Playoff Picture: Giants Game Aftermath

So after looking at the schedule, the key number seems to be 3 wins in the final 4 games, with the final two games being must win games.

With the concern being the playoff picture, the Ravens game is actually shaping up to be a pretty meaningless game. If we win it, we would still have a shot at 11-5, which should be good enough to make the playoffs in the NFC, unless Dallas goes 3-1 to finish the season. (Yeah, there's actually a decent chance that at 11-5, we could miss the playoffs if Dallas can somehow beat the Giants. Exactly how many wins we will need is dependent on how they do against a brutal December schedule.)

But a loss to the Ravens sets us up for a 10-6 at best finish. In this scenario, we would hold all the tiebreakers.

Either way, the only way to get to the playoffs is to beat the Eagles and 49ers, and then win against either the Ravens, the Bengals or both. And in any situation, we will need help.

Dallas plays Pittsburgh, New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Atlanta plays New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, and St. Louis.

We need to finish ahead of both Dallas and Atlanta to make the playoffs, and trail each by one game.

sadly giants will be restin players by the dallas game if they win next week.

I would not even think playoffs until we beat Baltimore, Philly and yes, San Francisco, hell even Cincy could be a struggle.

The game against Ravens is a guaranteed loss. Lets face it, we don't do well against teams with great defenses.

I agree that we are totally mismatched going into this game. I think we will see some success in the passing game, but it will be limited, and I don't think we're going to be able to stop Flacco.

The game against Ravens is a guaranteed loss. Lets face it, we don't do well against teams with great defenses.

Local people know we need this game b/c even the women in this town talk smack about the Skins. We need to shut them up.
That all depends if we chose to lead with our strengths and exploit their weakness. We can't play into their run defense and they can't stop the pass deep. They aren't scared to air it deep and they a pourous OLine.I think this game we can bring heavy pressure. They always a Rookie QB is fair game to throw everything at him but I think their pass game is better than their run with such a carousel at RB we could have the advantage.

Ultimately, what is our offensive plan we need to start being pass heavy if teams want to stop our run.

We'll see.

I smell a 17-10 game coming up, with us on the losing end. The defense should be just fine, if not spectacular. Our offense, however, is going to have problems. JC will spend more time in a horizontal than upright position and Portis will struggle again. :(

I'm not worried about the Raven's offense but their defense is going to punch a Redskins team in the mouth that will once again be happy to chin pose during the entire process.

Obviously, a win against the Ravens would make the Bengals game not a must win, but if you see where I'm going with this, I don't see any way we could improve enough to beat the Ravens, and then turn around and lose to Cinci the next week.

Two games back I predicted we finish out 2-4 on the season w/ 1-5 actually probable though I was loath to predict it. Today I think 1-5 was smart, though I'm already wrong in a sense because I thought we'd lose to Seattle and everyone else save Cinci. The idea of a win against Baltimore is Alice in Wonderland absurdity - primetime game against not only a good defense but the meanest defense in football. I will not be surprised if we are totally shut out, not only on points but possibly on first downs. The offensive collapse we're seeing is still in process as Zorn's presser revealed IMO. He is not calling anyone out on their horrendous execution - this travesty will continue. Beyond Baltimore I believe a loss against Philly is guaranteed because Philly is a much better team now and SanFran is a loss because we'll have nothing to play for by then and we're hardly showing up now when it still matters...

Cinci is still questionable but i wouldn't bet a dime on our offense... when was the last 0-0 game in league history? Maybe we'll make history in two weeks.