4 Worst Case Postseason Scenarios for the New York Giants

After beating the Dallas Cowboys in their stadium—for the third time in three tries—the New York Giants find themselves in great position to make the playoffs.

However, they have been in this position before. Through the eighth week of the season the Giants were 6-2 with a two game lead in the division and in the driver's seat.

They went on to lose four straight and had to fight and claw from 12 points down against the Cowboys just to tie them in terms of record.

With both teams at 7-6 anything can happen, but this slideshow will look at the worst case playoff scenarios for the Giants.

Win the Division but Face the Falcons in the Playoffs

Of the remaining wild card teams in the running, the team that scares me the most is easily the Falcons.

Honestly the Giants stack up well against the Falcons, Lions, Cowboys, and Bears, but the Falcons would be the team I would least want to face if I'm the Giants.

It almost is a process of elimination with a combination of the Falcons playing good football.

The Bears likely will not make it as they are in a tail spin without Matt Forte and Jay Cutler. The Lions have lost five of their last eight games and barely escaped with a win over the 2-11 Vikings—they were bailed out by a ridiculous no-call facemask on a play that led to the game sealing fumble.

The Cowboys are a division rival and the Giants have won four of the last five meetings—four in a row against Tony Romo.

The Falcons present a problem for the Giants in that they are incredibly balanced on offense and are prone to hit huge plays in the passing game with their terrific wide receivers.

Plus, they have Tony Gonzalez and teams with great tight ends have killed the Giants this season. He, Julio Jones, Roddy White, and the Falcons run game would be able to move the ball very well against the Giants defense that has struggled of late.

If I'm the Giants, I would actually be rooting for the Lions to finish in the No. 5 seed.

Lose the Division, Make the Playoffs as the 6 Seed and Face the 49ers

This seems like the least likely of situations given that the Lions and Falcons are both in the wild card spots with 8-5 records.

Despite having a small edge in the division race, it is still possible that the Giants could lose out to the Cowboys.

So if either the Falcons or Lions collapse and the Giants get in the playoffs as the last seed, then they would likely be facing the 49ers or Saints on the road.

In their matchup with the 49ers on the road this season, the Giants were a late fourth down conversion on the five yard line away from tying the game. They came up just short and lost the game 27-20. 

I am not going to say the Giants would have no chance, because we have seen what they can do in the playoffs on the road, but they would definitely be underdogs.

Lose the Division, Make the Playoffs as the 6 Seed and Face the Saints

This is the same scenario discussed in the previous slide, but instead of the 49ers being the No. 3 seed you have the Saints.

Both the 49ers and Saints are sitting at 10-3 right now so the NFC second seed is still up for grabs.

There may not be a better home team in the NFL right now than the New Orleans Saints, and there also might not be a worse matchup for the New York Giants than the Saints.

They have proven that time and time again over the years as Drew Brees has never lost to the Giants, and the Saints have blown out the Giants in the last two meetings.

In their Week 12 matchup, the Saints ran the Giants out of their building with nearly 600 yards of offense in a 49-24 blowout.

If this scenario plays out, there is no way the Giants pull out a miracle.

Miss the Playoffs Altogether

This one seems fairly obvious—if the Giants were to lose enough games down the stretch to miss the playoffs, heads are going to roll.

The Giants organization will not tolerate missing the playoffs three seasons in a row. Under this scenario I see multiple coaches losing their jobs, most notably Tom Coughlin and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride.

Unless management is in love with one of the fantastic names on the coaching free agent market (Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden, Jeff Fisher), Perry Fewell could emerge as a head coaching candidate. He hasn't done the greatest job on defense this year, but let's remember what he's had to work with.

He is a fiery coach and seems like he could be a great motivator as the head coach.

That said, everyone thought Coughlin was gone after last season so you never know what is going through owner John Mara's mind.