Week 17: Postseason Scenarios, Injuries and Game Picks

The final week of the regular season is upon us and there are still plenty of scenarios and milestones to be reached in today's games.

Playoff scenarios (Two playoff spots left unclaimed in NFC):

*Houston can clinch first round bye with a win or tie OR New England loss or tie OR Denver loss. They can clinch home-field advantage with a win OR tie+Denver loss or tie OR New England loss+Denver loss or tie.

*Denver can clinch first round bye with a win or tie OR New England loss or tie. They can clinch home-field advantage with a win+Houston loss or tie OR a tie+Houston loss.

*New England can clinch with a win+Denver loss OR a win+Houston loss. They can clinch home-field advantage with a win+losses from Denver and Houston.

*The winner of the Dallas/Washington primetime match-up takes the NFC East crown and the 4th seed in the NFC. If Dallas loses, they are eliminated from playoff contention, but if Washington loses they can still clinch the final wild card spot with loses from Minnesota and Chicago.

*San Francisco clinches the West with a win over Atlanta or a Seattle loss.

*Seattle clinches the West with a win and a loss from San Francisco. They can clinch a first-round bye with a win+SF loss+GB loss.

*Minnesota can clinch a playoff spot with a win OR a tie+Chicago loss OR Dallas loss or tie+New York loss or tie+Chicago loss.

*Chicago can clinch a playoff spot with a win+Minnesota loss or tie OR a tie+Minnesota loss.

*New York Giants can only clinch a playoff spot with a win+Minnesota loss+Chicago loss+Dallas loss.

Records/Milestones within Reach:

*Minnesota's Adrian Peterson is just 102 rushing yards shy of becoming just the 7th player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single-season. He's also 208 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards.

*One week after breaking Jerry Rice's single-season receiving yards record, Detroit's Calvin Johnson is 108 yards shy of becoming the first player in NFL history to break 2,000 receiving yards in a single-season.

*Houston's J.J. Watt (20.5 sacks) is 2.5 sacks shy of breaking Michael Strahan's single-season sack record of 22.5 sacks. San Francisco's Aldon Smith (19.5) is right behind him and just 3.5 sacks shy of the record.

*Seattle's quarterback Russell Wilson is one TD pass away from tying, and two away from breaking, Peyton Manning's rookie TD pass record of 26, set in 1998.

Week 17 Key Inactives:

Anquan Boldin, BAL

Brooks Reed, HOU

Brandon Weeden, CLE

Colt McCoy, CLE

Ray Lewis, BAL

Trent Richardson, CLE

Roddy White, ATL

Mike Wallace, PIT

Davone Bess, MIA

Carson Palmer, OAK

Greg McElroy, NYJ
Brian Urlacher, CHI

Game Picks:

Falcons over Bucs

Bills over Jets

Bengals over Ravens

Steelers over Browns

Bears over Lions

Jaguars over Titans

Eagles over Giants

Saints over Panthers

Colts over Texans

Vikings over Packers

Seahawks over Rams

Patriots over Dolphins

Broncos over Chiefs

Chargers over Raiders

Niners over Cardinals

Skins over Cowboys

Updates will be coming!

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Sunday Night Football: Niners Look to Clinch West with a Win

Now that the late games are all in the books and the Baltimore Ravens (10-5) managed to clinch the AFC North title for the second consecutive season with a 33-14 win over the New York Giants (8-7), all focus can be placed on the Sunday night game. And oh boy, will it be a great one.

A lot is on the line for both teams involved: Seattle (9-5) and San Francisco (10-3-1), which is a breath of fresh air. Normally we'd see a late-season San Francisco/Seattle showdown on the schedule and not even give the game a second glance.

This season, however, is a completely different story. The Niners have already clinched a playoff spot with 10 wins, but will have the opportunity to clinch the NFC West division for the second straight season with a victory. The Seahawks find themselves sitting in the 5th seed at the moment, but have yet to clinch a spot. They will need a victory tonight to clinch a playoff spot since the Skins and Vikings both won today as well.

