I can not believe football season is about to come to an end! It feels like it just started! These last 17 weeks totally flew by!  Some weeks I’ve held my own on my predictions and other weeks….. wow did I suck! Take my NFL Week 16 Picks for example. I got 6 out of 15 games right. And four of those were the Jets, Cardinals, Bears and Patriots whom I pick every week! But one of those missed picks was the Tampa Bay-New Orleans game and really, did anyone get that one right?

There are quite a few key games this week as teams are fighting to make the wildcard playoff spots with one final game. Even those teams who already have a spot in the post season are playing for Division Titles and to gain a bye week advantage (aka a week off before the playoffs) so it’s going to be an exciting finish to the NFL regular season!

Before I get to my picks, here is a quick rundown of the divisions and the standig.

AFC:

Clinched Division titles

• Indianapolis Colts AFC South. also clinched home field advantage for having best in AFC
• New England Patriots AFC East
• Cincinnatti Bengals AFC North
• San Diego Chargers AFC West

ELIMINATED: Buffalo, Cleveland, Kansas City, Oakland, Tennessee

Still battling for a spot:

• The New York Jets
• Miami Dolphins
• Baltimore Ravens
• Pittsburgh Steelers
• Houston Texans
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Denver Broncos There are 10 scenarios on how they can make it to the playoffs. 7 of them involve the Raiders beating the Ravens.

If you are really bored and really want to know more about what teams need to win and have other teams lose to advance…. check out the NFL Playoff Scenarios. They are very complicated!

NFC

Clinched Division Titles

• New Orleans NFC South. also clinched home field advantage for having best in NFC
• Arizona Cardinals NFC West
• Minnesota Vikings NFC North
• Philadelphia Eagles/Dallas Cowboys: NFC East They are battling it out today for the title.
• Green Bay Packers—have a guaranteed spot in playoffs but not a title

ELIMINATED: Atlanta, Carolina, Chicago, Detroit, NY Giants, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Washington

Still Battling for a Spot: Actually, no one. The only battle in the NFC is for division titles and bye weeks (meaning, having a week off before the playoffs begin)

1:00 Games

• Indianapolis Colts vs. Buffalo Bills Buffalo. Because I really don’t like the Colts and I really like people from Buffalo like my friends Juliana & Mike. They are good people.
  
• Jacksonville Jaguars (7-8) vs. Cleveland Browns (5-11) Um. I guess I’ll go with Jacksonville but like I said last week, they don’t feel like a real NFL team to me. Even though I’ve been to their stadium for the Super Bowl in ’05.
  
• Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions Chicago. Eek! I feel so bad not picking the Lions again! Someone has to show love for them especially since they have been doing so much better than last season! But I do not go against the Bears unless they are playing my team.
  
• San Fransisco 49ers vs. St Louis Rams 49ers. Considering the Rams are 1-14, this seems like a semi-safe bet.
  
• Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Miami Dolphins Dolphins. Hey, it could happen! The Steelers kinda suck right now and I really hate them.
  
• New York Giants vs. Minnesota Vikings Giants. But I think if I was allowed to choose for myself without fear of my NY Giants loving friends I’d probably say Vikings…
  
• Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tampa Bay. Hey, they took down the Saints last week, the only week I didn’t pick them. I will not make that mistake again!
  
• New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers Saints. Sorry Carolina but you are going to get demolished. The Saints are raging mad that they lost a game last week… and to the freaking Bucs. You better believe they are going to wipe the field with the Panthers just to prove they are the best.
  
• New England Patriots vs. Houston Texans Patriots. But there is a good chance they won’t pull it off, they are 2-5 on the road this season. And Houston is desperately clinging to their playoff dreams. They need to win this game, and three other teams need to lose in their matchups for them to make it, but you know they are going to at least try and do their part!

4:00 Games

• Philadelphia Eagles (11-4) vs. Dallas Cowboys (10-5): Cowboys. This is runner-up for Game of the Week because the matchup is going to be a fierce intense battle. These two are big rivals that always seem to meet up at the end of the season for a big battle. Last year the Eagles knocked the Cowboys out of the running but this year they are both definitely heading to playoffs. But this game for Week 17 could actually be repeated for the first weekend of the playoffs depending how all the teams play out on Sunday.
• Kansas City Chiefs (3-12) vs. Denver Broncos (8-7): Truly don’t care. At all. I’ll just go with  the Broncos since they have the better record. Woo hoo.
• Baltimore Ravens vs. Oakland Raiders: Hmm. My two “I randomly like” beloved teams of the season. I think I have to go with the Ravens though because I liked them last season too. And they are a lot better than the Raiders! And they need to win this game to make it to the playoffs since they somehow managed to lose to the freaking Steelers last week.
• Green Bay Packers vs. Arizona Cardinals: Cardinals, duh. Have I ever not picked them? Even though Green Bay is totally my favorite bay (please tell me you know that is from Phoebe on Friends) that is not enough reason to go against Kurt & Fitzy! This game is similar to the Eagles/Cowboys matchup. These two could meet each other again next week in the first round of the playoffs. Since the Cardinals have already clinched their spot in the playoffs, they are talking about not starting Kurt, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin to make sure they are ready for the playoff game. If that is the case, then I may switch to Green Bay!
• Washington Redskins vs. San Diego Chargers: Chargers. I don’t know why, but I really don’t like the Redskins. Which is weird because I really love D.C. Besides, the Chargers are 12-3 and have won 11 straight against the Redskins. The Chargers are going to the playoffs and clinched all sorts of good things. Redskins suck. The only way they will win is if San Diego pulls their starters too early in the game.
• Tennessee Titans vs. Seattle Seahawks: ACK! Tennessee reminds me of Chris Daughtry. Seattle reminds me of Twilight and Grey’s Anatomy. How can I choose between those?!?!?!?! Neither team is going to the playoffs. This game has no signifcance at all…….. Since the Titans are 0-5 against the Seahawks I guess I’ll go with Seattle.

8:20 Game

• Cincinatti Bengals (10-5) vs. New York Jets (8-7): Jets. I almost feel bad picking the Jets since the city of Cincinnatti needs a win after their college football team got destroyed in the Sugar Bowl by the Florida Gators on New Year’s Day. But, too bad! Let’s go Jets! New York needs this win to get to the playoffs! And I am not ready to say goodbye to Mark Sanchez for the season. They may actually have a shot. They managed to take down the elite Colts last weekend. I mean, they had taken Manning and all the other key players out of the game in the third quarter….. but hey, a win is a win!

About the author: Jennifer Taglione is the owner of this fabulous website Stiletto Sports. Despite writing well over 500 posts, she still maintains that she is not a sports writer! She is however a huge fan of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mark Sanchez, the Celtics, and totally kicks butt on March Madness brackets! Connect with her by following her on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ and subscribing to her weekly newsletter. For more info check out the About the Editor page!

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