Muskego, WI. (TRUE)
Now that I've successfully dodged the great tornado of Nov. 2010 (barely, I was stuck at the train station in Sturtevant while it went through the area), I'm ready to get after it. With the girls all up north dancing on bartops during huntin' season (more on that in a later post), I'm all by lonesome here at the posh Packer ANAL-ysis compound, which has been made possible only by you, the generous PA reader.
Thank you again for all your donation (singular).
Now on to the ANAL-ysis you've been drooling over.
One team will come out of the NFC West (unfortunately), so that leaves 7 teams fighting for the 5 remaining spots. 7 teams are out of it: Minnesota, Detroit, Carolina, San Francisco, Arizona, Washington, and Dallas. Either St. Louis or Seattle will come out of the west, so really, 8 teams are out of it.
Atlanta is basically in with their 8-2 record and a very easy schedule, but for our purposes, we'll include them in the "7 fighting for 5" sweepstakes.
Atlanta 8-2. Home games against Green Bay, New Orleans, Carolina. Away games at Tampa Bay, Carolina, Seattle. No way they go worse than 13-3 with those cupcakes. Figure they split the home games with GB and NO, and the rest they win easy, so maybe 13-3 for them. The Packers only chance to get home field over Atlanta is to beat Atlanta this week, and hope New Orleans does too. They are in for sure.
Green Bay 7-3: Our beloveds totally screwed up by losing to 3 terrible teams early, Chicago, Miami, and Washington, and they will pay dearly for those sins. PA believes we HAVE TO BEAT ATLANTA this week, or we have NO SHOT at home field throughout. We must win our 3 home games, and I beleive we will, over San Fran, NY Giants, and those terrible Bears, and I think we can beat Detroit (they play very well at home, and probably should've beaten us at Lambeau), and even though New England has won 25 in a row at home, I think we will end it. 12-4, if it includes a win over Atlanta, should do it. 11-5 will not, especially with a loss to Atlanta. We should win the division and get 1st round bye, but we can't screw up.
Philadelphia 7-3: I see Philly going at least 11-5 and making the playoffs. Home games against Houston, Minnesota, and Dallas are givens, so that's 10. I know it's hard to do, but we need to pull for the Bears to beat the Eagles (honest!), because the Bears have many more losses to come (stay tuned, more below on those losers).
That leaves 2 more away games at Dallas and the NY Giants. The Giants should get them in a revenge game at home; no idea what the Cowboys will be giving at that point, but we need them to win at home vs the Eagles, or they could get to 12 wins. Regardless, they are in.
New Orleans 7-3: The good news here is they only have two home games left, both wins over St. Louis and Tampa Bay. That makes 9. They have two wins on the road, at Dallas and Cincinatti, that makes 11. But two very tough ones at Baltimore and Atlanta. Could they get to 11 wins? YES. 12 looks like a stretch though. We will be battling these guys all the way to the end for position, but they are definitely in.
Chicago 7-3: This terrible bunch could lose all 6 games, which is why we may need them to beat the Eagles this week at home, and only lose 5. Their other two home games will be losses to New England the NY JETS. And they play 3 difficult road games at Detroit (talk about revenge from week one!), at Minnesota (the SquareHeads are a complete mess, but they still have way more talent than the Bears, right? And more revenge), and at Green Bay (we should beat them by about 40 by not getting 18 penalties and dropping 5 picks). So the Bears could go 7-9, 8-8, 9-7 at best, and they will be one of the two to miss the playoffs.
Tampa Bay 7-3: I see 9-7 from this rag tag bunch, and the other playoff miss. Two home wins against Detroit and Seattle (2 awful road teams) gets them to 9, but a home loss to Atlanta, and three road losses at Baltimore, Washington, and New Orleans end it there. They will miss the playoffs.
New York Giants 6-4: The reeling Giants (2 straight losses) still should make the playoffs at 10-6. Three home wins over Jacksonville, Washington, and Philadelphia (revenge) gets them to 9. A road win over woeful Minnesota gets them to 10. Road losses at Green Bay (a huge game for our beloveds) and hopefully at Washington keeps them at 10, but they could get to 11.
So there you have it. We are officially huge fans of the, gulp, Minnesota Vikings and their new coach Mrs. Leslie Frazier, the Redskins, and the dreaded Cowboys. Because of our early screw ups, we need help. Let's hope we get some. --PP
*Philadelphia Eagles 7 3
*New York Giants 6 4
Chicago Bears 7 3
*Green Bay Packers 7 3
*Atlanta Falcons 8 2
*New Orleans Saints 7 3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7 3
*Either Seattle or St. Louis, who cares, both stink.