At 6-9, the Washington Redskins have no chance to make the NFL Playoffs. They can, however, dramatically affect who does in their final game next week. The Redskins face the 9-6 New York Giants, and have a great chance to spoil a rival's playoff hopes.
If the Redskins defeat the Giants, the Giants will officially be eliminated from playoff contention no matter what happens in other games. Currently, the Giants are tied with the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the final playoff spot in the NFC. However, thanks to last week's 45-17 loss to the Packers in Green Bay, the Giants are behind them in the pecking order and must win to have a chance. They are ahead of Tampa Bay, though.
Essentially, the Giants' situation is pretty clear. They must defeat the Redskins, which would move them to 10-6 on the season. They then must hope that the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field, which would drop Green Bay to 9-7. Both games will take place at 4:15 next week. Even if Tampa Bay defeats New Orleans in New Orleans next week to move to 10-6, the Giants would be ahead of them. Bottom line: the Giants need to win and have some things go their way.
So, to review, here are the possible scenarios.
- IF Green Bay defeats Chicago, the Packers are in the playoffs and the Giants and Buccaneers are out.
- IF Green Bay loses to Chicago: the Giants are in the playoffs if they defeat the Redskins.
- IF both the Packers and Giants lose, the Buccaneers are in with a win over the Saints.
- IF all three teams lose, the Packers are in due to a tiebreaker.