Does this mean Carolina starters play next week?

[pittnthat 0]

Deangelo owner

[Houston Texans 10]

Yes, it does.

 

With Atlanta's win today, Carolina could lose the division. If Atlanta beats StL next week, and Carolina loses to New Orleans, both teams will be 11-5. 1st tiebreaker is Head-to-Head & the two teams split their season series. 2nd tiebreaker is won-loss % in the division. Both teams would be 3-3 if Carolina loses to NO. 3rd tiebreaker is won-loss % in common games-both would have a 9-3 record if Carolina loses to NO next week. 4th tiebreaker is won-loss % in the conference. With a loss to NO next week, Carolina's conference record would be 7-5, and with a victory over StL, Atlanta's conference record would be 8-4.

 

So Carolina HAS to win next week (or hope Atlanta loses) to win their division and earn the 1st-round bye. Since both games were originally scheduled to be at 1 p.m. (I don't know if flex scheduling has changed this), Carolina won't know what Atlanta did before they play.

[kutulu 1,551]

Yep, since all the games that matter (except for SD/Den) will be at 1 pm.

 

St. Louis at Atlanta 	1:00 PM 	
New England at Buffalo 	1:00 PM 	
Kansas City at Cincinnati 	1:00 PM 	
Detroit at Green Bay 	1:00 PM 	
Tennessee at Indianapolis 	1:00 PM 	
NY Giants at Minnesota 	1:00 PM 	
Carolina at New Orleans 	1:00 PM 
Miami at NY Jets 	1:00 PM 	
Dallas at Philadelphia 	1:00 PM 
Cleveland at Pittsburgh 	1:00 PM 	
Oakland at Tampa Bay 	1:00 PM 	
Jacksonville at Baltimore 	1:00 PM 	
Chicago at Houston 	1:00 PM 
Washington at San Francisco 	4:15 PM
Seattle at Arizona 	4:15 PM 		
Denver at San Diego 	8:15 PM

 

scratch that for the moment:

 

FINS-JETS COULD SLIDE TO LATE AFTERNOON

Posted by Mike Florio on December 21, 2008, 10:38 p.m.

 

Although the incredibly significant Week Seventeen game between the Dolphins and the Jets (which could feature the Patriots needing their nemeses from New York to win in order for New England to get to the postseason) won’t be moved to prime time, there’s still a good chance it will be moved to 4:15 p.m. EST.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told us tonight via e-mail that some games will be moved to the late afternoon start, and that the decisions will be made and announced on Monday.

 

According to the 2008 NFL Record & Fact Book, Week Seventeen is a “national weekend” for both CBS and FOX, which means that the two networks carrying Sunday afternoon games will broadcast doubleheaders in most markets.

 

Currently, Seattle at Arizona (yuck) and Washington at San Fran (double yuck) are scheduled to begin on FOX at 4:15 p.m. EST; Denver and San Diego had been slated to start at the same time on CBS, before moving to 8:15 p.m. EST.

 

So it appears that Fins-Jets is a sure thing to make the move on CBS. There’s also a chance that Cowboys-Eagles could make the move to a late start on FOX as well.

 

UPDATE: A reader points out that, as things currently stand, the Giants and Jets will be playing at the same time (1:00 p.m. EST); this means that one of the games is certain to be moved to 4:15 p.m. EST.

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