Sizing up the NFC

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

It's not like Tampa got six wins in their own division by 3 points or less or something. They blew their division out of the water, winning each game by at least 20 points. I wouldn't say we "had" them either. Turnovers aside, we played them pretty darn close, but it's not like we blew them out...or even won the game.

Seattle is totally unproven (FO has them ranked as the team who played the weakest schedule), but I think teams like Seattle and Tampa could totally flip the NFC on its side.

Lets say that we get in by beating Dallas, and then we go on and beat Seattle. That means Tampa goes to Green Bay and we go to Dallas. What if Garcia goes up there, picks his spots smartly on Al Harris, getting a few deep plays over the top to Galloway and Tampa takes care of their business. Then if we somehow manage to beat the Cowboys in the divisional round (I think we are going to need Campbell to have a chance), that we could be going to Tampa to play the NFC Championship.

I think that Tampa and Dallas are the two best NFC teams. However, Green Bay has the easiest road provided that we don't win our first round game. Right now, Green Bay is my pick as long as their road goes through Seattle first.

That's a pretty glowing review of TB, in my opinion. In their last three games, they lost to the mediocre Texans 28-14, blew out the hapless Falcons - who had totally given up with Petrino quitting - 37-3, and lost to the lowly 49ers 21-19 just last week. They're not peaking right now.

They have played pretty well at home this season, 6-1 at home, 3-5 on the road. And we'd have to go to Tampa if we faced them in the playoffs.

But I don't like the way they're playing heading into the playoff tournament. Their opponents' winning percentage this year has been 0.446, so they're hardly battle-tested. In fact, their 9 wins have come against teams whose combined winning percentage is an absolutely dismal 0.392 (that translates into a 6-10 record). They've only beaten two teams who are now above .500 (us and the Titans). I don't think very much of them.