Are The Giants A Playoff Team?

We all know at this point that the Eagles playoff hopes are virtually gone (about 3%), but you may be surprised that the current NFC East leaders are seeing their own playoff hopes fading. In fact, according to Football Outsiders latest projections, the Giants are out. FBO calculates their playoff chances at about 50-50. They see the Cowboys as the team most likely to win the NFC East (66%) and both wildcards coming from the NFC North.

There's some pretty good reasons as well. For one, the Giants have a mediocre 3-3 conference record with losses to Washington, Seattle & San Francisco. That could put them in a very tough spot as far as tiebreakers with teams like Chicago, Detroit & Atlanta. However, that only matters if they're fighting for a wildcard spot, if they win the NFC East those things won't matter.

But the Giants have a much tougher schedule than Dallas from here on out. Both teams play the Eagles, Redskins and each other, but their non common opponents are noticeably easier for Dallas.

The Giants face @ New Orleans, Green Bay, @ Jets.

The Cowboys have Miami, @ Arizona and @ Tampa Bay left.

It seems very likely that the Cowboys will make up the one game they need to catch the Giants. So are the Giants a playoff team? It's probably going to come down to their two games against the Cowboys, but at least for now, FBO says no.