Eagles’ two scenarios for clinching the division in Week 17

The Philadelphia Eagles are now in good position to make the 2020 NFL playoffs after beating the Dallas Cowboys in Week 16! But the Eagles’ work isn’t done; they haven’t officially clinched a berth just yet.

Let’s run through the remaining three playoff scenarios. Keep in mind the Eagles can only make the postseason as the No. 4 seed.

REMAINING SCHEDULES

EAGLES: Week 17 at New York Giants

COWBOYS: Week 17 versus Washington

CLINCH SCENARIO 1

Week 17: The Eagles beat or tie the Giants

Outcome: The Eagles finish 9-7 or 8-7-1 and clinch the NFC East no matter what the Cowboys do.

This is the preferable scenario for the Eagles. They need to be able to beat the Giants again if they’re going to the playoffs. Win and they’re in. It’s that simple.

CLINCH SCENARIO 2

Week 17: The Eagles lose to the Giants BUT the Cowboys lose to or tie Washington.

Outcome: The Eagles finish 8-8 and clinch the NFC East with the Cowboys finishing 7-9 or 7-8-1.

The Eagles losing to the Giants isn’t impossible considering they were just down 17-3 at home to New York a couple weeks ago. Not to mention the Giants are coming off two straight wins over the Miami Dolphins and Washington. It’s pretty hard to count on Washington winning on the road in Dallas. This would be a pretty lame way for the Eagles to clinch the division. They’d take it, of course, but c’mon. Don’t do this.

ELIMINATION SCENARIO

Week 17: The Eagles lose to the Giants AND the Cowboys beat Washington.

Outcome: The Eagles finish 8-8 and the Cowboys finish 8-8. Dallas wins the tiebreaker by going 5-1 in division games with the Eagles only going 4-2. The Cowboys clinch the NFC East.

This is the disaster scenario. The Eagles really gotta avoid choking this hard.

SO ... JUST BEAT THE GIANTS.

The Eagles need to beat the Giants in Week 17. The G-Men certainly aren’t a good team and the Eagles typically own them. But Pat Shurmur is coaching for his job and New York could relish the spoiler role. Don’t let that happen, Eagles.

NFC PLAYOFF PICTURE

1 - San Francisco 49ers (12-3)
2 - New Orleans Saints (12-3)
3 - Green Bay Packers (11-3)
4 - Philadelphia Eagles (8-7)
5 - Seattle Seahawks (11-4)
6 - Minnesota Vikings (10-4)
...
7 - Los Angeles Rams (8-7)
8 - Chicago Bears (7-8)
9 - Dallas Cowboys (7-8)
10 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-8)
11 - Atlanta Falcons (6-9)
12 - Arizona Cardinals (5-9-1)
13 - Carolina Panthers (5-10)
14 - New York Giants (4-11)
15- Detroit Lions (3-11-1)
16 - Washington (3-12)