What happened to the NFC East? Or, I probably should say the NFC Least? Once upon a time, the division won six Super Bowls in nine years. It's four huge-market teams that are among the NFL's marquee franchises. They didn't have a division champion with fewer than 10 wins until the 2011 Giants (who went on to win the Super Bowl). Now 9-7 is the best we can hope for. Oh, how far the once-proud division has fallen. And how do you think San Francisco or Seattle is going to feel when they go 12-4 and have to go on the road to play either Dallas or Philly in the wild card game? At least there's only one NFC East team to stink up Sunday...
Thursday Night: Dallas (Loss)
Panthers (5-7) at Falcons (3-9): Carolina-Carolina beat Atlanta to it. They fired Ron Rivera with four weeks left in the season, while it looks like the Falcons are waiting until the end of the year to let Dan Quinn go. Which makes this one kinda interesting. You've got a lame duck coach against an interim coach in a meaningless game. Atlanta is favored and, frankly, a Falcons win wouldn't shock me (they did crush the Panthers in Charlotte, after all). I'm picking Carolina, though.
Ravens (10-2) at Bills (9-3): Baltimore-Does anyone still have any questions about whether the Bills are legitimately good or not? They made quite a statement in the highest-rated Thanksgiving game in years, and they can actually clinch a playoff spot this week. So can the Ravens, who moved up to the AFC's 1-seed with the Patriots' loss. They've worked so hard to get to that position, it would be a shame for them to give it right back to New England. With a win, they not only hang on to the top seed, they clinch their playoff spot.
Bengals (1-11) at Browns (5-7): Cleveland-One little win, and suddenly the Bengals have some competition from the Giants for the No. 1 pick. Although, it was nice to see them look like an actual football team again. And it was nice to see Andy Dalton back under center, too. The Browns, believe it or not, are still alive for a playoff berth. But they need to win out and get some help to have any chance of that happening.
Redskins (3-9) at Packers (9-3): Green Bay-The Seahawks were obviously the biggest winners on Monday night, but Green Bay was a close second. Now the Packers have a buffer. They also know that their chances of getting a first-round bye greatly improved now that San Francisco isn't leading the West. If they win out, it's a real possibility, especially since the 49ers and Saints play each other this week. Not a bad first year for Matt LaFleur, who's going to get 10 wins and then some. The 10th will come this week.
Lions (3-8-1) at Vikings (8-4): Minnesota-Even after losing to the Seahawks on Monday night, the Vikings are still in pretty good position to make the playoffs. They can't lose to the Lions, though. Because then that position becomes a little precarious heading into their trip to Southern California. Odd little scheduling quirk I noticed, too. Three of Minnesota's final four games are their division home games. So the NFC North isn't out of the question, either. But again, they can't afford a loss to Detroit.
49ers (10-2) at Saints (10-2): New Orleans-Fresh off Monday night's game that was huge for NFC playoff seeding, we've got another one this week. The 49ers and Saints are tied for the NFL's best record, which isn't something we see this late in the season very often. San Francisco has spent the week training in Florida after their loss in Baltimore, something similar to what the Saints did when they played the Rams and Seahawks back-to-back. New Orleans lost the first and won the second on that West Coast trip. A win here gives them the tiebreaker over both NFC West teams, all but locking up the No. 1 seed for the NFC South champs.
Dolphins (3-9) at Jets (4-8): Jets-Now they both have a random dominant win against an NFC East team to their credit. The Dolphins' win the last time these two met actually got them started on this roll where they're 3-2 in their last five games. The Jets, meanwhile, score 34 points in three consecutive wins...then fail to score a touchdown against winless Cincinnati! Which Jets team will show up? The Dolphins, meanwhile, have a chance to do the same thing Buffalo did to start the season...win back-to-back games at MetLife Stadium in consecutive weeks.
