NFL WEEK 13 - WTWF

There are big games a plenty in the NFL this week, but the one I'm watching may surprise you.

Thanksgiving football was watchable this year for once. The Patriots and Jets both held serve against weaker ( but game ) teams to improve their records to 9-2 setting up a blockbuster match up next Monday night. Keep in mind that the Jets already beat the Pats in week 2 and another victory would essentially put them up 2 full games in the AFC East and give them the front running spot for the number one seed in the AFC this year.

In the NFC the good but not quite as impressive as last year New Orleans Saints escaped a resurgent Dallas team to improve to 8-3 on the year. Good thing too as they are locked in what is arguably the toughest division battle in football. The upstart Tampa Bay Bucs are 7-3 going into a huge game against Ray Lewis and the Ravens (also 7-3) in Baltimore. Winners of two straight the Bucs could go to 8-3 as well and with 2 division games left could make the playoff chase more than a little interesting. Not to mention the NFC South !

On top of that the first place Atlanta Falcons (8-2) have a chance to keep a one game lead on both this week. But only if they can beat the tied for 1st place in the North Green Bay Packers who have now won 4 straight despite a plethora of injuries. So what is essentially a battle of first place teams in the NFC (Pack 7-3 vs Atl 8-2) should prove to be a good one.

Speaking of the NFC, we also have another first place game ( due to the tie in the North ) the super hero esque, Michael Vick led Eagles stroll into Chicago to face the 7-3 Bears. Another potential blockbuster. And if the Giants beat the Jaguars it will only serve to further the gridlock at the top of the NFC. All of those games have huge implications of course but none of them involve the team with the most to loose this week. But first let's recap the big games of week # 13 so far.

Pats,Jets,and Saints win to improve to 9-2,9-2,and 8-3 respectively.

7-3 Packers go to 8-2 Falcons
7-3 Eagles go to 7-3 Bears
7-3 Bucs go to 7-3 Ravens

and if you are a fan of the AFC ( west in particular) 6-4 Kansas City goes to 5-5 Seattle and 5-5 Miami goes to 5-5 Oakland.

Boy this is great right ? Of course it is , but there is one more game to discuss. The most important of the week in my estimation. The Sunday night game. Winners of 3 straight, notorious late starters, and bona fied Colt crushers take their 5-5 record into Indianapolis to face the 6-4 Colts who are more than a little depleted with injuries. The same could also be said for the Chargers though.

Now we all know that the Chargers and Colts have had some epic games over the last ten years. If not for the whole Pats v Colts rivalry this may be the most exiting AFC match up around. The Chargers always seem to have a little something extra for the Colts no matter what the situation. The Chargers may start slow every year but one thing is for sure , Phillip Rivers will have those boys primed and ready come the post season. As for the Colts, they usually start fast and continue that right on in to the post season. But this year is different.

Has anyone realised that if the playoffs started last week that the Colts would have been left out ? Oh yeah , believe it or not the Jags have them beat on the Division record tie breaker right now. They are only 6-5 ! When was the last time the Peyton Manning Colts lost 5 games before December , or in a season you ask ? Well it was in 2002 when they 10-6 and lost in the wild card to the Jets.

As I said earlier the Jets and Pats have already moved to 9-2 in the East. The Steelers ( who look great right now ) and Ravens are both 7-3 and both have games they should win this week. The 6-4 Chiefs look like they are for real this year and the Chargers (5-5) are coming on strong at the right time. The four teams in their own division are only separated by 2 games and the bottom two are Tennessee and Houston ! The Jags are actually above them based on tie breakers.

If the Colts loose to San Diego tomorrow it will leave them at 6-5 with a 1-2 division record and a 4-4 conference record. They could still be tied for the division lead if Jacksonville looses to the Giants but those are not good numbers for a team trying to make the playoffs.

The bright side for Colts fan is this. The Colts remaining games after San Diego tomorrow are Dallas , at the Titans , Jacksonville , at the Raiders and the Titans at home to finish it off. Now those are all games that the Colts could,should, and probably will win. But if they loose to San Diego this week ( and I think they will ) that leaves them at 6-5 with the rejuvenated Cowboys , a freaky weird Raider team , Maurice Jones Drew and Chris Johnson twice , left on the schedule.

Moral of the story ? The Indianapolis Colts had better bring their A game the rest of the year. Because if they drop one or two and don't win the South, they may not make the playoffs at all.

Do or Die Time Minnesota

Boy if you like high pressure football make sure you catch the Green Bay v Minnesota game today.



There are already a ton of reasons to watch this game. Packers-Vikings is a one of the oldest rivalries in football and is always entertaining. You've got the whole Bert Favor saga going on. Does he like Brad Childress? Does he hate him? Are they locked in epic game of monopoly where both men are trapped in jail and trying to roll doubles so they don't have to cough up the 50 clams ? I don't know.



Could this be Favor's last game against the Packers ? Probably, but who knows. There are all kinds of questions to be answered in this game but the one you should be watching for is this.



Can the Green Bay Packers, who are notorious for letting the Vikings get to them, finally put a man sized fork in their most hated rivals? Because if Green Bay wins today it will mean that the Vikings are done. D-O-N-E done.



If they lose today it will drop "Chilly and the Vets" to a rotund 3-7 . Three and seven !! This is a team with a monstrous offensive line , Bert Favor, Adrian Peterson,Percy Harvin,Jarrod Allen, and many more studs all over the field. At 3-7 the Vikings would be 4 games out of first place in the NFC North to not one but two teams ! (Bears are 7-3 some crazy how) Needless to say it will be tough to climb over those two teams with only 6 games left to go. But even if they somehow do that they only have 2 division games left and can only go 3-3 in division at best. This of course means that even if they do catch the Bears and Packers they would still loose the tiebreakers.

So winning the division will be all but mathematically impossible if they loose today. So what about a playoff spot you say ? Well lets look at the good old NFC shall we.

Should Vikings fall to 3-7 that would mean ( even if every game goes there way this week) that they have the 11th best record in the NFC. So that said, they would have 10 teams above them and the top 6 teams , the Bears,Packers,Giants,Eagles,Falcons and Saints all with at 6 wins or more. On top of that there could be 3 more teams tied the Vikes at 3-7 . !!!

With only 6 weeks left the best the Vikings could do would be 9-7. If they somehow turn everything around and win 6 in a row to finish the season I mean. With no shot to win there own division and at least 7 teams with 6 wins already I'm not sure it's even mathematically possible for 9-7 to be good enough to win a playoff spot in NFC this year. You will need at least 10 wins to get a wild card spot this year.

So for a team with all that talent, how does it feel to out of it after only 10 weeks. Your done Minnesota. Maybe trying to ride Green Bay's coat tails and letting one player play by his own set of rules wasn't such a good idea was it ?

By the way , on this same subject. Hey Cincinnati , you just let up 28 unanswered points to the Bills and are about to go to down to 2-8. You went from winning the division last year to 2-8 ( also out of the playoffs) just by signing T.O.

Good job Cinnci.