Seattle also lost to St. Louis, who Dallas also beat. And, who cares about everyone healthy and clicking. Had Tony Romo been healthy, Dallas had a very good chance of beating Arizona. The Dallas D really played well and their O was just awful under Weeden. But, who cares about that?
The wildcard set up is stupid in the event of a 3+ way tie and all don't have head to head games. Seattle with an identical record as Dallas should lose to them, regardless of other teams. The tie breaker should be head to head, and Seattle loses that.
smackababy, before I point out the issues with your argument, I will give you & Dallas this:
Head-to-Head: Dallas 1, Seattle 0
Tip the hat to Dallas, if it is a 2 way tie between Dallas and Seattle (either for wildcard seeding or for division winners) then Dallas
EARNED a higher seed based on head-to-head. This is why Seattle has Zero margin down the stretch: Going 11-5 could result in a tie with Dallas for the last seed in the NFC in which case Dallas has earned the 6th seed. End of debate.
Those are the rules for head-to-head ties when all participants in the tie have played each other. Both teams know that and Seattle's
superior Conference (7-2 vs. 6-4) and Common Opponent records (5-1 vs. 2-4) be damned. It won't matter a lick that Seattle bested, and Dallas lost to, San Fran, Washington, Arizona,
and Philadelphia.
And there is a very real chance we could see Philly win the NFC East and have a 2 way Dallas/Seattle tie for the 6th seed (i.e. GB/Detroit go 12-4). In which case Seattle will be an 11-5 team sitting at home which would be a darned shame seeing as Seattle had a strong strength of schedule with a great conference and common opponent record compared to playoffs teams. Maybe Seattle should have stopped that 3rd&20 against Dallas?
But that is as far as the Dallas argument goes.
Based on the seeding rules if there is a >2 way tie head-to-head only applies if all teams played.
If not the seeding falls to common opponent and conference record. Just as Seattle knew ahead of time the above doomsday scenario Dallas has known all along they need to win a lot of conference and common opponent games--better yet win your division. If Dallas gets snubbed at 11-5 due to a 3-way tie they have no one to blame but themselves for sucking in the Conference and losing a ton of common opponent games.
The rules actually make sense. If there are 2 teams tied with the same record you go head-to-head. If there are >2 teams tied you check head-to-head and if all 3 teams played the top seed is the best head-to-head record. In this case Detroit played neither Dallas or Seattle so head-to-head isn't "level" across the board. You can argue Dallas beat Seattle but you don't know if Detroit played Dallas and Seattle that Detroit beats Dallas and Seattle bests Detroit.
You just don't. So the rules fall to something that can be measured.
Just as Seattle knows they lose out head-to-head and needed to win that game Dallas has known they need to avoid a >2 way tie as their common opponent and conference record
is not good. Per the rules and how it breaks out at this time (almost certain to change as all 3 have major division games against playoff eligible teams):
Tie Breaker #1. Seattle and Detroit are ahead of Dallas based on conference record (Lions' 7-2 and Seahawks' 7-2 to the Cowboys' 6-4).
Dallas needs to/should have won more conference games.
Tie Breaker #2. Seattle is ahead of Detroit based on common games record (4-0 to the Lions' 2-2).
Detroit needs to/should have won more games against common opponents.
Tie Breaker #3. Detroit is ahead of Dallas based on conference record (7-2 to the Cowboys' 6-4).
Dallas needs to/should have won more conference games.
RE: Dallas beating St. Louis. So you are hanging your hat on the St. Louis victory? The "transitive" properties theory doesn't work that way. But as a Seattle fan if that is the argument we are all in because Seattle has done much better than Dallas in Common Opponents.
Looking at common opponents between Seattle and Dallas:
Dallas Beat: St. Louis,
NY Giants
Dallas Lost: San Fran, Washington, Arizona, Philadelphia
Seattle Beat: San Fran, Washington, Arizona, Philadelphia,
NY Giants
Seattle Lost: St. Louis
Looking at common opponents
Seattle is 5-1 whereas
Dallas is a middling 2-4.
So using your argument:
Dallas >
St. Louis > Seattle
But looking at the entire schedule:
Seattle >
San Fran, Washington, Arizona, Philadelphia > Dallas
Seattle has beat EVERY team Dallas has lost to.
The wildcard setup is fine. Dallas won't be happy in the current 3 way tie; Seattle won't be happy if they go 11-5 and miss the dance. Maybe one/both should have just won their division? Or gone 12-4? It stinks that Philly/Dallas catabolize each other, ditto Green Bay/Detroit and Arizona/Seattle/San Fran/St Louis do the same while the NFC South could see a 6-10 team make the dance. But those are also the rules, too.