Well folks the final week of the regular season is finally here. The end of four grueling months of football has led to one last chance to clinch a playoff berth. All six spots in the AFC have been decided, now things just depend on seeding. Over in the NFC, we only know a few pieces of that puzzle. The only things that are for sure is that Dallas is locked in as the #1 seed, and Seattle/New York/Atlanta are in. Seeding, the NFC North, and the final wild card spot will all be decided on Sunday. Green Bay, Detroit, Tampa Bay, and Washington all have their playoff lives on the line in Week 17.

While most of the intrigue is squarely on the NFC, don’t sleep on the AFC this week, especially with three backup quarterbacks leading playoff teams. With MVP candidate Derek Carr out of the mix in Oakland, the outlook of the AFC is in flux. This should be a very fun week for sure.

Now I’m skipping this week’s power rankings due to all of the upheaval in the status quo with injuries and such. Next week I’ll be doing a full rundown of the 12-playoff teams. Sit back and enjoy the ride though. With all sixteen games going down on Sunday, everything from playoff teams to draft picks will be decided by the end of the Packers-Lions game in primetime.

For today’s “No Huddle” I’ll be looking at the most important games on the schedule and making my picks against the spread. Are you excited? I hope so, because the last week of the season gets a little crazy with the high stakes combined with teams looking ahead to the playoffs. As of right now, Dallas is likely treating this week as a preseason game (with a possible Tony Romo sighting), and Pittsburgh is resting all its key guys.

We’ll start off with the Sunday night game between Green Bay and Detroit. This game has the most to say about the NFC playoff seeding. The winner is the champion of the NFC North, which is currently good for the #4 seed in the NFC. That would mean a date with the Giants in the Wild Card round. Both teams are rooting for the Giants earlier in the day because a win by New York over Washington secures playoff berths for both teams before the game even starts. The other scenario that gets both teams into the playoffs is the game ending in a tie.

As far as the matchup goes, it’s tough to pick against either team right now. Detroit has been feisty all season but is coming off an embarrassing loss last week (reverse momentum theory pops up once again). Green Bay is the hottest team in the NFL right now and is one win away from fulfilling Aaron Rodgers’s guarantee that this team could run the table at 4-6.

The big injury to keep an eye on is the status of Lions cornerback Darius Slay. He was injured in that Monday night game and once he went out with a hamstring injury, Detroit’s defense fell apart. His presence is the key for Detroit to have any chance in this game.

Even with Slay playing at less than 100 percent, that is a huge advantage for the Packers. The Rodgers-Jordy Nelson connection is unstoppable right now, as evidenced by last week’s performance against Minnesota. Defensively for Green Bay, Clay Matthews is playing his best football of the season and that gives the front-seven an added edge to stopping the wily Matthew Stafford.

At best, this game becomes a shootout between two up-tempo offenses. However, I have a feeling Detroit could be in for a long night with the NFC North title and a potential playoff spot on the line. Regardless of the outcome, we’ll know exactly how high the stakes in this game will be before kickoff.

Which brings us to the second-most important game of the week, which is an NFC East battle between the Giants and the Redskins. There is no word on whether or not New York will be full go for this game, but all signs point to the Giants not resting starters on Sunday. A chance to knock out a division rival as a playoff warm-up is too juicy to pass up.

I think that the Giants, with the way this defense has played down the stretch, could be the most dangerous team in the NFC. We’ll have a classic “unstoppable force” meets “immovable object” situation on Sunday. Washington, when healthy, is a tough offense to stop. Even on a bad night, Kirk Cousins can still put up over 300 yards passing. That is a scary thought because that means you are either A) scoring a ton yourself (something the Giants don’t do), or B) bending but not breaking by getting red zone stops (something the Giants can do).

Despite how well this defense plays for the Giants, I do think that Eli Manning needs to have a statement game before we can start getting serious about a Super Bowl run for New York. Six interceptions in four games doesn’t exactly have a Lombardi Trophy ring to it. If New York wants to rely on this defense, Manning at least needs to protect the football.

Either way this should be a great game between two of the oldest rivals in the NFL. I do have my concerns that the Giants could pull the plug on this game if Washington pulls ahead by too much. Protecting the key players before a potential matchup with Green Bay might outweigh knocking out a divisional foe.

Let’s quickly get to my picks against the spread for the week. Christmas wasn’t as merry as I would have hoped for, going 9-7 overall. Hopefully we can end the regular season with a bang and ring in 2017 on a high note. Here are my picks for Week 17 (Winners in Bold).

Last Week: 9-7         2016 Season: 132-107-1

 1:00 PM

Dallas vs. Philadelphia (-5)

Baltimore (-1) vs. Cincinnati

Houston (+3.5) vs. Tennessee

Carolina vs. Tampa Bay (-4)

Jacksonville vs. Indianapolis (-4.5)

New England vs. Miami (+9.5)

Chicago (+6) vs. Minnesota

Buffalo (-3.5) vs. NY Jets

Cleveland (+6.5) vs. Pittsburgh

 

4:25 PM

New Orleans (+7) vs. Atlanta

NY Giants vs. Washington (-7.5)

Arizona (-6.5) vs. Los Angeles

Oakland vs. Denver (-1.5)

Kansas City (-5) vs. San Diego

Seattle (-9.5) vs. San Francisco

 

Sunday Night Football

Green Bay (-3.5) vs. Detroit

Stay tuned to Shooting the Moon, I’ll have my preview of tomorrow’s CFP semi-final games up later tonight. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.