The NFL Playoff push: Week 10

The playoffs are coming! The playoffs are coming!

I don't know why but that line reminds me of something... I tried googling it, turns out "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" is an American comedy film from 1966.

Basically, I have no idea what "The playoffs are coming!" makes me think of; because I sure as shit have not seen any comedies from the year my dad realized lotion wasn't just for girls.

That's all pointless anyway, we're here to talk about football! Playoffs more specifically! WHY ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS?!?! SO EXCITED!!!

Why am I excited?

Allow me to itemize...

1. We're over halfway through the year, the playoff picture is clearing up.

2. The Seahawks are right in the middle of that picture, for the first time in five years (not including the time Seattle made it in with a losing record - that doesn't count).

3. Both of America's annual favorites are already just a couple short weeks away from being eliminated!!!

4. Number three is referencing the Cowboys and Jets, I get so damn tired of hearing about them.

I'm going to try to do a few things for you every week: Talk about each teams remaining schedule in an attempt to guess who I think makes it in, as well as list some reputable websites predictions on how everything will shake out. I'll also give you insider tips on who to root for this weekend, and who to send all your bad juju to.

As it stands now

Right now the Seahawks (5-4) are sitting on the second wildcard spot behind Green Bay (6-3), one and one half games back of San Francisco (6-2) in the division.

On the outside looking in are:
Vikings (5-4, lose tiebreaker to Seahawks by virtue of loss in week 9)
Lions (4-4, own tiebreaker over Seahawks by virtue of win in week 8)
Buccaneers (4-4, 2-4 in conference)
Cardinals (4-5, own tiebreaker over Seahawks currently by virtue of week 1 win)

What do those other guys have going on right now?

Green Bay: With road games against the Lions and Giants following this week's bye, the Packers are in immediate danger of losing their grasp on that fifth playoff spot. They'll likely need to win at least one to keep ahead of the Seahawks, Vikings, & Lions.

Minnesota: A visit from the Lions awaits them this weekend, with Green Bay on a bye, this is a chance to pull to within a half game of the Pack.

Lions: Same goes for the Lions as goes for the Vikings. Keep up with the Packers.

Cardinals: Having lost five straight games, I want to say talking about the Cards is a waste of time; but they won four straight before that and there's always the chance they could run off a few straight wins with... nevermind. They are on a bye this week, and face an Atlanta team that hasn't lost yet in week 11. If they lose that game, you can pretty much call them cooked.

49ers: At home against the Rams this week, the Niners will likely hold serve going into their bye. A loss would open the door for Seattle, should they win this week against the Jets

What're the Odds?

By that I mean, what are the odds these guys end up in the playoffs?

Team	Playoffrace.com	MakeNFLplayoffs.com	Footballoutsiders.com	This Guy
49ers	80.37%	80.36%	93.2%	95%
Packers	64.25%	63.32%	86.5%	85%
Seahawks	36.44%	35.98%	75.7%	65%
Vikings	36.74%	36.72%	8.8%	25%
Lions	24.48%	24.13%	11.0%	35%
Buccaneers	21.49%	21.53%	14.8%	15%
Cardinals	14.26%	13.86%	0.8%	5%

I pulled these from the sites listed above; a few interesting things pop up to me at first glance, Football outsiders seems to have almost completely decided it knows who is going to make the playoffs. I'm guessing that's because they use their DVOA ratings to calculate odds, so teams that are rated highly will come out on top over the thousands and thousands of simulations they run.

MakeNFLplayoffs.com gives each team a 50% chance in each remaining game; Playoffrace.com doesn't state how it comes up with calculations, although I'd assume it's similar as the odds for the two seem to mirror each other.

I'm not a fan of giving everyone even odds in each remaining game personally; we're far enough into the season that we know the Rams won't beat the 49ers half the time, maybe one in three at best.

-Sidenote- Really PlayoffRace? Was this really necessary?

Who should we root for?

Besides the Seahawks obviously? These are the games that most impact Seattle's chances to make the playoffs, and who you'd hope to win.

Chargers @ Buccaneers: Chargers all the way. The Bucs have a tough schedule and I don't see them winning more than 9 anyways, but we may as well hope they get the first of their three required losses out of the way this week.

Texans @ Bears: Go Texans. There's no huge impact for the Seahawks here unless a Bears loss kicks off some sort of crazy slide for them, but when in doubt, root against other NFC opponents

Falcons @ Saints: Falcons all day. Saints look like they're out of it right now, let us all hope together that they stay that way.

Rams @ 49ers: DOWN WITH THE NINERS!!! I hate them, and the Seahawks are only a game and a half out.

Giants @ Bengals: Send your "bad juju" Eli Manning's way, down with the Giants.

Broncos @ Panthers: I'm rooting against the Broncos here, in hopes that it lights a fire under their asses and they use that to whoop the only NFC team remaining on their schedule, the Bucs, in a couple weeks.

Cowboys @ Eagles: Always root against the NFC East. In this case... just shoot your television, or hope a black hole opens up and sucks both teams into it, along with all those nasty Philly fans.

By the way, I figured it out... it was Paul Revere. The BRITISH are coming! And by the way, he didn't actually say that.

We won the war anyways, so now we vote and there is no queen. Good work Paul, voting is all thanks to you.