The match-up is so highly anticipated that the NFL rendered the game primetime-worthy and moved the game from 4:15 to the Sunday night slot on NBC.

With two young quarterbacks at the helm for both teams––rookie Russell Wilson for SEA and second-year speedster Colin Kaepernick for SF––the defenses for each team must be licking their chops. The Niners and Seahawks are the league's top two scoring defenses heading into Week 16, and will be bringing their A-games.

Both teams are incredibly similar in all aspects of the game:

San Francisco offense: 26th in passing offense, 2nd in rushing offense, 7th in turnovers

Seattle offense: 27th in passing offense, 3rd in rushing offense, 3rd in turnovers

San Francisco defense: 1st in scoring, 2nd in total yardage, 16th in turnovers

Seattle defense: 2nd in scoring, 3rd in total yardage, 5th in turnovers

With these numbers are win totals eerily similar, it's clear that this game will be a hard-fought game and that the team with the least amount of mistakes will prevail in the end.

Star running backs Marshawn Lynch (1,379 yards, 10 TDs) and Frank Gore (1,118 yards, 7 TDs) have both been having fantastic seasons for their respective teams, and will both obviously need to show up to play tonight to give their team the best chance at coming away with a victory.

Despite all of this, it will be the play of the two young quarterbacks that will have the largest impact on the outcome of tonight's match-up. Seattle's 24-year old rookie Russell Wilson (62.9%, 2,697 yards, 21 TD, 9 INT, 95.5 rating) has gotten better and more comfortable in the pocket as the season has progressed. He has quickly made his case as the dark-horse for the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award this season, though he has not shot at winning the honor over Luck or Griffin.

San Francisco's former No. 1 overall pick back in the 2005 NFL draft began the season as the starter after breaking out with a career-year in 2011 and taking the Niners to the NFC Championship. However a concussion in a Week 9 tie to St. Louis knocked him out of the lineup for a couple of weeks.

Niner backup quarterback Colin Kaerpernick, 25, took over the role for the team and hasn't looked back. The dual-threat signal caller has taken the 49ers on a 4-1 run in his first 5 career NFL starts and has won over the fan base. Even with a healthy Smith back, Kaepernick still has the starting role and is poised to prove everyone he should keep the job in front of a primetime crowd tonight.

Though the rookie Wilson has more experience under center this season, I believe Kaepernick (65.6%, 1,289 yards, 7 TD, 2 INT, 101.4 rating; 379 rushing yards, 5 TDs in 11 games/5 starts this year) proved himself in a 41-34 victory over New England last week. After going into Foxboro last week and putting up 41 and putting up 31 at New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, I have no doubts Kaepernick can outplay Wilson on the road.

Both quarterbacks will have tough nights against these defenses, but with some help from Frank Gore the Niners offense will do just enough and limit mistakes against Chris Clemons, Richard Sherman & Co.

Though Seattle's offense has put up a total of 108 points over the last two weeks, you have to remember that those two games were against Arizona and Buffalo––not the best scoring defense in the league. Aldon Smith (19.5 sacks this season, 3.0 shy of tying Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22.5) will have a field day against the rookie Wilson, as he recorded 3 tackles and 1.0 sack in the 13-6 over Seattle earlier in the season.

Prediction: I'd take San Francisco's defense over Seattle's, though it is really close, and the Niners offense will make fewer critical mistakes. The Niners take this one in a close one, 21-17. Though I'd still love to see the 'Hawks in the postseason.

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Recapping Week 15: The NFC Playoff Picture and Why the Redskins Will Win the East

The NFC at this point is a bit more wide open than the AFC. Three of the four divisions in the AFC have already been spoken for, and one more is on the verge of being claimed as early as this weekend.

The NFC is a different story, with just half of the playoff spots being taken after 15 weeks and only two division titles have been claimed.

