A Giant Puzzle
Odell Beckham Jr. told everyone leading into the New York Giants Week 10 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers that the goal for New York was a 9-7 finish and making the playoffs.
While winning eight consecutive games isn’t farfetched considering their schedule, the making the playoffs bit is.
If the Giants are going to make the playoffs at 9-7, they’ll need some help getting there.
Here is my guide to the G-Men making a return back to the postseason in 2018.
9-7 It Is, But What Will They Have To Do To Get There?
They’ll have to take care of business first this Sunday vs a Philadelphia Eagles team at a personal low coming off a 48-7 massacre last Sunday vs the New Orleans Saints.
After that, the schedule sees them having to face the division leading Chicago Bears, two teams also fighting for a playoff birth in the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis, and their NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins.
That’s a tough task, and the FPI thinks so as well. Of the Giants remaining six games, they are only favored to win their Week 15 matchup at home vs the Tennessee Titans.
Winning the NFC East Is The Best Avenue
Of course with what I mentioned already, the Giants are a long shot to get a NFC Wildcard birth at 9-7 (I’ll get into that in just a bit).
Any chances of realistically making the playoffs this season will have to be by winning the NFC East. By taking care of the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday, the Washington Redskins on the road in 14, and the Dallas Cowboys at home in Week 17, they’ll finish 3-3 in the division.
Oddly enough, they need the Dallas Cowboys to win on Thanksgiving vs the Washington Redskins, and they’ll also need Dallas and Washington to either finish 8-8 or worse or finish 9-7.
Regarding the latter, Dallas has to lose their remaining conference games after this Thursday as they are currently 4-3 vs the conference, which means they’ll have to finish with a 5-7 conference record.
The Giants with a tiebreaker in the season series and a 6-6 conference record — should they win out — would have a better record than Dallas if it comes down to a tiebreaker.
It would take Washington 2-4 in the NFC East to win a tiebreaker with them at 9-7.
Is The Wildcard Possible?
It would take a miracle for the Giants to rise to the sixth and final playoff spot. Consider that the Seattle Seahawks, for instance, play the San Francisco 49ers twice and the Arizona Cardinals once down the stretch.
That puts Seattle at eight wins should they take care of business and they play the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers — each vying for playoff spots as well and in front of them. Due to a 6-6 conference record, it’ll be take teams in front of them completely nosediving for New York to get in.
What are your thoughts on the Giants playoff chances? Leave your comments below!