Yes, it's the holidays, but apparently the only gift the New Orleans Saints was interested in giving was to the Dallas Cowboys, who defeated the Saints 24-17 Saturday night in a game that now threatens the Giants' already slim playoff hopes.
With the win, Dallas improves their record to 9-5, a full two games over the Giants who play Washington on Monday night. Further, the win solidifies the Cowboys' hold on the sixth and final playoff spot.
Despite their inability to take care of Philadelphia last week, which of course would have made things a lot easier, the Giants are still mathematically in the hunt. The bottom line is they have to finish with an identical record to Dallas to wrest the final playoff spot away from the Cowboys over whom the Giants hold the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to their season sweep.
There are two possible scenarios where both teams can finish with identical records:
1. If the Giants win their final three games and Dallas loses one of their final two games, both teams would finish 10-6.
2. If the Giants win two of their final three games and Dallas loses both of its remaining to games, both teams would finish at 9-7.
The Eagles, by the way, simply need to win one more game in order to eliminate the Giants from winning the NFC East. Remember, Philly has the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Giants.
Dallas has Washington on the road next week and then a big game against the Eagles at home. New York has Washington on the road Monday night, Carolina at home, and then Minnesota on the road.
Speaking of Minnesota, any chance of the Vikings mailing in their season finale against the Giants has pretty much gone out the window as only one loss separates New Orleans from Minnesota for home-field advantage. So you can pretty much be assured that the Vikings are going to bring everything they have from this pointforward in their quest to gain home field throughout the playoffs.
