NFL Picks Week 17: New York Giants and NFC West Playoff Picture Finalizes
Here we are ladies and gentlemen, another exciting NFL season gone by. Here we have a week at hand boasting four teams, the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers still alive and trying to play their way into the playoffs.
There is an NFC West showdown between the Seahawks and St. Louis Rams in which the winner will grab the playoff berth from that division and a home game in the Wild Card round.
Teams will be jostling for playoff seeds and draft positions.
This will be a week where a lot of teams are just looking to end on a high note, but that doesn't mean the games this Sunday can be skipped, there are still many must-see games in the bunch.
There may not be a lot on the line for many of the teams left, but that doesn't mean that they will be phoning anything in this Sunday, unless of course it is the Tennessee Titans, who completely phoned it in last week against Kansas City.
So, let's take a look at each game this week and try to figure out what is going to go down when every team plays for the final time this season.
Each slide will have a short description of the game at hand, my pick and how confident I am in it.
Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons
1 of 16
The biggest sub-plot of this game? Carolina has already wrapped up the No. 1 pick, so will they rest their starters?
A win for the Panthers who seem to have no desire to play week to week at this point, save for some of the younger players trying to prove themselves, so they may actually have a better chance with guys that haven't played that much this season.
Atlanta will clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a win, so they will want to do that against the league's worst team, rather than having to deal with worrying if New Orleans ends up losing.
Pick: Atlanta 100 percent
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns
2 of 16
Pittsburgh is looking to lock up a first round bye and home-field advantage as long as they don't end up meeting the New England Patriots.
The Browns are looking for pride in the division with the potential for a win over the rival Steelers, or if the dominoes fall in the right way and they lose, they could end up in an eight-way tie for the second worst record in the league at 5-11, which would really be something.
These Browns are not looking for a higher draft pick however, and this should end up being a closer affair than the closer-than-the-score shows game they had against Pittsburgh in Colt McCoy's first game in Week 6.
Still, they won't have enough to take down the Steelers, who have only lost three of their 11 games since their bye week.
Pick: Pittsburgh 74 percent
Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions
3 of 16
Minnesota is coming off the first Tuesday night game in decades, so who knows what kind of lag they are going to have from playing two games within six days of each other.
Detriot, meanwhile, is riding a three game win streak, and considering the fact that the last time they had a streak of two wins was 2007, I'd say they're hot.
Six of Detroit's ten losses this season are by less than a touchdown, so they are not exactly having yet another terrible season.
Pick: Detroit 59 percent
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Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs
4 of 16
This game means the difference between a No. 3 and No. 4 seed for the Kansas City Chiefs.
If they lose and Indianapolis wins, then they will get the No. 4 seed, but they have no way of controlling what happens with the teams below them, the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens. So really, they have very little control of who they play.
A higher seed is always more attractive in the long run, as it can lead to another home-field game down the road if higher seeded teams end up losing.
Oakland is really playing for nothing except maybe an undefeated record in the division, if that is worth anything.
Pick: Kansas City 67 percent
Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots
5 of 16
The Miami Dolphins are 6-1 on the road, and have the possibility to end up 7-1 on the road and 1-7 at home. So much for home-field advantage.
New England, however, has won 27 regular season home games in a row, a number that is impressive on its own accord.
It is hard to say if Tom Brady and the New England starters will play long enough to both get far enough ahead so their backups don't feel too much pressure and demoralize the Miami defense enough to win the game.
Nonetheless, they are the Patriots, and they always seem to come away with a victory in the end, so it's hard to pick against them.
Pick: New England 71 percent
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints
6 of 16
This is one of the more interesting games of the weekend.
A win for the Saints could end up meaning home-field advantage for New Orleans, and a win for Tampa Bay could end up meaning a playoff berth for Tampa Bay. That's quite a bit on the line there.
The two-win Panthers are playing the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons, so New Orleans ending up with the top seed is quite unlikely, but Tampa Bay squeezing into the playoffs is much more likely.
Tampa Bay will need a loss by Green Bay, who plays Chicago, and a loss by New York, who plays Washington, both of which are entirely possible.
Pick: Tampa Bay 64 percent
Buffalo Bills at New York Jets
7 of 16
For the Jets, a win will mean at most a No. 5 seed in the playoffs, a loss only means a No. 6 seed, so not much is riding on this game for the Jets.
Still, the game is against the Buffalo Bills, so they may actually have to try in order to lose to the 4-11 Bills.
After playing the sloppiest game of football all season long in which they turned the ball over seven times, it's hard to see the Bills winning this one.
Pick: New York 88 percent
Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens
8 of 16
Cincinnati looked like a team two weeks ago that couldn't beat many college teams, let alone decent professional teams.
