Week 10 of the 2016 NFL season has not yet concluded, with the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants set to square off on Monday night, and there is a lot that could still happen in the final seven weeks. But there are only a handful of teams that have a realistic shot at making it to Houston to play in Super Bowl LI.
In the AFC, the New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders are still the favorites to represent their conference as of now, despite the Patriots losing a tough game Sunday night to the Seattle Seahawks and the Raiders having had their bye this week. The Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs deserve to be in the discussion (no team in the AFC North, including the Pittsburgh Steelers look capable of making it to Houston), but the Patriots and Raiders look to be better bets right now.
The Dallas Cowboys and Seahawks are the favorites to come out of the NFC, with maybe the Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals joining the discussion (no team in the NFC North, including the Green Bay Packers or Minnesota Vikings appear they truly have the pieces to make a Super Bowl run). With all of that, Super Bowl LI could easily be a matchup of the NFL’s two most polarizing teams, the Patriots and Cowboys. That Super Bowl would be great for the NFL.
New England Patriots vs. Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl LI Matchup Highly Likely
Ratings
Sunday produced some great and compelling football games. The best of the bunch included the Cowboys (great win in an incredible game in a late afternoon showdown with the Steelers in Pittsburgh) and Patriots (tough loss at home to the Seahawks). Both games featured seven lead changes and came down to the wire.
The ratings for the NFL have been down a little this season for a myriad of reasons (an unprecedented race to be the next President of the United States, the NFL trying to stomp out any and all fun in their league, no Peyton Manning, no Tom Brady for the first four games, among others). But a Patriots vs. Cowboys matchup would be fantastic and could change all of that in an instant. True, the Super Bowl is already the most watched game every year, but each fan base is incredibly passionate and both teams (and maybe their fans too) are polarizing. Almost all NFL fans either love or love to loathe these two teams.
Odds for Home Field Advantage
Technically the Patriots, who have +250 Super Bowl odds, are still the favorites. But the Cowboys have the second best odds at +500. Both teams feature the two players who are front runners for MVP (Brady and Ezekiel Elliot), though Raiders signal caller Derek Carr deserves strong MVP consideration.
Chances to Win Respective Division
The Patriots have the best quarterback in the league (Brady), the best tight end in the NFL (Rob Gronkowski) and the best coach in the league (Bill Belichick). They also have a very good and powerful running back in LeGarrette Blount. New England also plays in a pretty weak division, despite the Miami Dolphins currently enjoying a four game win streak. The Patriots are sitting at 7-2, with the Dolphins sitting in second place at 5-4, the Buffalo Bills in third at 4-5 and the New York Jets in last at 3-7.
New England’s schedule the rest of the way is far from difficult (at San Francisco 49ers, at Jets, vs. Los Angeles Rams, vs. Baltimore Ravens, at Broncos, vs. Jets and at Dolphins).
Dallas has a talented rookie quarterback in Dak Prescott, who does not appear to be anywhere near relinquishing his starting role back to Tony Romo. The Cowboys also have a rookie running back in Elliott who is the clear Offensive Rookie of the Year as of now and a possible MVP candidate. Not only that, but they also have the best offensive line in football as well as Jason Witten, who is still one of the better tight ends in the league. In addition, the defense is playing better than a lot of people expected. The Cowboys are also sitting pretty in their division, at 8-1. The Giants and Washington Redskins are both 5-3, with the Philadelphia Eagles at 5-4.
The Cowboys remaining schedule is slightly more difficult than the Patriots (vs. Ravens, vs. Washington, at Vikings, at Giants, vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, vs. Detroit Lions, and at Eagles), but those are all winnable games for Dallas.
The Cowboys have more of a cushion when it comes to earning home field throughout the playoffs, while the Patriots have less margin for error, and Belichick’s team not having the number one seed come playoff time has hurt them in recent memory. But there is a really good chance that both teams enter the postseason as the number one seed in their respective conference and fans get a Patriots vs. Cowboys Super Bowl matchup come February.
