Wild playoff picture makes NFL fun to watch

You want good news-bad news? Listen to one voice from Las Vegas: "If the Saints make the playoffs, it would not surprise me if they made it to the Super Bowl. They have Drew Brees, running backs, receivers, and a defense that has come somewhat alive. But the Saints won't make the playoffs. Even if they finish the regular season 8-8 - beating Dallas and Carolina is not out of the question - too many good things would also have to happen the next two weeks for the Saints to keep on playing.''

It goes something like this: Dallas loses its last two; Minnesota loses to Houston and Green Bay; the Giants lose to Baltimore and Philadelphia; Chicago loses to Arizona and Detroit; St. Louis loses to Tampa Bay or Seattle.

With each snap, it seems the earth keeps on shifting.

That's what makes it fun.

The NFC finished Sunday with nine teams above .500, from 12-2 Atlanta all the way down to five teams at 8-6.

When you posted the current playoff picture in the NFC, you had to go all the way down to No. 12 to find the 6-8 Saints barely clinging to life.

When it came to Power Ratings, oddsmakers had the 12-2 Falcons rated dead even with the 8-6 Giants, the week Atlanta crushed New York 34-0.

At the moment, the Power Ratings tell us New England and San Francisco will face one another here Feb. 3 in Super Bowl XLVII.

Last week the scoreboard in Foxborough, Mass., offered some food for thought. A warm-up game perhaps.

The scoreboard said: San Francisco 41, New England 34.

New England Coach Bill Belichick told us: "I thought we fought hard, competed well. It was just too many bad plays, too many mistakes. We hung in there until the very end.''

Think about it. The Patriots fell behind 31-3, tied it 31-31, before being victimized by the kicking game.

Questions arose: Are the 49ers, with the league's best defense, the team to beat?

Are the comeback Patriots, who had a 24-point fourth quarter, still to be feared?

Meanwhile, in Green Bay, everything was upbeat. The word from Coach Mike McCarthy, after the Packers beat the Bears to clinch the NFC North title was: "We're just getting started. There's a lot better football in front of us.''

After starting the season 2-3, the 10-4 Packers became the flip side of the Bears, who find themselves in danger of missing the playoffs following a 7-1 getaway.

The Houston Texans were singing the same song. A week after a 42-14 drubbing at the hands of the Patriots, the 12-2 Texans were clinching the division with a 29-17 win over Indianapolis.

"We had to show people what we are really about,'' Texans receiver Andre Johnson said.

If you listen to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, his team has been trying to do the same thing, and more, all season. The 8-6 Cowboys found themselves in a three-way tie for first place in the NFL East following their third win in a row, a 27-24 overtime victory over the Steelers.

If they beat the Saints on Sunday, and the Redskins next week, the Cowboys are in the playoffs, with a chance to do what the Giants did last season, a team that wound up riding a 7-7 record to a world championship.

It could happen. Anything's possible.

But, first, the Cowboys have to deal with Drew Brees.

Source: http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/12/wild_playoff_picture_makes_nfl.html

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