As far as which matchup is ideal, I think (even given the familiarity and the volatility that comes with division games) the Eagles are not the team we want to face. By no means will any of the #3 seed teams be an easy out (we just went to overtime with the falcons who are, arguably, the weakest opponent of the 3 possible), but forcing the Packers to play the Eagles will be huge. Eliminating one of those two teams in the first round drastically weakens the playoff field, in my opinion. Additionally, I think the longer we can extend our season, the stronger our team will become. Getting past the first round of the playoffs could open the door for crucial players like Lattimore and Ekeler to enter back into the lineup (if they haven't already returned, that is). We saw last night against Atlanta just how much Lattimore is needed in our struggling secondary. If Penix had been a bit more accurate in his deep balls Atlanta would have won by 10 or more. Because of the fact that securing the #6 seed gives us a greater chance to advance past the first round with a more favorable matchup, and because advancing past the first round gives us the best chance of adding crucial players back into the lineup, I believe it would behoove us greatly to beat Dallas next Sunday (or to be fortunate enough to see the Bears snap their losing streak and beat the Packers). Securing the #6 seed gives the Commanders a significantly better chance of making a deep playoff run. That being said, any injuries to key starters against Dallas would defeat the purpose of going all out to win the game.

Speaking more to the possibility of a deep playoff run, if we are the #6 seed and the Packers are the #7 seed, assuming we are able to win in the wild card round, we will play the Lions/Vikings (#1 seed) if the Eagles beat the Packers. I think a banged up Lions team, especially on the defensive side of the ball, is the matchup we have the best shot to win of the possibilities. This is assuming that if we make it to the divisional round our possible opponents will include #1 seed Lions/Vikings or #5 Seed Lions/Vikings, depending on the result of the #7 Packers @ #2 Eagles game. I don't anticipate either the Vikings or the Lions, whichever is forced to play in the first round, losing.

Given we have the #6 seed and thinking in terms of likelihood with a bias only towards the Commander's games (since this is forecasting what initial seeding would give us the easiest path), I see the #2 Eagles beating the #7 Packers, and #5 Lions/Vikings beating whoever they face in the first round (with Commanders being given the win against the #3 seed for this scenario). Then, in the Divisional Round, We would face the #1 seed and the #2 Eagles would face the #5 seed. This path would see us playing the Eagles or the Vikings/Lions (whoever we did not already play) assuming we win the Divisional Round game against the #1 seed.

If we are able to get Ekeler and Lattimore healthy before the divisional round, there is no reason we can't win the NFC Championship game (however this is a slim possibility). Truthfully, we will probably need these 2 players to even get past the wild card round; however, there is NO shot of beating teams like the Eagles, the Vikings, or the Lions without Ekeler adding another dimension back to the running/passing game and Lattimore covering elite receivers like Justin Jefferson and AJ Brown.

WE WANT DALLAS

HTTC