Arizona Cardinals: Predicting a wild NFC Playoff
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals will either be the second or first seed in the NFC Playoffs
For the most part the NFC Playoff field is set. The only thing left to solve is the seeding. We know the six participants. We know only one of the six is cemented in their positioning. It could be a fun Sunday this week of watching it all play out.
Only the Washington Redskins know they will be the fourth seed for winning the NFC East. They will finish either 9-7 or 8-8. The Arizona Cardinals of course can get the first seed if they beat the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
We know this:
Carolina and Arizona will both get the first-round byes. I see both teams winning on Sunday with Carolina retaining the number-one seed and the Cardinals the number-two seed.
The Green Bay Packers host the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The winner wins the NFC North and gets the third-seed. The loser can get the fifth or sixth seed depending on the outcome of the Cardinals-Seahawks game. I think the Packers will take care of business at home after being embarrassed last week in Arizona.
So if the Vikings lose and the Seahawks lose, the Vikings are going to be the fifth-seed, Seahawks will be the sixth-seed. That will send the Vikings to play the Redskins next week and the Seahawks to Green Bay.
So the NFC Wildcard would look like this:
Seattle at Green Bay, Minnesota at Washington
My prediction is that the Seahawks and Vikings will come out with victories. Unusual seeing both home teams lose but it has been that kind of season. If this scenario plays out, then that will send the sixth-seed Seahawks to Carolina and the fifth-seed Vikings to Arizona.
Divisional playoff:
Seattle at Carolina, Minnesota at Arizona
It will be difficult to pick against the Panthers at home. They already beat the Seahawks in Seattle this season. As much as I would like to see the Cardinals host the NFC Championship, I think Carolina squeaks by in this one. As for the Cardinals, Minnesota gave them a game three weeks ago in Arizona. There is no reason to believe we wouldn’t see the same type of game here. I’ll still take Arizona.
NFC Championship:
Arizona at Carolina
This is the matchup I know a lot of Cardinals fans would like to see given they didn’t have the chance to play each other in the regular season. They do play each other in Charlotte in the 2016 regular season though. This is the chance to see MVP candidates Carson Palmer and Cam Newton on the same field. This game will be such a toss up. It will be close. I still give the Cardinals the edge but it’s so close Carolina can win this one as well.