In the South, Atlanta already had the division down a couple of weeks ago but are now just one win away (possibly this coming Saturday against Detroit?) from claiming the top seed in the NFC. A convincing 24-0 shutout of the contending New York Giants (8-6) has shown that Matt Ryan's Falcons are still the team to beat in the conference and are two wins ahead of the next team in line, San Francisco (10-3-1).

Here are the headlines from this past weekend in the NFC...

Packers Fend off Bears for NFC North Title; Chicago and Minnesota jockey for playoff spot

At 10-4, Aaron Rodgers and his Packers have taken home the division title for the second consecutive season. With games against Tennessee and Minnesota still left on the schedule, it's possible that the Pack could beat out the Niners for the second seed and a first round bye if the Niners lose to both the Seahawks and Cardinals.

The Bears have hit a sudden wall and, after starting the season at 7-1 and one of the top contenders in the conference, have fallen in 5 of its last 6 games. Now on the outside looking in on the NFC postseason (Chicago and Minnesota are both 8-6, but Vikings hold tiebreaker), the Bears are in dire need of a couple of victories. In order to have a shot, the Bears will need to win both remaining games on the schedule (Detroit and Arizona) and hope the Vikings do not win out.

That will be tough, however, as Adrian Peterson has put the Vikings on his back and carried them to victories despite an underachieving quarterback in Christian Ponder and losing wideout Percy Harvin for the remainder of the season. The Texans and Packers will be seeing a heavy dose of Peterson over the final two weeks and will need to hold him to under 294 yards if they would like to keep him from breaking the single-season rushing record (set by Eric Dickerson in 1984). I'll be looking closer into Peterson's record-breaking chase sometime in the next day or so.

49ers @ Seahawks: Week 16 Game to Watch

Lucky for us, the primetime Sunday night game this weekend will be between the two teams duking it out for the NFC West title. Normally the chase for the Western division title in the NFC is a pretty bland battle, with the winner finishing around 9-7, 10-6. But this year we've seen two young quarterbacks take over the reins and dazzle opponents, making for an unusual exciting finish out West.

Second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick took over for the concussed Alex Smith in San Fran, and hasn't looked back since. In his first five professional starts, the 25-year old Kaepernick has posted a 4-1 record with 7 TDs, 2 INTs and over 1,200 yards. He's pulled off victories against teams such as Chicago, New Orleans and, most recently, the 10-win Patriots on Sunday night, putting up 41 points against one of the AFC's best teams.

The rookie signal caller in Seattle, Russell Wilson, has established himself as the Seahawks' future and is a dark horse candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year this season. Carrying Pete Carroll's 'Hawks to a 9-5 record, Wilson has a shot at once again silencing his critics on Sunday night if he can pull off a victory over the Niners. If the Seahawks win on Sunday, they can clinch a playoff spot. Even if they lose, they can still clinch if the Bears, Vikings and Redskins all lose.

Washington, Dallas Victories, Giants loss means a 3-way tie in East

Did I not tell you this would happen? I believe I did a couple of weeks ago. The "Giant" collapse in New York continued with a 24-0 shutout against the Falcons. Their fourth loss over the last six weeks puts them near the bottom of the list of "in the hunt" teams, at No. 9, while the second Redskins' rookie signal caller came out a victor in his first career start. Dallas' Tony Romo kept his 'Boys in the hunt with a 27-24 overtime victory over Big Ben's Steelers, but it will be Washington that ends up coming out a winner.

The Giants will get a Baltimore team sitting on a 3-game losing streak this Sunday, but with Ray Lewis expected to return I can see the Baltimore defense coming into the game hungry. Very hungry. Another Giants loss and the Cowboys facing the Saints, I believe it will be the Skins who pull out ahead in Week 16, defeating the Eagles in Robert Griffin III's return to action.

