A few things happened in Week 15 that caused us to reshuffle our playoff projections.
Here's how the playoff field looks right now entering Week 16 of the NFL season, with the Arizona Cardinals still sitting atop the NFC field with home-field advantage and the Super Bowl being played on their home turf.
However, with the Cardinals' shaky quarterback situation (and injuries elsewhere), we're projecting a new team landing the coveted top seed — the Seattle Seahawks — in advance of their meeting with the Cards this weekend.
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Losses by the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles and victories by the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints also tilted those respective divisional races and the wildcard picture. One double-digit team will miss the field entirely, and right now it's the Eagles on the outside looking in.
With that in mind, here's how the first-round matchups could end up looking if our projections are accurate.
Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys: Yes, the Cowboys still need to firm up a postseason bid, but we think they have a great chance to take the NFC East and host this intriguing matchup of the Cowboys' offensive prowess against the fine defense of the Lions — specifically, the Lions' stout run defense (tops in the league) against the league's leading rusher in DeMarco Murray, assuming he has no complications from his left hand injury. Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan spent the past several years calling plays for the Lions, so he certainly would have some intel on how to slow down Calvin Johnson, Matthew Stafford and the Lions' offense, too. Johnson and Dez Bryant would be a fun postseason showcase of two of the NFL's premiere wideouts.
Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints: The fact that Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians appeared very optimistic about Drew Stanton's health this week, we'd have to think that Stanton would have an excellent chance to quarterback them — and boy, they'd need it, even against a lesser defense — in this game. The Cardinals are 4-3 on the road, and the Saints are a fairly stunning 3-4 at home right now, but the Saints whipped the Green Bay Packers at the Superdome, and the Cardinals earned an impressive victory over the Cowboys away from home, so don't assume the worst. These teams met in this building in the 2009 postseason — Kurt Warner's final NFL game — en route to the Saints' first and only Super Bowl victory.
Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts: This would be a rematch of the teams that met at Lucas Oil Stadium back in Week 5, an ugly 20-13 win by the Colts that featured four field goals, one passing touchdown in 87 combined pass attempts between Andrew Luck and Joe Flacco and an interception by none other than Ravens defensive lineman Haloti Ngata, who would be scheduled to return from his four-game suspension for this playoff game. Colts head coach Chuck Pagano was the Ravens' defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2011, so it would be another chance for him to beat his former team.
Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers: The Bengals actually lead the AFC North right now, but we think the multiple-personality Steelers have the firepower to overtake them and earn home field in this battle. Heinz Field is where these teams will meet in Week 17, so we could have rare back-to-back games between teams — and on the same field. (The Bengals also lost to the Steelers in Week 14 in Cincinnati, 42-21, so that would mean they'd have met three times in a 28- or 29-day span, depending on the playoff schedule.) Including the Week 14 result, the Steelers have beaten the Bengals 22 of the past 30 times they've met, which included one playoff game — during the 2005 postseason, the game where Carson Palmer tore his ACL and the Bengals blew a halftime lead to lose, 31-17.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
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