"Meaningfulness" of Week 17 Games

[GM]

Ok, as best I can figure, here is what the games in Week 17 mean to each of the teams involved. This list MIGHT not be perfect, so if you see something that is an obvious error and you are SURE it is wrong, please respond here.

First, the completely meaningless games (except maybe for draft order) :
Dallas @ Washington, 1pm Sunday
Cincinnati @ Buffalo, 1pm Sunday
Minnesota @ Detroit, 1pm Sunday

The rest of the schedule, color-coded:
Philadelphia @ NY Giants, 1:30pm Saturday
Kansas City @ Oakland, 5pm Saturday

Miami @ New England, 1pm Sunday
Atlanta @ Cleveland, 1pm Sunday
Tennessee @ Houston, 1pm Sunday
Carolina @ New Orleans, 1pm Sunday
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh, 1pm Sunday

Jacksonville @ Indianapolis, 4pm Sunday
Green Bay @ NY Jets, 4pm Sunday
Arizona @ Denver, 4pm Sunday
Seattle @ San Diego, 4pm Sunday

Tampa Bay @ Chicago, 8:30pm Sunday

San Francisco @ St Louis, 9pm Monday


Colors indicate:
RED - Have already won division. Playing to improve or solidify ranking (Philly win gives them #1 seed in NFC, Oakland win gives them #1 seed in AFC, Pitt win gives them a chance to catch Tennessee and/or Oakland if the Raiders lost on Saturday).
PINK - Have won division. Depending on earlier results, may be playing to move up in ranking (GB and Tenn possibly playing for #1 conference ranking; TB possibly playing for #2 conference ranking). Playing to maintain current ranking at the very least. (Oakland win means Tenn can't move up to #1, Philly win means GB can't move up to #1, GB win means TB can't move up to #2). Tenn and GB will still want to win these games however regardless to lock up a #2 seed and a first-round bye.
ORANGE - Have won division. Only possible to move up from 4th to 3rd if Tampa Bay loses; otherwise a meaningless game. Really not much to be gained, except home advantage against TB should the two meet in the playoffs (unlikely).
PURPLE - Playing to qualify for playoffs. A win puts them in regardless of other results.
GREEN - Playing to qualify for playoffs. Also need help from other teams.
BLUE - Playing to qualify for playoffs - however, may already be eliminated from playoff contention depending on results of earlier games.
BLUE (italicized) - Similar to plain ol' BLUE, except that all scenarios allowing Baltimore or San Diego to make the playoffs require a Kansas City loss or tie. So if KC wins on Saturday, these teams will already know long before their kickoffs that they cannot make the playoffs. If KC loses on Saturday, consider Baltimore to be a GREEN team, and San Diego to be a BLUE team.
BLACK - Game has no meaning except for draft ranking / chance to spoil someone else's playoff hopes.


Hope it helps (and I hope it's completely correct too!)

 

[gardenweasel]

nice effort

nice effort

well done(except for us old dogs who can`t tell teal from green)......thanks......whoops,you read my mind....the purple helps...g.l.

 

[GM]

Thanks gardenweasel,

Ya, I changed teal to purple because it was a little too similar here too. Also resolved how many teams will be knocked out if KC wins on Saturday (2).

 

[BobbyBlueChip]

Thanks for the work!!

 

[GM]

Thanks BBC...

Ok, a little more I've dug up on the BLUE teams which may be good to know:

* All Denver scenarios for making the playoffs require a Cleveland loss. There are other ways Denver can get knocked out, but if Cleveland wins at 1pm then Denver is history no matter what else happens.

* If Miami and Cleveland both win at 1pm then the Jets are also finished. A Miami win means Jets can't win the division; a Cleveland win wipes out all wildcard possibilities.

{edit}

* A Cleveland win also kills all of San Diego's hopes of making the playoffs.

That Cleveland game is a little more important than I realized.

 

[Davoso]

Good stuff, thanks. Helps with the last week in the Survivor pool too.

 

[StevieD]

Great post! Whoever thought so many teams would still have a shot going into the last week.

 

[ferdville]

Excellent post!

 

[vanbasten]

thanks gm.

saves me some time in a busy holiday week.

happy holidays.

what's your take on this green bay team? i know earlier in the year, you didn't rate them, and profitted playing against the healthy number they were laying. did you think then, they would be in the position they are now? just curious.

 

[aldabra]

Good post

Good post

Would elevate Washington to most meaningful of meaningless...
Spurier did promise Snyder a victory over Dallas.... This would be great spot to do it....Campos bags packed, no offense, Emmitt
Smith's bag half packed...

 

[broondog]

Excellent post GM!!! You mentioned how important that Cleveland
game is, if I may ask, what's your view on Clev.'s chances of beating Atlanta? You think the weather would affect a dome team?Merry Christmas all!

 

[Stewy]

KC can't knock anyone out except Baltimore with a win on Saturday. The only way the Chiefs can get in over teams they beat like Miami, Jets, Cleveland is with a Denver loss. A KC win won't mean anything unless Denver gets upset by Arizona.

I guess they could knock out San Diego mathematically, my bad.


I think teams playing to get in playoffs will have emotional edge over teams trying to solitify home field advantage. Anyone else have an opionion on this?