NFC West

At the bottom of the pack record-wise are the Seattle Seahawks (6-6) and St. Louis Rams (6-6)  vying for the prestigious title of NFC west champion, a home playoff game, and hopefully a trouncing by a much better wild card team.  Yes it is true, these two teams that had a combined record of 6-26 last year and could very well finish at or below .500 by season’s end have the chance to play a first round playoff game at home.  The Seahawks still have to play games both at home against the Falcons and at the Buccaneers, whereas the Rams face tough challenges against a good Chiefs team and at the Saints.  Each team also plays division foe San Francisco and they face off against each other in the final game of the season.

Prediction: Everything points to this one coming down to the last week, both teams at 7-8 or worse (with possible wins over San Francisco) and the winner heading into a home playoff game at 8-8.  The Rams crushed the Seahawks in St. Louis 20-3 in week  4, look for Seattle to return the favor at home (where they are 4-2, as opposed to a 2-4 road record for the Rams) in week 17 and we can all look forward to a first round playoff game at Qwest field.

The rest of the NFC after the jump… (more…)

Now that that is all out of the way, bring on the Cowboys and the Redskins and one of the biggest clashes in recent memory in this storied rivalry.  The Cowboys will want nothing more than to send the Redskins home early, and Redskins fans will be drooling over the prospects of not only getting in the playoffs but of gaining a mental edge on the Cowboys for when we face them in round 2 or 3.

The only shadow over this game is exactly what the Cowboys will do with their starters.  If I were the Cowboys, I’d want to win this game very badly.  But at the same time, they have nothing to play for and with TO already hurt they don’t want to risk anything. According to amarillo.com (and no, I don’t know how good a source that is), Romo will play only a little. At the same time there’s this great quote from Romo:

“We’ve got to be smart about it, but at the same point, we’re not laying down. We’re not coming out to say, ‘Hey, let’s take a week off. Let’s treat it like the preseason.’ We’re going to try to win this football game. We’re going to try to execute every play, like we do all the time. Really, the most important thing is, we’re going to try to get better.”

Frankly, from what I saw of the Cowboys offense without TO, I’m not sure how much they can execute.  I’m not saying this is going to be easy, but if it weren’t from three atrocius referee calls, the Cowboys would have lost to the hapless Panthers.

I’ll be honest, I don’t think we can stop TO regularly without Sean Taylor.  He’s too big and strong and fast even for Shawn Springs. But without TO, this Cowboys team is good but not great.  We can do this. We will do it.  Don’s make any plans for next weekend.  We’re going to have our feet propped up watching the Skins in Seattle or Tampa.

-DW