NFL RECAP WEEK 15 AND SCENARIOS FOR WEEK 16

Cardinals at Rams

Cardinal kicker Chandler Catanzaro kicked four field goals as the Cardinals defeated the Rams 12-6 on Thursday Night Football.”They were not near our quarterback,” Bruce Arians, coach of the Cardnils said after the 12-6 victory “Everybody talking all that stuff about how great their defense is, they saw a good defense tonight. It was in red and white.” The problem was, quarterback Drew Stanton was injured for Arizona, meaning they’ll be down to their third string quarterback the rest of the way.

Cowboys at Eagles

DeMarco Murray had a couple of touchdowns, Dez Bryant caught three more and the Cowboys moved ahead of the Eagles in the NFC East race with a 38-27 win on Sunday Night.”Just came out poised. I was focused,” Bryant said. “We knew that this game was going to be big. We’re not really out trying to prove nothing to nobody. We’re trying to stay together, play together and understand from here on out it’s big games. We’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to block everybody else out. We can’t be in to all of that.”

Saints at Bears

Drew Brees threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns and the Saints crushed the struggling Bears 31-15 to jump into first place in the NFC South. The Saints control their own destiny to get a playoff spot. New Orleans, who is currently 6-8 has the Falcons and the Buccs left on the docket. “I think we’ve shown a couple times we can handle adversity,” Brees said. “Let’s make sure we can handle success, too.”

NFL PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

AFC SCENARIOS:		NFC SCENARIOS:
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS NEW ENGLAND can clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with: 1) NE win + DEN loss NEW ENGLAND can clinch a first-round bye with: 1) NE win 2) NE tie + IND loss or tie 3) IND loss + CIN loss or tie + PIT loss or tie + BAL loss or tie DENVER BRONCOS DENVER can clinch a first-round bye with: 1) DEN win 2) DEN tie + IND loss or tie CINCINNATI BENGALS CINCINNATI can clinch the AFC North division title with: 1) CIN win + PIT loss + BAL loss or tie CINCINNATI can clinch a playoff berth with: 1) CIN win 2) CIN tie + BAL loss 3) CIN tie + KC loss or tie + SD loss or tie 4) KC loss + SD loss + BUF loss or tie PITTSBURGH STEELERS PITTSBURGH can clinch a playoff berth with: 1) PIT win BALTIMORE RAVENS BALTIMORE can clinch a playoff berth with: 1) BAL win + PIT loss + CIN loss 2) BAL win + KC loss or tie + SD loss or tie 3) BAL tie + KC loss + SD loss + BUF loss or tie		ARIZONA CARDINALS ARIZONA can clinch the NFC West division title and home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs with: 1) ARI win DETROIT LIONS DETROIT can clinch the NFC North with: 1) DET win + GB loss DETROIT can clinch a first-round bye with: 1) DET win + GB loss + DAL loss DETROIT can clinch a playoff spot with: 1) DET win 2) DET tie + PHI loss or tie 3) PHI loss DALLAS COWBOYS DALLAS can clinch the NFC East division title with: 1) DAL win + PHI loss or tie 2) DAL tie + PHI loss DALLAS can clinch a playoff berth with: 1) DAL win + GB loss or tie + DET loss or tie as long as both don’t tie SEATTLE SEAHAWKS SEATTLE can clinch a playoff spot with: 1) SEA win + PHI loss or tie 2) SEA win + DET loss or tie 3) SEA win + GB loss or tie 4) SEA tie + PHI loss 5) SEA tie + DET loss + GB loss 6) PHI loss + DAL win or tie GREEN BAY PACKERS GREEN BAY can clinch a playoff spot with: 1) GB win + PHI loss or tie 2) GB win + DAL win or tie 3) GB tie + PHI loss 4) GB tie + PHI tie + DAL win or tie 5) PHI loss + DAL win or tie NEW ORLEANS SAINTS NEW ORLEANS can clinch the NFC South division title with: 1) NO win + CAR loss

CURRENT AFC CLINCHES:		CURRENT NFC CLINCHES:
INDIANAPOLIS — AFC South division title (Week 15) NEW ENGLAND — AFC East division title (Week 15) DENVER — AFC West division title (Week 15)		ARIZONA — playoff berth (Week 15)