Even after a loss, the Washington Football Team has an obvious path to the playoffs.
The Washington Football Team started the year 2-7. However, with the NFC East being so weak, they still had a pulse. A four-game winning streak vaulted them to first place in the division with just a few weeks left in the season and suddenly things were looking great.
Then came Week 15, a hard-fought battle against the Seattle Seahawks which ended in a loss. Washington is still in first place in the division at 6-8 but they could have basically wrapped up the division had they won.
Now they need a combination of at least one win and one New York Giants’ loss to take home the NFC East title. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles are still alive in the division as well.
It is New York that gives the most concern though. Both them and Dallas are 5-9 (Philadelphia are 4-9-1). However, New York won both games against Washington this year, meaning they own the tiebreaker. So if they have the same record at the end of the season, they would win the division.
However, Washington still has a pretty clear site to the playoffs thanks to the remaining schedules for both teams.
The schedule favors the Washington Football Team’s playoff chances.
The Eagles would need to win both games to even have a chance to win the division. They play the Cowboys and Washington. The Cowboys play the Eagles and the Giants, they’ll need to win one and have Washington lose both, or win out.
Meanwhile, the Giants have to play against the Ravens in Baltimore then against the Cowboys. They’d need to win one more game than Washington in the final two. That doesn’t sound crazy, but Baltimore is a tough win. Of course, Dallas is no easy W either.
Finally, there are Washington’s two games. They will have the Carolina Panthers (4-10, eliminated from the playoffs and likely without Christian McCaffrey) in Week 16. Then in Week 17, they have the Eagles (who could already be eliminated at that point). Those are two verywinnable games.
Washington’s pretty healthy. The quarterback position isn’t great, with Alex Smith still questionable and Dwayne Haskins showing serious immaturity with that whole maskless-strip club incident.
As of now, Haskins is still the starter but he might have lost a lot of confidence and trust from his teammates and coaching staff. Hard to blame them either. He was stripped of his captain-title and fined, both deservedly so.
Haskins did show some great flashes last week on the field, so if he can continue to mature there, and figure it out off the field, he can still maybe put it all together. Right now though he’s making the position look like a mess. Antonio Gibson is closing in on a return at running back and that opens up a lot in the offense as well.
The defense has looked incredible lately, and Montez Sweat and Chase Young seem to be getting better each week.
Heading into Week 15, everyone knew the Seahawks were going to be a serious challenge. They were 9-4 and clearly the better overall team. They have an MVP at quarterback in Russell Wilson and a more complete roster. So beating them was always going to be an uphill battle. Still, the loss was a tough blow as a win would have basically ensured a playoff spot for the Washington Football Team.
That spot is still well within their grasp though. Their two remaining opponents have just eight wins combined between them. The path is clear. They just keep playing up to the level they’ve been at over the last few weeks.
Washington is a solid team, good enough to hang with the likes of the Seahawks. If it wasn’t for a missed extra point maybe they could have even beaten them (I’m not going to point out the interceptions or any other mistakes because those are much more common than missed XPs).
While there are still plenty of scenarios that seem them losing their spot in the postseason, the Washington Football Team is still in first in the NFC East. They have the most obvious path to the playoffs in the division. Now, they just need to get the job done.