With their win in Kansas City, the Chargers threw the AFC West, as well as the AFC playoff picture, in complete turmoil. The Chiefs looked on the verge of securing the AFC West and just about to wrap up home field advantage, when the Chargers suddenly came alive and won in an almost miraculous fashion. Now, both teams are tied for first, and only one game ahead of the Texans, with the Patriots possibly still in contention for home field advantage, as well.
With their win in New York against the Jets, the Texans held steady, Houston remains in the race for a playoff bye, and pretty much have the AFC South all wrapped up. The only question is whether they can keep winning, and if they can perhaps steal home field advantage away from both the Chargers and Chiefs, assuming the Pats also do not win out the rest of their games.
With their win in Denver last night, the Browns reminded us of how dangerous spoiler teams can be at this time of the year. Of course, the Broncos did not help themselves by losing to the lowly 49ers last weekend, and now, with this home loss to the Browns, the Broncos are effectively out of the playoffs and, amazingly, the Browns move ahead of them in the race for that final Wild Card spot. It is not likely, but the fact that they are in the discussion as late December approaches is itself quite amazing.
These are the things that can happen in the final weeks of NFL play, when every game suddenly feels like it takes on an added significance, at least for teams with realistic playoff hopes. And there are plenty of such games again today. So, let's take a closer look:
Tennessee at N.Y. Giants - The Giants are hot. They had one of the most impressive halves in franchise history last week, on the road in Washington, taking a commanding 34-0 lead. After that, they basically just sat on that lead, although they hardly needed to go after too many more points, but just secure the lead and make sure that it stood. Now, they host the Titans, who have been quite inconsistent all season. Makes it hard to predict how good they will be in this game. With Big Blue playing the way that they are, and having home field advantage, I think this favors the home team. My pick: N.Y. Giants
With their win in New York against the Jets, the Texans held steady, Houston remains in the race for a playoff bye, and pretty much have the AFC South all wrapped up. The only question is whether they can keep winning, and if they can perhaps steal home field advantage away from both the Chargers and Chiefs, assuming the Pats also do not win out the rest of their games.
With their win in Denver last night, the Browns reminded us of how dangerous spoiler teams can be at this time of the year. Of course, the Broncos did not help themselves by losing to the lowly 49ers last weekend, and now, with this home loss to the Browns, the Broncos are effectively out of the playoffs and, amazingly, the Browns move ahead of them in the race for that final Wild Card spot. It is not likely, but the fact that they are in the discussion as late December approaches is itself quite amazing.
These are the things that can happen in the final weeks of NFL play, when every game suddenly feels like it takes on an added significance, at least for teams with realistic playoff hopes. And there are plenty of such games again today. So, let's take a closer look:
Tennessee at N.Y. Giants - The Giants are hot. They had one of the most impressive halves in franchise history last week, on the road in Washington, taking a commanding 34-0 lead. After that, they basically just sat on that lead, although they hardly needed to go after too many more points, but just secure the lead and make sure that it stood. Now, they host the Titans, who have been quite inconsistent all season. Makes it hard to predict how good they will be in this game. With Big Blue playing the way that they are, and having home field advantage, I think this favors the home team. My pick: N.Y. Giants
Tampa Bay at Baltimore - The Ravens are fighting for their playoff lives, while the Bucs are just playing a whole lot better in recent weeks. But this would be a tall order for Tampa Bay to play spoilers here. They have a potentially explosive offense, but that will be a tough test for them in the cold and crappy weather, and against a tough, physical defense in Baltimore. The Ravens may feel that they have a real chance at taking a lead in the division race, if they win and the Steelers lose to the Patriots. And remember, they only narrowly lost that game to KC last weekend. So, they will be really fired up, and should be very tough to beat. Too tough, frankly, for Tampa Bay. My pick: Baltimore
Arizona at Atlanta - No playoff ramifications here. There should have been, with the Falcons having as much talent and playoff experience as they do. Yet, they were realistically out of it before December even rolled around. Meanwhile, the Cardinals themselves are among the worst teams in the league. This is the type of game that likely will not generate much enthusiasm, or a crowd, or television ratings. But they will play on, and so my guess is that the home town team should pull this one out, mostly for pride. My pick; Atlanta
Miami at Minnesota - A game with quite a bit of playoff ramifications for both teams, neither of which has any margin for error if they hope to qualify. The Dolphins are coming off that miraculous win against the Pats last weekend, so they should be riding high. But they need to play even better, because they are on the road, while the Vikings, at 4-2, are usually tough at home, although hardly unbeatable. But Miami's offensive struggles could really come into play here, and watch out for the Vikings, who still have some serious talent on offense, and want to prove that their disastrous performance in Seattle was a fluke, or at least a one-time thing. My pick: Minnesota
Dallas at Indianapolis - Now, even though this game features two teams in different conference, this has some serious playoff ramifications. The Colts are still in the hunt, while the Cowboys look like they are ready to capture their division title. The Cowboys defense is one of the best defenses in the league, but the Colts have one of the most dangerous and explosive offenses. Yet, they were just shut out by Jax a couple of weeks ago. Still, Dallas is not as familiar with Indy as the Jaguars were, and this game is also in Indianapolis. A huge game for both teams, and it actually might come to the Dallas offense versus the Colts defense, which would make it interesting. My guess is that the 'Boys run Eliot quite a bit and control the time of possession, and keep that dangerous Colts offense off the field for a narrow win. My pick: Dallas
