Giants' Playoff Chances On Life Support, Odell Beckham Injury Update Heading Into Week 15

Believe it or not, the New York Giants have yet to be eliminated from the NFL playoff picture. The team will play at least one more meaningful game with three weeks left in the 2018 regular season.

New York kept their slim postseason chances alive with a dominant 40-16 victory over the Washington Redskins Sunday. Of course, with a 5-8 record, the Giants would still need a mini-miracle in order to stay in the race for much longer.

The Giants can no longer win the NFC East, which has been all but clinched by the Dallas Cowboys. That leaves New York eying a wild-card spot as their only path to keep playing beyond Week 17.

Any chance the Giants have to stay in hunt would go out the window with a loss. New York needs to win the rest of their games, making it extremely important for Odell Beckham Jr. to get back on the field. The wide receiver missed the Week 14 victory with a lingering quad injury after he practiced for most of the week.

“I don’t know,’’ Giants head coach Pat Shurmur said when asked how much time Beckham might miss, via The New York Post. “I am not worried about it right now. I think he will do what he can to come back next week.’’

The No.5 seed Seattle Seahawks (7-5) will host the No.6 seed Minnesota Vikings (6-5-1) on “Monday Night Football.’’ A loss for the underdog Vikings would put the Giants only 1.5 games out of the postseason.

Let’s assume that Seattle takes care of business at home. Where does that put the Giants in the NFC playoff picture?

There would still be five teams in between Minnesota and New York. The Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles and Redskins are all 6-6. The Green Bay Packers are 5-7-1 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 5-8.

Carolina could very well fall short of eight wins since they’ve got two games left with the New Orleans Saints. Philadelphia might up end below .500, too, since they’ll play first-place teams over the next two weeks when they face the Los Angeles Rams and Houston Texans. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Washington lose the rest of the games now that they are down to their fourth quarterback.

Green Bay is a 6.5-point underdog in Week 15, per OddsShark, against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Tampa Bay will be a heavy underdog in each of the next two weeks when they visit the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas.

That still leaves Minnesota, who are favorite at home against the Miami Dolphins Sunday. The Vikings will visit the Detroit Lions and host Chicago to end the season The Lions are also 5-8, but New York has the tiebreaker because they’ve got a better conference record.

Tiebreakers might doom the Giants if they somehow managed to end the regular season with a .500 record and finish with a share of sixth place in the conference. New York lost in Carolina earlier this season, and Philadelphia beat them in both head-to-head meetings.

The Giants did beat the Buccaneers head-to-head. New York and Washington split their season series, but Washington will have the better conference record no matter what happens the rest of the way.

The Tennessee Titans are 2.5-point road underdogs against the Giants in Week 15. New York will visit the Indianapolis Colts in Week 16 and conclude the season at home against Dallas.