First off, happy holidays. Hope you're enjoying your favorite foods, beverages and family vacations. The best from our to yours.

Now, on to the deathsport.

Sunday

OAK @ TB (-13)

CLE @ PIT (-10.5)

TEN (-3) @ IND

STL @ ATL (-14.5)

NE (-6.5) @ BUF

DET @ GB (9.5)

CHI @ HOU (-2.5)

KC @ CIN (-3)

NYG @ MIN (-6.5)

CAR (-3) @ NO

WAS @ SF (-3)

JAX @ BAL (-12.5)

SEA @ ARZ (-6)

DAL @ PHI (-1.5)

MIA @ NYJ (-2.5)

DEN @ SD (-8.5) San Diego 28 - Denver 24

The final week of the season is upon us and the outcome is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless. But 9-7 is better than 8-8. This 49ers team is on a mission under interim head coach Singletary, so anything less than a full effort and it'll be a long flight home. Don't forget to get your questions into Fooch, who was gracious enough to come over from Niners Nation. Oh, and if he or any other Niners fan has any questions, answer them in turn.

This is going to be a tough game. Depending on the health of Frank Gore, controlling the ball is going to be key. I'd really like JC to rise to the occasion, if only to stop the whole Colt for QB talk.

Anyways, enjoy the rest of the holidays. Oh, and don't forget to watch all those 1,054 bowl games. (Texas Tech to cover over Ole Miss, you heard it here first.) This time next week, offseason football begins in Washington. Oh, the joy.

RIP Sammy.

Thursday

IND (-6) @ JAX

Saturday

BAL @ DAL (-4)

Sunday

NO (-7) @ DET

PIT (-2) @ TEN

SF (-5.5) @ STL

CIN @ CLE (-3)

MIA (-4) @ KC

ARZ @ NE (-7.5)

SD @ TB (-3.5)

HOU (-7) @ OAK

NYJ (-4.5) @ SEA

BUF @ DEN (-6.5)

ATL @ MIN (-3)

PHI (-5) @ WAS

CAR @ NYG (-3)

Monday

GB @ CHI (-4) Chicago 24 - GB 17

Big week to keep the smallest of playoff hopes alive.

No college football today. Sad.

Thursday

NO @ CHI (-3)

Sunday

TB @ ATL (-3)

TEN (-3) @ HOU

WAS (-7) @ CIN

SEA @ STL (no line = straight up even)

GB (-1.5) @ JAX

SF @ MIA (-6.5)

DET @ IND (-17)

SD (-5.5) @ KC

BUF @ NYJ (-7.5)

MIN @ ARZ (no line = straight up even)

DEN @ CAR (-7.5)

NE (-7) @ OAK

PIT @ BAL (-2.5)

NYG @ DAL (-3)

Monday

CLE @ PHI (-14) 28-10

I'm opening this early so that you can comment on any of the day games that can directly determine the Skins' playoff chances (Giants and Eagles at 1 pm EST, Cowboys at the Steelers at 4:30 pm EST) before tonight's game. Consider this an all day open thread.

You can take a quick look at a preview here and the weather should be pretty cold and windy. The forecast calls for 30 degrees to feel like 18 degrees with the 19 mph winds that are expected. Wicked cold. The good news? Clear skies and no rain/snow.

Anyway, enjoy your football Sunday. It'll be interesting to see some of the bowl game selections. Hopefully, the Skins' playoff chances will live for another week. A loss tonight pretty much spells the end of the season. That's where we stand. HTTR.

Not much to say. Enjoy football watching. This is really when both the college and the NFL seasons start to get interesting.

Thursday

OAK @ SD (-8.5)

Sunday

MIN @ DET (no line = straight up even)

CIN @ IND (-13)

ATL @ NO (-3)

PHI @ NYG (-7)

HOU @ GB (-5.5)

CLE @ TEN (-13.5)

JAX @ CHI (-6.5)

NYJ (-3) @ SF

NE (-4.5) @ SEA

KC @ DEN (-8.5)

MIA @ BUF (-1) (note: in Toronto)

DAL @ PIT (-3)

STL @ ARZ (-14)

WAS @ BAL (-5)

Monday

TB @ CAR (-3.5) - CAR 21 - TB 20

Enjoy your footballing.

Your friend Rexx was gracious enough to come over to the SBN Washington Redskins blog, Hogs Haven, and offer his services in answering any and all questions the Skins bloggers have about the Ravens. So, I felt compelled to do the same for y'all.

If you have questions about your interstate rivals, feel free to ask them here or over at Hogs Haven and someone (if not myself) should be able to answer them for you.

I'm looking forward to a good game Sunday night. And I'm rooting for y'all against Dallas (monetary gain might or might not be involved.)

That's it for now.

I'm gonna make this short, since they isn't much to say. The team looked bad. Yeah, there was a pass interference call at the end that was missed, but it would have only led to getting the Skins within 10 points.

The picture says it all. (Image from here.)

Yeah, the Giants are good, defending champs and all that. But they didn't play their best game today. Eli looked good, not great. Jacobs looked human. Ward had a good day. The defense looked good (man, Tuck is something else) but there were dropped balls and missed chances. JC wasn't very good.

