NFL Week 17 Picks: Predicting Teams That Will Narrowly Escape with Wins

With playoff lives on the line this weekend, here's hoping we'll see a few games come down to the final minutes. 

After scanning Week 17's slate of games, there's bound to be some tightly contested affairs. 

Let's look at the teams that will narrowly escape with a victory in their season finale.  

Tennessee Titans

The Titans travel to Houston to take on the struggling AFC South champion Houston Texans in Week 17. 

The boys from Nashville cling to their faint playoff hopes and obviously need a win to remain in the hunt. 

After Houston looked to have the best all-around defense in the league, they've been rather ineffective over their last two games and made Dan Orlovsky look like a star in Week 16. 

That bodes well for the ultra efficient Matt Hasselbeck.

Texans' quarterback T.J. Yates hasn't been spectacular of late, either. 

Against an underrated Titans secondary led by Cortland Finnegan, he could struggle. 

However, Arian Foster is a load and will move the chains for the Texans. 

In the end, Yates' shortcomings will be the reason why Tennessee sneaks out of Houston with a three-point win. 

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kyle Orton vs. Tim Tebow Bowl. 

These are teams going in different directions. 

While both lost last week, the Chiefs' offense has been somewhat revitalized with Orton under center and their defense has been relatively steady all season. 

Tebow was exposed last week against the Buffalo Bills and one of the worst run defenses did a fantastic job limiting the league's top-rushing team all afternoon. 

Denver only averaged 3.8 yards on the ground in Orchard Park, and Tebow was forced to throw more than the Broncos' coaching staff would have liked. 

These teams are evenly matched, but I'll give the edge to the Chiefs because of the spark Orton's added to their offense and the Broncos' shaky passing game. 

New York Giants

The game for it all in the NFC East. 

Both the Giants and Cowboys have loads of talent, but they're great at underachieving. 

The receiving corps are evenly matched, both Tony Romo and Eli Manning are having fantastic seasons and each team has a formidable pass rush. 

Although Dallas can run the football with some success, the addition of Ahmad Bradshaw  ultimately gets New York the win. 

By No. 44 keeping the defense honest on delayed draws and pitches to the outside, the play-action game will be wide open and Manning will find one of his speedy wideouts down the field on more than one occasion. 

Bradshaw is also the perfect complement to Brandon Jacobs, who'll punish the Cowboys defensive front all evening. 

The game won't be lopsided because the Giants' secondary isn't that great, but the running game of New York and their big-play ability will lead them to the NFC East title.