Up to date NFC Playoff Image, NFC Wild Card standings after Bucs lose to Ravens

Let’s test the heart beat on the NFC Playoff Image and NFC Wild Card standings after the Buccaneers acquired walloped by the Ravens on Thursday Night time Soccer. 

Properly, effectively, effectively, how the turntables have…turned.

Tom Brady returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for another season appeared prefer it was setting issues up for a possible walk-off for a legend. Some thought Brady ought to have retired after he received the Tremendous Bowl again in 2020, going out on high and with punctuation on who was extra accountable for the sustained New England Patriots success.

As an alternative, Brady returned for a second and third season in Tampa Bay that has produced diminishing returns in methods nobody thought was doable.

The Bucs misplaced within the divisional spherical to Los Angeles in 2021 and have now misplaced three straight video games as they attain the halfway level of the 2022 season.

To say issues haven’t gone in accordance with plan is to emphatically undersell simply how dangerous issues are for Tampa Bay. With the Bucs in free fall, the remainder of the NFC Playoff Image is beginning to come into focus with out Brady and his crew anyplace to be discovered.

Up to date NFC Playoff Image after Thursday Night time Soccer Week 8

The seemingly unattainable has occurred as Tom Brady is presently on the skin of the playoff image trying in. That is nice information — at the least for now — for the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers.

Somewhat inexplicably, the Falcons-Panthers matchup in Week 8 might be for sole possession of first place within the NFC South. Tampa Bay will fall to 3rd place if the Falcons win since Carolina received a head-to-head matchup final week, however will fall solely to second place if the Panthers win because it holds a tiebreaker over Atlanta.

The primary takeaway is we might be dwelling in a world the place on the halfway level of the NFL season the Carolina Panthers — two weeks faraway from firing their head coach and with out a beginning quarterback — might maintain sole possession of first place and one-half of a tiebreaker over each the Bucs and Falcons.

Right here’s a have a look at what the NFC Playoff bracket would appear to be if the postseason began at this time:

1. Philadelphia Eagles (6-0)
2. Minnesota Vikings (5-1)
3. Seattle Seahawks (4-3)
4. Atlanta Falcons (3-4)
5. New York Giants (6-1)
6. Dallas Cowboys (5-2)
7. Los Angeles Rams (3-3)

Based mostly on these standings, right here’s what the playoff matchups would appear to be for the primary weekend of motion:

• (2) Minnesota Vikings vs. (7) Los Angeles Rams
• (3) Seattle Seahawks vs. (6) Dallas Cowboys
• (4) Atlanta Falcons vs. (5) New York Giants

Every higher-seeded staff would host its Wild Card Weekend matchup. The Philadelphia Eagles would have a first-round bye with the No. 1 seed and host any playoff sport they play in.

NFC Wild Card standings after Thursday Night time Soccer Week 8

Right here’s what the Wild Card standings appear to be heading into Week 8:

1. New York Giants (6-1)
2. Dallas Cowboys (5-2)
3. Los Angeles Rams (3-3)
4. Sean Francisco 49ers (4-3)
5. Inexperienced Bay Packers (3-4)
6. Atlanta Falcons (3-4)
7. Washington Commanders (3-4)
8. Arizona Cardinals (3-4)
9. Chicago Bears (3-4)
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5)
11. New Orleans Saints (2-5)
12. Carolina Panthers (2-4)
13. Detroit Lions (1-5)