NFL Picks Week 17: Why NY Giants and Denver Broncos Will Be Division Champions

The New York Giants will face the Dallas Cowboys in a win-or-go-home scenario in Week 17. The Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders' situation is a little more complicated. The Broncos can still get in and win their division with a loss to the Chiefs. If the Raiders lose to the Chargers, the Broncos will still get in.

The Raiders need a win and a Broncos loss or tie to win the division, but they also have an outside shot at a wild card. 

When the dust settles on Sunday, the Broncos and Giants will win their divisions; here is why.

NY Giants over Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys have had several opportunities to take the drama out of this division race, but they have failed to. They had a shot at the Giants head to head in Week 14 at home and lost 37-34.

The Cowboys have repeatedly failed in the clutch. Now, their top rusher is gone, as DeMarco Murray was placed on IR two weeks ago. The offense has sputtered to only generate 22 points over the last two weeks, and this regime of Cowboys looks unstable.

On the other side, the Giants have been horribly inconsistent, but this core group of players has risen to the occasion when it has needed to. They captured must-wins over Dallas in Week 14 and last week against the Jets.

While many will look to blame Tony Romo, the blame for this collapse should fall on the coaching staff and offensive line. 

Kansas City Chiefs over Denver Broncos

The "Kyle Orton seeks revenge on the Denver Broncos" angle is tantalizing. He could feasibly be a part of the two biggest spoil jobs of the season. Orton has already engineered the upset win over the Packers to foil the perfect season, now could he keep Tim Tebow out of the playoffs?

Well, Orton will do his part. I believe the Chiefs will knock off Denver. The Chiefs defense is very underrated, and they've been their best since Romeo Crennel took over for the fired Todd Haley. They narrowly lost the first matchup 17-10. This was the game Tebow was held to only two completions on eight attempts.

The Chiefs had Matt Cassel under center then, and Orton has been much better. He has thrown for 599 yards in the last two games.

On the other side, the Broncos are really going to miss Brian Dawkins, who is listed as doubtful with a neck injury. The Chiefs will play the spoiler role.

San Diego Chargers over Oakland Raiders

Despite the Chiefs' efforts, the Broncos will still get in because the San Diego Chargers will take care of the reeling Oakland Raiders. The Raiders did manage to defeat the Chiefs last week, but the Chargers are playing the type of football we all expected them to play this season.

Were it not for their midseason fall off, they probably would be division champs. Oakland's defense has been terrible against the run and pass. On the ground, they are surrendering 135 yards a game and 5.1 yards per carry.

The Chargers are a better team; they just didn't play like it consistently enough through the season. San Diego will gift a playoff berth and division championship to the Broncos.