NFL Week 13 Picks: New York Giants and Teams Whose Playoff Dreams Will Disappear

Slowly but surely, the contenders and the pretenders are beginning to separate themselves amidst the NFL's murky playoff picture. These three teams, in particular, will find themselves solidly out of the race by the end of play on Sunday.

New York Giants

What do you know? It's December and the Giants' postseason fortunes are changing faster than the color of the leaves. Tom Coughlin's club has dropped each of its last three games, capped off by a 49-24 stinker against the Saints on Monday night.

Things won't get any easier this week, when Big Blue welcomes the undefeated Packers to MetLife Stadium. Meanwhile, the Cowboys, already one-up in the NFC East, figure to pick up another game in the standings thanks to the lowly Cardinals.

Of course, New York and Dallas still have two games left against one another, though Eli Manning will have a tough time out-dueling Tony Romo if the Giants running game doesn't get back on track in a hurry.

Buffalo Bills

Technically, at 5-6, the Buffalo Bills are still in the thick of the AFC wild-card chase.

Realistically, though, the Bills might as well start storing up for the winter, since it's bound to be another long and cold one in western New York. A loss to the Titans on Sunday, combined with likely victories by the Jets and the Broncos, would put Buffalo well behind the proverbial eight ball in the conference.

And without a healthy Fred Jackson, an effective Ryan Fitzpatrick and much in the way of a reprieve on the remainder of the schedule, the Bills will be hard-pressed to make good on the promise that seemed so boundless for them earlier this season.

Detroit Lions

Speaking of early-season surprises that have since come crashing back to Earth, the Lions look more and more like a lock to miss the playoffs for the 12th time in as many years. They've dropped four of their last six games and will go into Sunday's game in New Orleans without star defensive end Ndamukong Suh on account of an NFL-sanctioned suspension.

As if slowing down Drew Brees and company weren't difficult enough already.

Now, the task will fall to Matthew Stafford to carry Detroit up and down the field at the Superdome, since he won't have the benefit of anything close to a reliable running game with the absences of Jahvid Best and Kevin Smith. Wins by the Falcons (against the Texans) and the Bears (against the Chiefs) would put the Lions a full game out of the NFC playoff picture with games against the Raiders and the Packers yet to be played.

Yikes!