAS	STL		TB	NYG	WAS	CAR
NYG	NO	CAR	WAS			NYG	CAR	TB	WAS
NYG	NO	ATL	WAS	DAL		NYG	TB	WAS	DAL
NYG	NO	ATL	WAS	STL		NYG	TB	WAS	CAR
NYG	TB	CAR	PHI	STL		TB	NYG	CAR	WAS
NYG	TB	ATL	PHI	STL		TB	NYG	CAR	WAS
NYG	NO	CAR	PHI	STL		NYG	CAR	TB	WAS
NYG	NO	ATL	PHI	STL		NYG	TB	CAR	WAS
OAK	TB	CAR	PHI	STL		TB	NYG	CAR	WAS
OAK	TB	ATL	PHI	STL		TB	NYG	CAR	WAS
OAK	NO	CAR	PHI	STL		CAR	NYG	TB	WAS
OAK	NO	ATL	PHI	STL		TB/NYG	TB/NYG	CAR	WAS
NYG	TB	CAR	PHI	DAL		TB	NYG	CAR	DAL
NYG	TB	ATL	PHI	DAL		TB	NYG	DAL	CAR
NYG	NO	CAR	PHI	DAL		NYG	CAR	TB/DAL	TB/DAL
NYG	NO	ATL	PHI	DAL		NYG	TB	DAL	CAR
OAK	TB	CAR	PHI	DAL		TB	NYG	CAR	DAL
OAK	TB	ATL	PHI	DAL		TB	NYG	DAL	CAR
OAK	NO	CAR	PHI	DAL		CAR	NYG	TB/DAL	TB/DAL
OAK	NO	ATL	PHI	DAL		TB/NYG	TB/NYG	DAL	CAR

* - Entries in BOLD and RED indicate that strength of victory tiebreaker would take effect in this scenario and will be determined following Week 17 games.

The top two seeds, Seattle and Chicago, have first-round byes. The #3 seed will host the #6 seed and the #4 hosts the #5. As you can see, most of the scenarios with the Redskins winning the division title have the Giants coming to FedEx Field, although the one with all of the favorites except the Giants winning, the one listed first, has Carolina coming to Washington. A Wild Card Redskins team almost certainly goes to Tampa Bay as long as the Bucs beat the Saints; otherwise a trip to the Meadowlands is likely in the offing.