Washington at Jacksonville - Washington might still have a slight chance at the playoffs, officially, but realistically, they are out. But that at least is better than Jax, which clinched an early off-season well before their eight-game losing streak earlier this season was even over. But the Jaguars, a team that won their division and went all the way to the AFC title game last season, want to show what they are capable of. And Washington, well....they have just been plagued with incredible bad luck with injuries, especially at quarterback. They are still working to resolve these, and with the Jaguars playing a bit better and having a tough defense, my guess is that the home team takes this one. My pick: Jacksonville
Oakland at Cincinnati - The Bengals may still have a chance to make the playoffs, at least technically. Realistically, they have been out of it now for a couple of weeks. So, this is a game with no real playoff ramifications. Neither team has enjoyed an impressive season, but the Raiders at least seem to be getting better as the season wears off. That is good, because they could hardly get worse than the earlier portion, when they literally looked like the worst team at times. But the Bengals are not a horrible team, they just do not seem to have enough to excel and reach a higher level. My guess is that they have enough to get past the Raiders at home today. My pick: Cincinnati
Detroit at Buffalo - One of the games with no playoff relevancy whatsoever here. Neither team is going to be there. But they are still playing, and so this game matters to them, and to the fans, right? I liked the way that the Lions beat the Cardinals last week, and even though the Bills have played tough, my guess is that the Lions are the better team, which means that they should find a way to win this one. My pick: Detroit
Green Bay at Chicago - The NFL's oldest rivalry gets renewed this week. The Chicago Bears surely want to get revenge for that opening game loss, which the Packers basically stole from them. If they had not, and everything else went the way that it went this season, the Bears would already have clinched their division! As it is, though, they still have an excellent chance to do exactly that, but they need to get past their Packers jinx, which has tormented the Bears throughout the Favre and Rodgers eras. Green Bay has not won every meeting since the early nineties, obviously, but they have won far, far more often than not. If the Bears want to establish themselves as serious contenders this season, they need to get over that, starting with this game. Something tells me that they will. My pick: Chicago
Seattle at San Francisco - The 49ers pulled off an impressive win against a playoff contender last week. Now, they hope to do it again. Unfortunately for San Fran, the Seahawks are better than the Broncos are, and have a lot more to fight for, as well as being much more familiar with the 49ers. The Seahawks just seem to keep finding ways to win this season, and they appear to have a date with destiny for at least the playoffs. Plus, they are a dangerous team once there. So, I have to express serious doubts that the 49ers can pull off the kind of upset that they managed last weekend. My pick: Seattle
New England Patriots at Pittsburgh - This is probably the biggest game in all for this Sunday. This might not be quite the rivalry of some of the storied rivalries in NFL history, but it is one of the best, and perhaps the best that we have still actively running in the league. These two teams always seem to be there, among the top teams and serious contenders for a title, year after year. The Patriots of the Belichick/Brady area first had to go to Pittsburgh for the AFC Championship Game back in the 2001-02 season to reach their first Super Bowl, and they went there again three years later. They have had a lot of meetings since. The thing is that this has been a fairly one-sided rivalry, as the Pats have won the vast majority, and have won all of the postseason meetings. Also, the Steelers have not managed to go into Foxboro and win when Tom Brady is the quarterback. The good news for Pittsburgh is that this is a regular season game, and it will be played in Pittsburgh. But the bad news is that they are on a losing streak, and that New England also just lost, which means that they should be really fired up for this one. However, the Pats have hardly been stellar road warriors this season, and they seem to find strange ways of losing some of these games. Still, at the end of the day, the Pats still have so much to fight for, and this might help them stay sharp as the playoffs roll around. They might lose, but my guess is that they win this one. My pick: New England
Sunday Night Football
Philadelphia at L.A. Rams - Well, after that embarrassing display in frigid Soldier Field, the Rams will be glad to be playing back in sunny L.A. again, right? Well, this is a night game, but it will be in the warmth of an area known for palm trees. They have the defending champions coming to town, but the Eagles look nothing like the team that went 13-3 and won the Super Bowl last season. Carson Wentz is injured again, and Nick Foles will be taking the snaps. So, maybe the Eagles will look a bit more like the championship team that we saw last year. And they need to look like that again, because this team is in serious danger of missing the playoffs, with absolutely no margin for error left for them. The Rams would like to erase the memories of that disaster in Chicago, and they also want to keep their chance to get home field advantage, because falling behind New Orleans - the only other team other than the Bears to beat the Rams this year - would not feel too comfortable, either. Assuming the Rams seriously want to win this one, they should be able to do it. My pick: L.A. Rams
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