Jim Nantz:
And as we wait for the officials to determine if that handoff to Jennings is ruled a completed catch or not and how that will effect the down, distance, score, and clock timing situation on the field, let’s take a look at how the Giants, who bookended their Week 11 bye with losses to the Washington football team and the….ung…oh….ohhhh…PatriotsOOOOHHHHYEAHTHAT’SITOHHHHHHYESPATRIOTSPATRIOTSPATRIOTSYEAHH…..{ahem}. That is, we check out what the Giants need to do to make the post season.

PHEEEEL Simms:
Well, if you’re a running team you’re gonna have plays like this and you gotta keep pushing.

Jim:
How familiar are you with the playoff tiebreaker rules? If you’re like me, you know that head-to-head match up is the immediate factor, following by in-division (or in-conference, for non-divisional wild card consideration) record as the second decider. After that, who knows? I mean, there are a list of items to analyze but the order, until #12 – Coin Toss, is really anyone’s guess. Perhaps CBS rules expert Mike Carey can help out.

Mike Carey:
Good afternoon and thanks for inviting to your discussion of the NFL’s Playoff Tiebreaking procedure. Now, you see, as we approach the home stretch of the 2015 season, many fans are wondering what it will take for their teams to make it into the post season end zone (to which the resulting call is “Touchdown, Seahawks”).

Now the perfect example of a team who may actually be subject to the coin toss is the team you are talking about right now, the New York Football Giants. The Giants did blow two winnable games in the opening weeks but, once Tony Romo went down in Dallas and the Giants cleaned up their act winning four of their next five games, it seemed that Eli and Company would be the class of the NFC East, running a horrible division with little competition a la the Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, and Arizona Cardinals. Alas, the [*Redacted] s have heated up and the Giants are now playing catch up to Washington with two winnable games against the Jets and at the Dolphins before two difficult games against Carolina and Minnesota and the finale, versus the Eagles, ahead of them.

As tragic and inappropriate as it may seem (as well as an obvious crime against humanity), the NFC East is in the hunt to place a Wild Card team this season. And not just any Wild Card, but one with the same record as their division champ!

Phil:
Talk about parity in the NFL!

Mike:
Well, after reviewing the records I guess if paritying was the call on the field then it would likely stand.

Jim:
So if they finish tied up at, say, 5-11, who would be the division champion?

Mike:
Well, if it were up to my wife, it’d be the Giants because of those slick white uniforms they wore on Thanksgiving.

Jim:
You mean the Cowboys? I’m asking about the [*Redacted] s and Giants, as they lead the division.

Mike:
Oh, I meant green. Slick green uniforms. The camera angle really is inconclusive and with the glare when you’re looking under the replay hood at the Microsoft Pro Surface Tablet Pro 2 with new Intel Core processing technology and the power to —

Phil:
For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume Chip Kelly has inked a contract with Georgia by Week 14 and it’s a two-team race.

Mike:
In that case, the division champion would be decided by head-to-head play. Since the teams are 1-1 against each other, the next tie-breaker is division record. The Giants can end, at best, 3-3 in the division. But they will lose that game to the Eagles and end up 2-4. The [*Redacted] s are at 2-1 in the East and have three division games left, including two against Dallas. I think it’s safe to say that they will lose all those games and end at 2-4.

Jim:
How are you so confident about the outcome of these games, Mike?

Mike:
Well, for one thing, the Giants play down to their opponents like a MFer. Remember when they gave up 52 to the Saints before losing to NE by only one point? They’re a good to take to cover the spread and that’s it.

PHEEEEL :
Uhhhh, as an announcer, isn’t a conflict of interest to be gambling on NFL action?

Mike:
It’s okay. I just gamble in the Fox or NBC one-day fantasy leagues. That’s promo code Bazinga. That’s….Bazinga. Sign up today!

Jim:
So if they tie on division records too, then what?

Mike:
Third tiebreaker is record in common games. So far they’ve both played the Saints and the Bucs but I’m not going to go any deeper into this because I don’t really know who is in which league since they moved Houston to the AL West.

Jim:
Mike I actually think we’re still discussing —

Mike:
Which brings us to records in conference games. Per above, you can see that I don’t know much beyond holding up the call on the field so we’ll say that’s a tie and move to tiebreaker number five, strength of victory.

PHEEEEL:

?

Mike:
This has never made sense to me because teams don’t play against non-NFL opponents. The aggregate record of the league is .500 so it’s a tie and always goes to number six, strength of schedule.

PHEEEEL:

Mike:
Same problem as with five; across a 17 week season, the league strength approaches average, whatever symbol represents that.

PHEEEEL:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mike:
So then you get into these convoluted details about combined points scored versus allowed in conference games and net points in games and touchdowns scored. Frankly, it just seems like a lot of stats that are, frankly, judgement calls on the field and not reviewable.

Jim:
I think those are actually hard number figures that are tracked throughout the season.

Mike:
Well, just those are hard number figures that are tracked throughout the season and, as they are all the same, you’re going to end up doing a coin flip to determine the NFC East champion.

Jim:
Well that’s great, Mike. We’re always glad to have you available to pick your brain about what we’re seeing out there. And, as we wait for the officials to huddle up and decide the call here, we remind you that this segment is brought to you by State Farm’s Discount Double-Check. Are you Discount Double-Checking your rates? See how to now at www.StateFarm.Com/DiscountDoubleCheck.html

PHEEEEL:
It’s a passing league.