NFL 2015: In NFC, of Seahawks, Packers and Cowboys, only one can escape play-off pain

Greg Patton previews the 2015 National Football Conference, where the best teams of a year ago were best characterised by their brutal season endings – an inevitable fate that still awaits for at least two.

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, shown during their 28-24 loss in the 2015 Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. David Goldman / AP / February 1, 2015

The three best teams in the National Football Conference – the Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys – ended their final games last season with something in common: a wave of nausea after certain victory was snatched from their grasp.

Most infamously, the Seahawks left the Super Bowl in shock, after coach Pete Carroll opted for a game-deciding pass play at the New England Patriots 1-yard line – a foiled strategy that was dissected, blasted and ridiculed by hundreds of millions of expert onlookers.

The Packers were wondering why they were not playing in the game, having fumbled away a routine onside kick and allowed Seattle to complete a furious fourth-quarter rally in the NFC championship game.

The Cowboys were still smarting over their loss to Green Bay the week before that, amazed that a critical late-game catch at the goal line by Dez Bryant was ruled incomplete by review officials.

Detroit Lions fans will tell you Dallas survived Round 1 of the play-offs only because the referees made an even more controversial reversal of a (non-reviewable) pass interference penalty against the Cowboys.

So it goes for anyone thinking they are smart enough to predict where the new season will end up. The NFL is often a woulda-coulda-shoulda kind of sport, with a preponderance of games coming down to the final seconds. Half of all NFL games are won by a one-possession margin (eight points or fewer).

That is one botched play here, a penalty there or one mental error spelling the difference between victory and defeat.

At least there is a season of 16 games, which tends to balance the breaks and separate the superior teams from the shabby. Take heart, Seattle, Green Bay and Dallas. You all should have another chance at the post-season, returning with your wounded psyches and bent on redemption.

Who will join them in the hunt? There is an entire middle class of teams who are looking up. Detroit made a run to the play-offs a year ago with some previously unseen defence, but they have lost key members of the unit, including defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. The Lions likely will tangle with the Minnesota Vikings’ youth movement for second place behind Green Bay in the North.

The Arizona Cardinals have 21 wins and a play-off appearance in the past two seasons, but they would not draw national attention even if quarterback Carson Palmer played in a Lady Gaga headpiece. Sharing the West division with two-time Super Bowl team Seattle and the kings of drama, the San Francisco 49ers, might have something to do with it. Nevertheless, they look like a play-off team again.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have turned to No 1 draft pick Jameis Winston to lead them out of a seven-year play-off drought, giving him a chance to match the feat of recent rookie quarterbacks Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin III. It might seem possible in the NFC South, a division that produced no winning teams in 2014 and still seems awash in flaws and mediocrity.

On the other hand, does it seem likely that a rookie would lead the division pack over quarterbacks such as Drew Brees of New Orleans, Matt Ryan of Atlanta and Cam Newton of Carolina?

Dallas will be tested in the East by the Philadelphia Eagles, who are re-booting their hurry-up offence behind a newcomer, oft-injured quarterback Sam Bradford.

After the funny bounces, missed calls and fluky plays settle, the division winners will be Seattle, Green Bay, Philadelphia and Carolina. The wild cards will go to Arizona and Dallas.

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