2022 Week 8 NFC Kayfabe and Political Rankings

Yeah, I know the game is in progress while I start this, but no sane person is actually thinking Green Bay is going to beat Buffalo (27-10 12:30 in the 4th as I start this -- Danger Will Robinson on the BUF -10.5, though!).

So we can get on with this...

Kayfabe:

NFC East:  Philadelphia 7-0, still the last perfect team.

@HOU, WAS, @IND, GB, TEN...  Yeah, I'd say 12-0 before the December 11th first meeting with the Giants in East Rutherford.

Dallas has the HTH tiebreaker over the Giants at 6-2 with the Giants losing today to Seattle.  There's a common thread in both New York teams losing -- I'll remark it with the Giants' place in the Politicals when I get to it.

NFC North:  I think we can ALMOST crown the Vikings (6-1 and a three-game plus tiebreaker lead over the Packers and Bears) the NFC North champion and save ourselves the time.  Much further will probably require a Cincinnati-style situation, but it's not as implausible as one might first think!

NFC South:  Fairly serious refball and a possible open throwing of the game by a Carolina Panthers player aided Atlanta to actually get to 4-4 -- which is enough to lead, outright, the NFC South.

NFC West:  Seattle, at 5-3, is now the #3 seed in the NFC.  One game up on San Francisco.

Wild cards:  Dallas with the tiebreak over the Giants for the first two at 6-2.

And then...

Hoo boy...

Washington vs. San Francisco for the third.

They don't play.  (Interestingly, Washington actually plays consecutive games against the Giants.  At East Rutherford Dec. 4, then home Dec. 18 after the bye week.)

Conference:  WAS 2-3, SF 4-2.

1. PHI (7-0, NFC East Leader by a game and a half and tiebreakers)
2. MIN (6-1, NFC North Leader by a mile)
3. SEA (5-3, NFC West Leader by a game over SF, but loses the tiebreaker if it gets there)
4. ATL (4-4, NFC South Leader by a game over TB and NO)
5. DAL (6-2, wins divisional tiebreaker over NYG for the spot with the Week 3 win over them)
6. NYG (6-2, loses tiebreaker to DAL HTH)
7. SF (4-4, wins tiebreaker for the final spot by conference record over Washington)

And now the Politicals:

1) Philadelphia

At this point, it's keeping the ship afloat and in the right directions as things go.  They are getting about as dominant in the AFC as Buffalo is in the NFC.  Philadelphia vs. Buffalo does, at this point, appear to be Plans A and B.  That said, there's still about 3 1/2 months to Super Bowl Sunday.

2) Dallas

Now the #2 is over Minnesota for all the reasons Dallas gives.  (Ratings, reputation, merchandising, etc. and so forth and so on)  Same principle, different #3...

3) Minnesota

I could consider putting the Giants over them, and probably should, on a pure political end, but the fact that the Giants are, now, in fact the third best team in the NFC East (and saying that, they ARE 6-2!!!), but Minnesota pretty much can pen in a home playoff game in January, at the rate things are going.

4) NY Giants

As I said above, there is a common thread here, in that both New York teams lost.

The Jets lose when Tua goes 5-0 as a starter, so the NFL's Tua bandwagon, probably one of the most blatant rigs of a rig-filled season, so are the Jets getting out of the way?

And the Giants, the same principle, except we're talking Dallas here.

5) Seattle

What would YOU do, as an NFL fan, for a championship?

6) Washington

And let's put these guys on the list too.  For one malevolent reason:  If, after ALL THIS, the NFL goes against type and actually puts Washington in the playoffs, would this not be 1,000% proof that Dan Snyder DOES have enough dirt on the league to torpedo it?

Just asking for a friend.  Even if she's blocked me on Twitter.

NFC DUD OF THE WEEK AWARD:

Nominees:

Whatever approximated the officiating in the Atlanta-Carolina game, EXCEPT for the winner of this award this week:  How do you miss, with less than 15 seconds to go, that blatant of a defensive pass interference call which could well have given Atlanta a chance to win with a field goal?  As such, I'm making a rare exception to my Last Chance Miss rule and I'm actually adding that -- which makes the game a FIVE-BAGGER.

More on that when I get to the winner.

The LA Rams:  Proving, week by week, more and more, that was a fraud championship and every sane person knows it!

But this week's winner:

CAROLINA'S DJ MOORE, WHO OPENLY THREW NOT ONLY HIS HELMET, BUT THE GAME!

Moore, seconds after an incredible 62 yard touchdown reception to tie the game in Atlanta at 34, removed his helmet over the end line and threw it on the ground.

Whoops.  That's a 15 yard penalty -- on the extra point (as opted!).  The extra point was missed and Carolina had to go to overtime (probably because of further refball -- see above), missing a 33 yard field goal after a pick in overtime, and losing when they get driven on for a Falcon field goal.

THE NFL, TRYING TO SAVE ITSELF FROM EMBARRASSMENT WHEN AN ENTIRE DIVISION GOES TO SHIT

Gotta change it, after further review.  (And that's quite literal -- see the post I just made on that play.)

The NFL had to save it's own ass yesterday, and it definitely went beyond the rulebook to do it.  See the post I made (linked above) for more.  And semi-apologies to Mr. Moore, except that you can't give the officials in a rigged sport the opportunity to rig against you unless you're part fo the rig.

Jake, I got your winner this week.  Let's see if you come to the same conclusion I did.  (Find out in my weekly Further Review post.)