The Arizona Cardinals set themselves back for an early round bye with their 1-3 start, but after going 2-0-1, now I know what writing about hockey is like, and getting to 3-3-1 on the season they have put themselves in a nice position for a wild card berth in 2016.

The question becomes whether or not they can sneak in front of the Seattle Seahawks, who look absolutely dreadful offensively, or if they will be battling teams in the NFC North and NFC East, I am calling the NFC South over for the Cardinals since they get to play all of those teams.

Here are the week 8 NFC Playoff standings and where the Arizona Cardinals factor in, even with that ugly tie hanging over them.

Dallas Cowboys 5-1

Minnesota Vikings 5-1

Seattle Seahawks 4-1-1

Atlanta Falcons 4-3

NFC Wild Cards:

Green Bay Packers 4-2

Philadelphia Eagles 4-2

In the Hunt:

Detroit Lions 4-3

Washington Redskins 4-3

New York Giants 4-3

Arizona Cardinals 3-3-1

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3-3

Los Angeles Rams 3-4

New Orleans Saints 2-4

Carolina Panthers 1-5

Not Technically Out:

Chicago Bears 1-6

San Francisco 49ers 1-6

The Arizona Cardinals can really help themselves this weekend with a win over the Carolina Panthers, and as Cardinals fans we will be rooting for the Houston Texans to take down the Lions and the Cincinnati Bengals to take down the Redskins.

The Giants are on a bye week, and I honestly don’t know how this tie will effect the standings between the Cardinals and Giants with a Cardinals win.

The Packers take on the Falcons, so we are cheering for the Falcons, because someone has to win the NFC South and like I said earlier, the Cardinals can control their own destiny with the NFC South teams, so just let the Falcons win the division and their head-to-head later in the year won’t have any wild card tie breaking implications win or lose (hopefully).

Meanwhile the Eagles take on the Cowboys, so we are Cowboys fans for one week, even if it is early.

Check out the FiveThirtyEight Playoff cheat sheet, I asked Nate Silver how the tie makes this thing work, apparently he’s busy covering some election.