NFL Playoff Standings 2015: Post-Wild Card Rankings and Super Bowl Odds
With Wild Card Weekend officially over, fans can now look ahead to the divisional round and potentially reassess their Super Bowl prediction.
The Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts both advanced from the AFC, joining the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots in the next round. Over in the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers prevailed this weekend, where they'll meet the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks, respectively.
Below are the most recent Super Bowl odds for the eight remaining teams, per Odds Shark.
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| Baltimore Ravens | 41/2 |
| Carolina Panthers | 69/2 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 57/4 |
| Denver Broncos | 543/100 |
| Green Bay Packers | 75/1 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 91/2 |
| New England Patriots | 82/25 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 53/25 |
Vegas oddsmakers are generally a pretty good judge of a team's title chances, but they aren't the sole arbiter in the discussion.
The rankings following this paragraph aren't necessarily reflective of each team's individual strength, but rather a combination of quality and ease of difficulty on the road to the Super Bowl.
1. Seattle Seahawks
Even without the benefit of home-field advantage leading up to the playoffs, the Seattle Seahawks would still make a strong case for being the top team in these rankings. They're the reigning Super Bowl champions and enter the postseason on a six-game winning streak, allowing a combined 39 points during that stretch.
Offensively, Seattle continues to be ruthlessly efficient. Football Outsiders ranked the unit fifth in offensive DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) coming into the playoffs. The Seahawks don't generally light up the scoreboard, but they don't have to when the defense is playing this well.
The only question you have to ask yourself at the moment is this: Can anybody go into Seattle and dethrone the kings?
2. Green Bay Packers
If the Packers had home-field advantage, they'd have to be considered odds-on Super Bowl favorites. But they don't, so they slip down the list a bit.
Aaron Rodgers' home and road splits encapsulate the overarching theme of Green Bay's season.
| Home | 8-0 | 161/240 | 2,334 | 25 | 0 | 133.2 |
| Road | 4-4 | 180/280 | 2,047 | 13 | 5 | 94.2 |
Inside Lambeau Field, the Packers are arguably the best team in the league. Outside Lambeau Field, they're mere mortals, having lost to the Buffalo Bills in Week 15 and before that came a defeat to the New Orleans Saints by 21 points in Week 8.
Green Bay made the trip to Seattle once already this season. While you'd feel safe in predicting that a rematch wouldn't yield such a one-sided result, you'd still forecast a Seahawks victory.
3. New England Patriots
Over the final two weeks of the regular season, the Patriots didn't look the most convincing. They scored 26 points and amassed 491 yards of total offense.
But this is still the top seed in the AFC we're talking about. New England won seemingly every big game on its schedule, with the exception of the loss to the Packers in Green Bay. It owns double-digit wins over the Broncos, Lions and Colts.
With home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Patriots don't have to worry about leaving Gillette Stadium, either, where they won all but one game.
The Pats have made it to at least the conference championship game in each of the last three seasons. When it comes to the postseason, it's never a good idea to bet against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
4. Denver Broncos
The Broncos' running gameโC.J. Anderson in particularโhas looked excellent throughout the second half of the season. Denver's fortunes will still hinge largely on the performance of Peyton Manning, though.
Manning's numbers tailed off toward the end of the regular season, especially in the final four games. He failed to register a single touchdown pass against either the Buffalo Bills or Oakland Raiders, and there was that four-interception debacle against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Denver's road to the Super Bowl might also go through New England, where they lost 43-21 earlier in the year. Manning went 34-of-57 for 438 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in that game. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman also combined for 34 yards on the ground.
If you're looking for a reason to doubt the Broncos, that's it.
5. Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens are the toughest team to rank on this list because so much of their potential rests with Joe Flacco. Like Eli Manning, Flacco can look hapless at times during the regular season, but when the playoffs roll around, he's a completely different guy.
Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman discussed how Flacco's postseason legend is only growing:
"No, he is not the best quarterback in football. But damn, he's terrific, far better than many think.ย The biggest thing with Flacco is that, particularly in the postseason, he's a winner. That is a simple construct, to just say he's a winner in the playoffs, but that's what he is. That's the best way to say it.
Remember, we are only two years removed from when the Ravens beat both the Broncos and the Patriots on the road to advance to the Super Bowl. This is almost old hat for Flacco and the Ravens. He always does stuff like this.
"
In his last five games, the Baltimore quarterback has been nothing short of superb, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Of course, before that incredible Super Bowl run, Flacco had flattered to deceive in the playoffs, throwing for 1,532 yards, eight touchdowns and eight interceptions in nine games. Let's not get too carried away with the praise.
With another strong game from Flacco and a win over the Patriots, the Ravens would position themselves as the top team in the AFC.
6. Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys did extremely well to fight back and eventually beat the Lions on Sunday. The win wasn't exactly commanding, though. Dallas' first and only lead came with two minutes and 32 seconds left in the game, and over the course of the contest, it gained 315 total yards.
Some of the conspiracy theorists will also highlight a few of the questionable refereeing decisions in the fourth quarter, none more so than when the officials picked up a pass interference flag late in the game for no reason that took a first down away from Detroit:
Dallas looked great to close out the regular season but validated many of the criticism lobbied against it heading into the postseason with the nature of its Wild Card Round win.
Avoiding the Seahawks in the divisional round is nice, but the Cowboys still have a steep mountain to climb on their way to Glendale, Arizona.
7. Carolina Panthers
How much of the Panthers' Wild Card Round performance can be chalked up to Ryan Lindley simply not being a very good quarterback? Carolina looked great on Saturday, but it helps when you're playing a third-string quarterback who's clearly out of his depth.
That said, holding any team to 78 total yards in the playoffs is commendable. Per ESPN.com's David Newton:
"We're stifling right now," said Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, per B/R's Michael Schottey. "We're having fun with each other, and we're really loving this game."
Much like with the Seahawks, it doesn't matter so much if the Carolina offense isn't explosive when the defense is playing like that. Cam Newton simply needs to avoid costly turnovers, and getting 100-plus yards on the ground from Jonathan Stewart certainly helps.
8. Indianapolis Colts
It may sound harsh, but it's hard to get excited about the Colts beating Cincinnati. The Bengals are seemingly incapable of advancing past the first round, and Andy Dalton is nothing more than a slightly above-average NFL quarterback, especially when A.J. Green is out.
Give Indianapolis credit for shutting down Jeremy Hill, though. He'd averaged 131.7 yards a game to close out the regular season but had just 47 on Sunday.
The biggest thing going against the Colts is the schedule. They travel to Denver next week and could potentially have to go through the Patriots as well. Unlike the Ravens, Indy hasn't proven itself capable of doing that just yet.
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