Time for the preview of this week’s upcoming games. This week will be about the NFC East – there’s a weird dynamic developing where the beatpaths system thinks that the NFC East is very different than they look in the standings. Some of it is supported by the fact that Washington has such a strong NFC conference record. But the general sense is that the NFC East and the Giants just aren’t as good as they seem – Minnesota could end up ranked ahead of all of them. But if the NFC East and the Giants can turn it around and prove some quality this week – with Dallas beating Carolina and the Giants beating Washington – then the very key MIN=>NYG beatwin would disappear, the NFC East will rise, and the graph will look a lot different. Otherwise, Washington will dominate.

Here’s Week 15′s beatpath graph:

And, the games:

Atlanta at Tampa Bay: If Atlanta wins, they split with Tampa Bay and regain credit for their win over the Jets, which won’t help them much. If Tampa Bay wins, they get a beatpath to Atlanta.

Buffalo at Cincinnati: If Buffalo wins, something crazy happens. We experience the re-emergence of some four-team beatloops for the first time in weeks, and several teams lose credit for victories: CIN=>MIN, MIN=>NO, NO=>BUF, CIN=>CHI, CHI=>NO, CIN=>GB, GB=>NO, CHI=>CAR, CAR=>BUF, CHI=>ATL, ATL=>BUF, and of course BUF=>CIN. In other words, it would be very, very weird if Buffalo won. If the Bengals win, they reinforce an existing beatpath.

Dallas at Carolina: If Dallas wins, they develop a beatpath to Carolina, and in turn to the Giants through Minnesota. This would make the NFC East rankings almost completely upside down compared to the current standings (although Philadelphia would still be last). If Carolina wins, they get a beatpath to Dallas.

Detroit at New Orleans: If Detroit wins, they reinforce an existing beatpath. If NO wins, it creates a four-team beatloop of NO=>DET=>BAL=>GB=>NO, and all those wins get removed.

Jacksonville at Houston: Jacksonville reinforces an existing beatpath if they win. If Houston wins, they simply split the series with Jacksonville and cancel out Jacksonville’s invisible direct beatwin over Houston.

Giants at Washington: If the Giants win, they develop a beatpath over Washington. Interestingly, if this result is combined with Dallas beating Carolina, a pretty amazing thing happens in the graph where the Giants finally shed their beatloss to Minnesota (although the Giants win over Washington won’t count anymore). Both wins would need to happen for the NFC East to prove that it’s good enough not to be under Minnesota’s thumb. If Washington wins, they split with the Giants, and WAS=>SEA=>NYG re-emerges. This is a very, very big week for the NFC East.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland: If Pittsburgh wins, they reinforce an existing beatwin to Cleveland.. If Cleveland wins, they split with Pittsburgh and shed the beatloss.

San Diego at Kansas City: If San Diego wins, they get a beatpath to Kansas City. If Kansas City wins, they split with San Diego and regain credit for their win over Miami.

San Francisco at St. Louis: If San Francisco wins, they actually get a beatpath over St. Louis because they’ve already beaten St. Louis once this season. If St. Louis wins, they split the season series and bust two beatloops. St. Louis regains credit for beating Tennessee, Tennessee regains credit for beating San Francisco, and Jacksonville regains credit for defeating San Francisco, although that one won’t show up on the graph since it’s redundant.

Tennessee at Miami: If Tennessee wins, it obliterates the MIA=>OAK=>TEN beatpath segment. If Miami wins, it reinforces an existing beatpath.

Philadelphia at Arizona: If Philadelphia wins, they develop a beatpath to Arizona. If Arizona wins, they develop a beatpath to Philadelphia. A rare simple scenario.

Indianapolis at Seattle: If Indianapolis wins, they develop a beatpath to Seattle. If Seattle wins, their earlier loss to Jacksonville keeps them from gaining the beatwin, since Indianapolis beat them twice. (Seattle’s avoided suffering under a Jacksonville beatloss because St. Louis beat Jacksonville in Week 8.)

Oakland at Denver: If Oakland wins, they split the series and shed Denver’s direct beatwin to them, but Denver still has an alternate beatpath to Oakland. If Denver wins, they reinforce their direct beatwin over Oakland. No change to the graph either way.

Chicago at Green Bay: A Chicago win reinforces an existing beatpath. A Green Bay win splits the series and removes a direct beatwin from Chicago to Green Bay, but Chicago will still have an alternate beatpath to Green Bay.

Minnesota at Baltimore: A Minnesota win reinforces an existing beatpath. If Baltimore wins, it busts the MIN=>DET=>BAL beatpath, although MIN=>DET would still exist because they’ve beaten Detroit twice. Baltimore could rise above Atlanta in the rankings.

New England at the Jets: If New England wins, they reinforce an existing beatwin over the Jets. If the Jets win, they split the season but New England would still have an alternate beatpath, so no change to the graph either way.