It is important to know which games are relevant and which aren't. Which teams are resting players for the playoffs and which are trying out players for next year's rosters. That being said, I thought it would be important to list games in order of priority to handicap.

1) New York Giants @ Washington

Pretty simple here as the this game is Saturday night. A Giants victoy eliminates 3 of the other 4 7-8 teams with Green Bay only still in the running. As best as I can tell, the G-men own the strength of victory margin (81 vs. 61) meaning the Packers would have to outscore the Bears by 21 MORE POINTS than the Giants outscore the Redskins. Should the Giants lose, the pecking order goes Green Bay, Carolina, Atlanta and St. Louis. Now, Rams fans, for your team to make the playoffs you might as well make a small 5-team parlay of the Rams, Redskins, Bears, Saints and Eagles (all ML) to cash your playoff ticket.

2) Oakland @ New York Jets

If I remember correctly, there are 12 early games (Green Bay vs. Chicago is now officially the late game next Sunday) Of the early games, the ones that matter are this game and the NFC contenders games IF the Giants lose.

3) Buffalo @ Baltimore

The significance of this game is simple. A Ravens victory gives their team a week off. Very important stuff this time of year.

4) San Fran @ Denver

The Jets and Broncos are in with victories. How easy is this.

5) Green Bay @ Chicago

As explained earlier, this game is important no matter the outcome of the Giants game. Throw in the potential of Favre's last game and it becomes huge.

Of course, one last option which actually might work even best is the live investing option. Should one of the above teams stumble, then live betting (especially with so many concurrent games @ 1:00 EST) might provide your best odds this weekend.

Below is the order of rankings of the teams to keep in mind. Last weekend's post on the overs worked well to the tune of 4-1. I don't see the same option being as significant because the dynamic isn't the same. The area is much more gray for those teams who may already know their fate.

Duckman

Seeds (Through Week 16) - Roll over team for Remaining Schedule
AFC
Seed Team Record
1 San Diego 13-2 (AFC West Champs)
2 Baltimore 12-3 (AFC North Champs)
3 Indianapolis 11-4 (AFC South Champs)
4 New England 11-4 (AFC East Champs)
5 Denver 9-6
6 N.Y. Jets 9-6
Still Alive
7 Cincinnati 8-7
8 Tennessee 8-7
9 Kansas City 8-7
10 Jacksonville 8-7
Eliminated
11 Buffalo 7-8 (Week 16)
12 Pittsburgh 7-8 (Week 16)
13 Miami 6-9 (Week 15)
14 Houston 5-10 (Week 14)
15 Cleveland 4-11 (Week 14)
16 Oakland 2-13 (Week 12)
NFC
Seed Team Record
1 Chicago 13-2(NFC North Champs)
2 New Orleans 10-5 (NFC South Champs)
3 Philadelphia 9-6 (NFC East leader)
4 Seattle 8-7 (NFC West Champs)
5 Dallas 9-6
6 N.Y. Giants 7-8
Still Alive
7 Green Bay 7-8
8 Carolina 7-8
9 Atlanta 7-8
10 St. Louis 7-8
Eliminated
11 San Francisco 6-9 (Week 16)
12 Minnesota 6-9 (Week 16)
13 Arizona 5-10 (Week 14)
14 Washington 5-10 (Week 14)
15 Tampa Bay 4-11 (Week 14)
16 Detroit 2-13(Week 13)

THANKS, I WILL TAKE A LONG LOOK ON SAT. AND SUN

If the Giants, Panthers and Falcons all lose and the Rams win, then the GB-CHI game means nothing since the Rams beat GB head-to-head this year. As crazy as it sounds, the Rams are probably the most "deserving" of the would-be 8-8 teams out there. So I'll be taking the 4-teamer instead of the 5-teamer.

The following games have been moved to 4:15 pm EST start time: Atlanta @ Philadelphia, Miami @ Indianapolis and Buffalo @ Baltimore. This changes things just a bit.

Indy and Baltimore fighting for a first-round bye. Indy need win and Baltimore loss for the bye. All others scenarios favor the Ravens.

Atlanta becomes important if Giants, Panthers, and Rams fall BEFORE them.

Side note: Cincinnati, Tennessee, Jacksonville, and KC are all eliminated with loss, but with win have to hang around for the outcome of SF/Denver. Play on the overs for Pitt/Cin, NE/Ten and Jax/KC.

Side note 2: Reverse is true for the NFC. Should Giants lose, other 4 teams are NOT necessarily eliminated with loss (multiple tie-breaker scenarios) My numbers show that Giants, Panthers and Rams could all lose (even though all 3 are road favorites and this has been year of home dog), so it could be interesting to fade the public on these 3 games.

Duckman

thanks alot for the hard work...i know those senarios will bend your mind if ya look at 'em too long !!!


glta

thanks for the info. will be helpful this weekend. gl