At 9-6, it will come down to a Cowboys/Redskins grudge match at Fedex Field in Week 17, a match-up in which the Skins will win, completing the season sweep and wrapping up the NFC East. It's a tough pill to swallow for the Giants, likely finishing out the second half of the season with a 3-5 record and completing 2012 with a 9-7 record. But Eli Manning's inconsistency has held back a team that very easily could be at 10-11 wins right now.

NFC Playoff Scenarios

*Falcons clinch first round bye and No. 1 seed with a win. Can clinch first round bye with a win OR a loss by Green Bay OR a loss by San Francisco.
*49ers clinch NFC West with a win over Seattle. Can clinch first round bye with a win AND the Packers lose.
*Seahawks can clinch a playoff spot with a win over San Francisco.
*Redskins can clinch a playoff spot with a win over Philadelphia AND losses by Giants, Bears and Vikings.
*Giants can clinch a playoff spot with a win over Baltimore AND losses by Redskins, Cowboys, Bears and Vikings.

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Dallas Looking to Make Statement Saturday Night vs. Tampa Bay

On the verge of falling out of the NFC playoff picture, the Atlanta Falcons got back in the thick of things with a convincing 41-14 Thursday night win over the struggling Jaguars, improving to 9-5 on the season.

Tonight, in the season's first Saturday night matchup, the Dallas Cowboys are looking to make a similar statement on the road against the 4-9 Buccaneers.

Tony Romo, as we are all well-aware, has a history of falling apart in the month of December. This year has been no exception as his 'Boys are riding a two-game losing streak with back-to-back defeats to Arizona and NFC East counterpart Giants.

Sitting at 7-6 (2-4 on the road), Dallas is tied atop the East with the Giants–well, not quite, New York owns the tiebreaker. So if Jason Garrett expects to make a playoff push they will need to win out, including a victory over New York (Week 17) to clinch the division.

Over the last two weeks, Romo has played great according to the box score. He hasn't turned the ball over and threw for a combined 620 yards and five touchdowns, but did not receive much help from the rest of his team.

Against Arizona, Dallas averaged under four yards per carry (75 yards on 20 carries) and allowed five sacks of Romo. Against New York, the offense did its job in putting up 34 points on the board, but the defense struggled to put pressure on Eli Manning up front and allowed 400 yards through the air as well as 37 points. New York scored 15 points in the final three minutes of the game to complete a late 12-point comeback.

I've heard numerous arguments against Romo over this two-game stretch and I don't quite understand how you can solely put the blame on him. Yes, I would agree to a certain extent that he doesn't always show the strongest leadership abilities on the field, but he orchestrated two quick scoring drives late in the game–one from 80 yards, and one from 49. Dan Bailey missed what would have been a game-tying 51 yard field goal with under a minute to play to end the game for Dallas' offense.

How can this possibly mean Romo is to blame for Dallas' two-game skid? He has played near-perfect football, protecting the ball and getting his offense in the end zone time after time while his defense gives up 56 points over that span.

Even just "looking at the box score" would do Romo justice. You can avoid actually watching the game and instead checking the numbers and you can basically get the whole story. Now, I'm not saying that's what I did, because I did actually watch him play. I'm just saying the box score explains everything and it's tough to argue against his four-touchdown, 321 yard, 141.3 QBR game against New York.

As for tonight against Tampa Bay, I don't think he'd have any trouble continuing his recent success through the air. Tampa Bay is ranked 27th against the pass in terms of yardage, in the bottom five in rushing yards allowed and has allowed the most (19) touchdowns on the ground as well. So even without rookie DeMarco Murray the 'Boys are expected to have great success on the ground tonight. Felix Jones racked up 106 yards against NY last week, and I would expect a heavy dosage again tonight.

This means it will be tough for Tampa to make Dallas' offense one-dimensional. Big day offensively for the Cowboys, I can feel it.

My Prediction: Dallas 31, Tampa Bay 10

Photo credit

Tony Romo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

LeGarrette Blount: Grant Halverson/Getty Images