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Danny O'Neil covers the Seahawks for The Seattle Times.

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December 1, 2010 at 6:18 PM

Playoff breakdown

There are a lot of adjectives you can apply to the NFC West, the most euphemistic of them being "competitive."

Two games separate the four teams in the standings, and given the fact that none of those four teams are currently above .500, it promises to be exciting if nothing else.

The easiest remaining schedule? Arizona, far and away. The Cardinals play three of the next five at home and the only way they'll play a team with a winning record the rest of the way is if the 49ers win four in a row and are 8-7 entering Week 16.

The Cardinals also have the most ground to make up. They trail by two games, and likely would have to finish a full game ahead of Seattle to reach the playoffs since the Seahawks own a head-to-head tiebreaker by virtue of their two wins. If those two teams were part of a three-way tie for first place, division record becomes the first tiebreaker. The Cardinals are 1-3 in the division -- the worst division record of all NFC West teams -- while at 3-2 in the division, Seattle has the best.

But we'll have plenty of time to monitor the race as it develops. For now, here's the start of playoff watch:


Overall record	5-6	5-6	4-7	3-8

Division record	3-1	1-2	2-1	1-3

Conference record	4-3	3-5	2-6	2-6

Home games left	3	2	2	3

Combined record of remaining opponents	26-29	27-28	26-29	16-39

Remaining opponents	Carolina (1-10)	at Arizona (3-8)	at Green Bay (7-4)	St. Louis (5-6)
	at San Francisco (4-7)	at New Orleans (8-3)	Seattle (5-6)	Denver (3-8)
	Atlanta (9-2)	Kansas City (7-4)	at San Diego (6-5)	at Carolina (1-10)
	at Tampa Bay (7-4)	San Francisco (4-7)	at St. Louis (5-6)	Dallas (3-8)
	St. Louis (5-6)	at Seattle (5-6)	Arizona (3-8)	at 49ers (4-7)