Well, two games later and wins against the Browns, who are better than their record shows, and the Chargers, who are one of the best statistical teams in the nation, and I don't know what to expect.
Nonetheless, there is no way I could put any marbles behind these Bengals. They would be lucky to win this one.
They started off the season with one loss and two wins, followed by ten losses and two more wins, so I am banking on a pattern happening here, and the Bengals losing this one to make their season a mirror image of itself.
Pick: Baltimore 81 percent
Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans
9 of 16
This is a matchup of AFC South teams that both had high hopes for their season, with only one still alive for a playoff spot.
Houston has won only one of their nine games since their bye week, so they are not exactly the hottest team on the earth coming into this game.
The last time these two teams met the game was decided on a last second play, in which the Jaguars scored on a Hail Mary that was deflected by Houston's Glover Quin to Jacksonville's Mike Thomas. It will definitely be hard to duplicate that excitement.
Jacksonville is kicking and clawing their way for a chance at a playoff spot, so you had better bet that they won't let this opportunity slip through their fingers.
Pick: Jacksonville 78 percent
New York Giants at Washington Redskins
10 of 16
The New York Giants' only hope of making the playoffs is winning this weekend and hoping that the Green Bay Packers lose.
However, they are coming off two terrible losses, one of which was one of the biggest collapses in the history of the NFL against the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago.
At this point in the season, Washington is a completely unpredictable team, but I can't in good conscience support a team that boasts Rex Grossman as a starter and doesn't have a world-class defense to back him up.
Pick: New York 66 percent
Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
11 of 16
The Eagles, like the Vikings, are coming off a Tuesday night game and only have four days of rest between games, so there is no telling how much that will affect them.
Lucky for them, they have clinched their division and have no chance of gaining a higher or lower seed by winning or losing this game.
One thing that Dallas has been much better at since Jason Garrett took over is second half adjustments, so if they fall behind early to Philadelphia, then the game is not over.
Pick: Dallas 59 percent
Arizona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers
12 of 16
San Francisco had every chance of taking control of their own destiny last week if they beat the St. Louis Rams. Needless to say it didn't happen, and ended up with Mike Singletary having a shouting match with Troy Smith on the sidelines and being fired after the game.
He wanted winners, and this is what he got. Oh well, I guess to be a head coach in the NFL you have to do more than just want something.
Meanwhile, Arizona is equally terrible yet they ended up beating the Cowboys last weekend.
This is a matchup between two of the most confusing teams in the NFL, so when all else fails, pick the home team.
Pick: San Francisco 50.1 percent (Hell yea that's a cop out, so what.)
Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers
13 of 16
The Chicago Bears are playing for nothing at this point in the season, as their first round bye is wrapped up and they cannot overtake Atlanta for home-field advantage.
Green Bay, meanwhile, will feel much better with a win this weekend, which would put them into the playoffs. If they lose they will have to bank on losses by Tampa Bay and New York to avoid elimination.
Chicago will probably end up not putting too much pressure on their starters, as they are not at home and won't feel any obligation to their fans.
Pick: Green Bay 68 percent
Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts
14 of 16
Most teams would revel in the thought that they could possibly take away their division rival's chances of making the playoffs by beating them in the final week of the season.
However, the Tennessee Titans have seemingly given up on their coach Jeff Fisher, as they gave up big play after big play on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs and ended up falling behind 31-7 at halftime.
The Colts could not ask for a better opponent to finish their season on to end up with a playoff spot.
With a near must-win for the Colts and a who cares game for the Titans, this should be an easy one for Indy.
Pick: Indianapolis 73 percent
San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos
15 of 16
Both the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos have been disappointing this season, but it's hard to say which one has been the bigger disappointment.
San Diego had high expectations for this year and performed on the field quite well, unfortunately for them they just weren't scoring when it mattered, and are sitting at 8-7 on the year.
The biggest stories for the Broncos this season have been a mini-Spygate scandal, a fired coach and a much ballyhooed quarterback getting his first reps.
As much as it pains me to say it, the Mile High Jesus was downright impressive last week, but it was against the Houston Texans, who have one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL.
Pick: San Diego 73 percent
St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks
16 of 16
What's that you say? A 7-8 team visiting a 6-9 team doesn't interest you as the Sunday night game?
Well my friends, this is the showdown of the week, and it could end up making NFL history.
The Rams come in to Seattle hoping to secure an 8-8 record, a playoff berth and a home playoff game, while Seattle is looking for the same thing, just with a 7-9 record instead.
The winner of this game will end up winning the NFC West, and if that team ends up being the Seahawks, then it will be the first time in NFL history that a team with a 7-9 record has made the playoffs.
Pick: Seattle 59 percent
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