Week 12 in the NFL is in the Books

Week 12 saw New England, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Cincinnati emerge as the big stars of the weekend. Other noteworthy wins went to Washington, San Francisco, Buffalo, Las Vegas, and Denver. The four teams who blew golden opportunities to improve their playoff chances were, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and the Chargers. We are entering into the separation period, where we are going to decide who are the contenders, and who are the pretenders. It is put up or shut up time. Let’s update the divisions.

• NFC EAST: Combined Record 21-24
• Dallas 7-4: Just a horrible loss to the Raiders on Thanksgiving as they scored 33 points and still loss.
• Washington 5-6 : Three straight wins and a fairly, soft remaining schedule has given them new life in the wild-card hunt.
• Philadelphia 5-7: Very bad loss to the Giants, really stopped the Eagle’s playoff push.
• New York Giants 4-7: Good win for the Giants over the Eagles.

• NFC NORTH: Combined Record 18-26-1
• Green Bay: 9-3 The Packers got back on track with a big win over the Rams. They go into the bye week in good shape for the stretch run.
• Minnesota: 5-6 The Vikings lost a tough one in San Francisco. How many times have we said they lost a tough one? Too many.
• Chicago: 4-7 The Bears kept from getting embarrassed by winning 16-14 over winless Detroit.
• Detroit: 0-10-1 Another close loss for the hapless Lions.

• NFC SOUTH: Combined Record 23-22
• Tampa Bay 8-3: The Buccaneers get a hard-earned win over a good Colts team.
• New Orleans 5-6: Just four weeks ago, the Saints were riding high after a win over the Bucs. Since then, they are 0-4.
• Atlanta 5-6: They bounced back from two terrible games and beat the Jaguars.
• Carolina 5-7: The Panthers were whipped up on by the Dolphins and are going the wrong way.

• NFC WEST: Combined Record 25-19
• Arizona 9-2: The Cardinals come back from the bye week and hope to finish off a great season.
• Los Angeles 7-4: Do the Rams have hidden problems, or are they just in a slump? Stay tuned.
• San Francisco 6-5: The 49ers got, maybe, the best win of the week with a win over the Vikings and are solidly in the playoff hunt.
• Seattle 3-8: The Seahawks are probably going to clean house at the end of this season.

• AFC EAST: Combined Record 23-23
• New England 8-4: The Patriots have won six in a row and they are hammering everyone. Next up: the Bills.
• Buffalo 7-4: The Bills bounced back with a great win over the Saints on Thanksgiving. Next up: the Patriots
• Miami 5-7: Four in a row for the Dolphins and they have the Giants in Miami coming up.
• New York Jets 3-8: The Jets got another win and any win they get is a good one.

• AFC NORTH: Combined Record 26-18-1
• Baltimore 8-3: The Ravens continue to win and that is all that counts. First place in this division is a good thing.
• Cincinnati 7-4: The Bengals showed the Steelers that they are for real and Pittsburgh is on their way out.
• Pittsburgh: 5-5-1: They didn’t show much competitiveness in Cincinnati.
• Cleveland 6-6: The Browns offense is terrible; end of discussion.

• AFC SOUTH: Combined Record 18-28
• Tennessee 8-4: The Titans headed up to New England and got kicked around by the Patriots. They are in a bit of trouble.
• Indianapolis 6-6: If the Colts had won on Sunday, they would have been within a game of Tennessee. But Tampa, prevailed in Indy.
• Houston 2-9: The Texans had a chance for win No.3 but lost to the Jets at home.
• Jacksonville 2-9: They are hoping to find a couple more wins in the final weeks of the season.

• AFC WEST: Combined Record 25-19
• Kansas City 7-4: The Chiefs have taken over the top spot in the division and they will not give it up for the rest of the season.
• Las Vegas 6-5: Just when you thought the Raiders were done, they head into Dallas and beat the Cowboys. Go figure!
• Denver 6-5: The Broncos just keep hanging around and they are staying in the hunt for a wild-card spot.
• LA Chargers 6-5: On the other hand, the Chargers just lose games they need to win to stay in the hunt.