Colts (6-6) at Buccaneers (5-7): Tampa Bay-Give Bruce Arians credit. The Bucs are a lot better than people expected. They've won three out of four and will have the same record as the NFC East leader with a win over Indy. The Colts, meanwhile, are going in the other direction and on the verge of letting their season slip away. They've lost four out of five with a trip to New Orleans coming up next week. I think they'll enter that matchup with the Saints having lost five out of six.
Broncos (4-8) at Texans (8-4): Houston-Last Sunday night might've been the biggest win in Houston Texans history. The Patriots have been their Achilles heel for years. Yet they dominated New England from start to finish and established themselves as legitimate contenders in the AFC. (And, as Cris Collinsworth said, maybe it's time to give the AFC South a little more credit.) Anyway, it was great for the Broncos to finally win a close game after all those close losses. This loss won't be nearly as close.
Chargers (4-8) at Jaguars (4-8): Jacksonville-All eight of the Chargers' losses this season have been by a touchdown or less. But it really says something that they're thinking about benching Phillip Rivers anyway. He's been the franchise for a decade and a half! Anyway, a long trip east to face a Jaguars team that always plays hard is a tough task. Although, the NFL did do them a bit of a favor by making it a 4:00 kickoff. Even still, I think Jacksonville (and its new starting quarterback Gardner Minshew) takes it. By fewer than seven points, obviously.
Titans (7-5) at Raiders (6-6): Oakland-Tennessee is playing like a team that wants to make the playoffs. The Raiders? Not so much. The Titans have won three straight, while the Raiders followed up a pitiful performance against the Jets by getting absolutely embarrassed in Kansas City. But...they're a different team in the Black Hole, where they haven't been since Week 11. And, amazingly, they're still very much alive in the playoff hunt. They've only got two games left in Oakland. You know they'll want to go out with a bang.
Chiefs (8-4) at Patriots (10-2): Kansas City-This one has been circled on the calendar ever since the schedule came out. It's their first meeting since the AFC Championship Game, and it's an important one for AFC playoff positioning. For all the criticism of New England's offense this season, they're still 10-2 and they still haven't lost at home since the Obama administration (at least it seems that way). The Patriots are 0-2 against the other AFC division leaders, though, and the Chiefs are a very similar team to both the Ravens and Texans. Call me crazy, but I think Kansas City snaps New England's 20-game home winning streak. Just like they did in Week 1 of the 2017 season.
Steelers (7-5) at Cardinals (3-8-1): Pittsburgh-I'm a little surprised NFL Network didn't choose Super Bowl XLIII as their classic game this week. Maybe because the Cardinals aren't very good. They have a chance to play the spoiler, though. Because the Steelers tend to struggle every time they play in the Pacific time zone. Although, with Pittsburgh's tenuous hold on the final AFC playoff spot, you know Mike Tomlin will have his team ready. Arizona will keep it close, but the Steelers will pull it out and hang on to the 6-seed (regardless of how the Titans-Raiders game goes).
Seahawks (10-2) at Rams (7-5): Seattle-To say this is a huge game for the Rams would be an incredible understatement. If they have any hope of making the playoffs, they cannot lose this game. Except they're playing what might be the best team in the NFC. I know, I've been all about the Saints all season, and now here I am jumping on the Seahawks bandwagon. They know they'll be in a great position to pounce if the Saints beat the 49ers. If the 49ers wins that game, though, the Seahawks will be in an interesting position where they can lock up both their own playoff spot and San Francisco's by beating the Rams at the Coliseum (while essentially eliminating LA in the process).
Giants (2-10) at Eagles (5-7): Philadelphia-It's come to this. The Eagles pissed away a game they should've won against the Dolphins to fall to 5-7, yet can still move into a tie for first place with a win on Monday night. They only have division games left, so them winning out to win the division isn't a crazy scenario. The Giants, meanwhile, are ranked 32nd in some NFL power rankings. But at least Eli gets to make another start. Hopefully he starts the other game against the Eagles, too. He deserves to end his Giants career on the field at home.
This Week: 0-1
Last Week: 11-5
Overall: 114-78-1
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