The Skins defense held the Giants to only 23. They averaged 29.9 coming in (Fox did a great job pointing out that the most the Skins have scored all year was 29.) Rogers had another bad day and Hall had another INT.

Yeah, Portis was in and out all game. He probably should've taken the end of the game off. There wasn't much running to be done after the Giants got up 2 (and then 3) scores late. But that's not his style. Especially on Sean Taylor day.

Which brings me to my final point: this was Sean Taylor day. Say what you will about his play, his passion, his skill... the guy never gave up. He never went half speed or coasted. He never gave up an extra yard without a fight. He never let a team come in to FedEx and have their way.

And I'm not saying... I'm just saying.

This team is 7-5, 3rd in the division and all the momentum they might have gained early in the season is gone. It's a dog fight just to make the playoffs from this point until the end. I just hope I still have a dog in the fight.

Another week, another Blogger Deathsport victory. That's right, I said it.

Thursday (all picked on Wednesday)

TEN (-11) @ DET

SEA @ DAL (-12.5)

ARZ @ PHI (-3)

Sunday

BAL (-7) @ CIN

IND (-5) @ CLE

CAR @ GB (-3)

NO @ TB (-3.5)

NYG (-3.5) @ WAS

SF @ BUF (-7)

ATL @ SD (-4.5)

KC @ OAK (-3)

PIT @ NE (-1)

DEN @ NYJ (-7.5)

CHI @ MIN (-3.5)

Monday

JAX @ HOU (-3)

That's it. Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend and HTTR.

You know the drill.

Thursday

CIN @ PIT (-11.5)

Sunday

SF @ DAL (-10)

PHI @ BAL (-1)

NYJ @ TEN (-5)

BUF (-3) @ KC

MIN @ JAX (-2.5)

NE @ MIA (no line = straight up even)

CHI (-7.5) @ STL

HOU @ CLE (-3)

TB (-7.5) @ DET

OAK @ DEN (-9)

WAS (-3.5) @ SEA

NYG (-3) @ ARZ

CAR @ ATL (-1)

IND @ SD (-2.5)

Monday

GB @ NO (-2.5) GB 31- NO 28

As always, let me know where you think I went wrong. (My vote is birth.)

First off, I'd like to apologize for my lack of posts. As contributor hibachi pointed out, there has been a slower-than-usual post rate around here. Funny because after Skins losses, everything around here seems so slow down. Which brings me to my next point:

FEEL FREE TO POST.

This site is all about participation. A blog community is only one when everyone posts and responds. That is all for the soap box for me. On to the fun stuff.

The loss to the Cowboys (oh, and wasn't it special to have all those Cow Sheep visit... funny, they must have been busy in week 4) marks 2 things: an more specific and interesting wildcard race and 10 games of the 16 game season down. So, who still has a legitimate shot at the playoffs? I'm gonna take a look at the NFC, division by division. Let the fun begin.

NFC West: I'm about to write the Cards in for the division title with a pen. San Fran is showing too little, too late. There is only one team making the playoffs from this division.

NFC North: The Lions are out. Everyone else has a shot at 5-5. I can't see two teams making it out.

NFC South: The Saints are trying to play their way out of it, but they haven't yet. The Falcons, Bucs and Panthers all have a shot at the division and they might be able to get a wildcard team.

Our beloved NFC East: The Giants will win and the Skins and Cowboys are making a play for a wildcard. The Eagles still have an outside shot, but they need to start winning.

So, what do we have? To me, the losers in the South and in the East are the only teams with a shot. The NFC North teams will beat each other into bad enough records that they'll miss the playoffs. So, for the sake of argument, the Cowboys, Redskins, Panthers, Bucs and Falcons are the teams I see vying for the 2 wildcard spots. Obviously, someone has to win the South... so the other 2 NFC South teams and the 2 NFC East teams are going to be in the mix. The Panthers are already 8-2 and the best thing for the Skins chances is for the Panthers to run through the division games at Atlanta (6-4) this weekend and against Tampa (7-3) in a few weeks. The Panthers already beat Atlanta at home and lost in Tampa.

The Cowboys and Skins are done with their season series... and both face common opponents (BAL, SF, SEA, NYG, and PHI) down the stretch. This is important because the wild card tie breaker is a) head-to-head games, b) division record and c) common opponents. The full break down can be found here. The 'Boys and 'Skins split of the season series means that division record is next... followed by record in games between common opponents.

Basically, the Skins need to win and win a lot. I think that it'll take at least 10 wins to make the playoffs in the NFC. That means the Skins have to go 4-2 from here on out. Seattle, San Francisco and Cincy are all bad teams that the Skins should beat, even though all 3 games are on the road. Speaking of road games, 4 of the last 6 games are on the road (@ BAL) and the only 2 home games are division games. Tough road ahead.

On the other hand, the Cowboys have 4 of the last 6 at home. They have to go to PIT and to PHI and have Seattle, San Fran, the Giants and Ravens at home. Hmm.

That's all I got for now. What's up?