Remember the old days when the Oakland Raiders were the dirtiest team in the league?
They still are. Of course this brawl started last season between Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib and it's in keeping with the wild wild west of the AFC. And amid all that in Denver the Raiders clawed back into longshot contention for the playoffs. They need to win out their remaining games and get some help outside - but with Kansas City's recent fate they or the Chargers may get it; the caveats are the Raiders get road games at Philly, Kansas City, and at the Chargers.
The Raiders are one of ten AFC teams still in genuine playoff contention, so games coming forward matter even more. We thus look at those coming up in the Lucky 13th week -
Redskins over Cowboys - The collapse of the Cowboys has vaulted the Redskins into a wildcard playoff bid, and after beating the fallen Giants the Skins have momentum while the Cowboys are lost without Zeke Elliott. The Deadskins vs. Cowpokes rivalry remains one of the NFL's most celebrated.
Vikings over Falcons - 1998 will always be the signature game in the history of this rivalry, and with Week 13 the Vikings and Falcons now both have something big to play for with Minnesota fighting for a playoff bye and the Falcons very much in contention for the NFC South. Both teams have enough strength (Minnesota has one of the playoff byes while the Falcons are 7-4 at this juncture) to make this perhaps game of the week. It's clear Case Keenum is for real for the Vikings and it's also clear there is no Superbowl hangover for the Falcons. The edge goes to a Vikings team that already beat one of the NFC's strongest teams in the Rams.
49ers over Bears - Does Mitchell Trubisky have a future? For that matter does C. J. Beathard? Jimmy Garoppolo's late-game touchdown looks to have been decisive in San Francisco's decision to start him over the struggling rookie, who has San Francisco's only win but overall has not made the team competitive with anyone. Now we see how good Garoppolo can be and if he can elevate a struggling Niners squad.
Packers over Buccaneers - The former NFC Central rivalry is renewed and the Bucs come in with their season gone and the Packers come in off a heartbreaker of a loss at Pittsburgh. Brent Hundley hasn't made his team competitive outside of beating the Bears until this game against the Steelers and he comes into this Bucs game with confidence after so stellar a performance as he displayed, while the Bucs come in without much reason for optimism.
Jaguars over Colts - The Jaguars come off their own bitter loss, this one at Arizona, and get the falling Colts, shutout the first time these two met this year. The Jags' only career season sweep of the Colts was in 2011's Suck For Luck campaign; look for the playoff-bound Jaguars to get another sweep this year.
Dolphins over Broncos - Two miserable teams without competent quarterbacking playing out the string. The Broncos' philosophy of going all-in won them a Superbowl and they're now paying for it with complete irrelevance.
Panthers over Saints - Last time out the Saints and Panthers were still struggling to get some momentum going. The Saints have done a better job of it but the Panthers have been sneaky strong and even with some poor quality play out of Cam Newton (who has failed to reach 200 passing yards in four of his last five games and posted passer ratings under 72 in five of the last six) the Panthers have strung together a very good season. New Orleans appears to be losing some steam of late and the Panthers look to jump on top of a defense 12th in scoring vs. Carolina's 8th.
NY Jets over Chiefs - The faltering of the Chiefs continues, and now some are wondering if Patrick Mahomes will start; Andy Reid's Monday presser only added to this speculation. We doubt it given he hasn't taken a snap all season. The Jets meanwhile are still playing people tough.
Ravens over Lions - The main strike against the Lions remains inability to beat quality opponents; Week Four's win at the Vikings is their only win so far against a quality team. The Ravens are only 18th in scoring, but they're still in playoff contention at 6-5 despite continuing struggle from a clearly-plateaued or worse Joe Flacco; in his last six games he's reached 200 yards only once and three of those times his passer rating failed to reach 80.
Patriots over Bills - People have forgotten the real reason why Tyrod Taylor was benched - there is no growth left in him. This reality should be displayed again as the Patriots race headlong toward the top seed in the conference while the Bills have faltered since starting 5-2.
Titans over Texans - Another sneaky good team has been Tennessee. Houston lit them up for 57 points in Week Four but things have changed completely since then with Tennessee winning five of the last seven. Gagging up the ball has remained a problem for both teams with negative turnover differential for both, while on the ground the Titans are sixth in rushing going against Houston's sixth-ranked run defense. The Texans are a M*A*S*H unit of injuries compared to Tennessee, and Deshaun Watson's absence remains felt. Tom Savage's collapse against the Ravens erased positive momentum from Houston's win over the Cardinals.
Chargers over Browns - By now it isn't even fair. The Browns did shock the Chargers last season but that was then and this is a Browns team that doesn't show any fight.
Raiders over NY Giants - The collapse of the Giants remains one of the shockers of 2017 and the benching of Eli Manning has come under fire but in reality was overdue, with the aborted trade to the Jaguars now back into Rumor Control Central. The Raiders' hopes of the playoffs require a win in this game, and beating the Giants is something the Raiders haven't done since 2001. Up and down the stat line it's a game pitting weaknesses against weaknesses in run defense, rushing, etc.
Rams over Cardinals - This game has makings of a highly-competitive affair with the Rams coming in at 8-3 and the 5-6 Cardinals getting new life with Blaine Gabbert and a tight win over the Jaguars. The Rams didn't light up the scoreboard as much as they presumably hoped against the Saints, but it was certainly enough, and the last five meetings have been a seesaw affair with the Rams winning three of the last five.
Eagles over Seahawks - The old Seahawks dichotomy of losing on the road and winning all their home games has been shot down this season with back-to-back home losses to the Redskins and the Falcons. The Eagles come in with four road wins so far and hold the edge in scoring, points allowed, and turnover differential. Where the Seahawks might have an edge is in attacking Philly's passing defense, presently 16th in the league, though Russell Wilson's completion percentage has failed to reach 62% the last two games. Seattle's pass defense has of course been wounded with multiple secondary injuries.
Cincinnati hasn't beaten the Steelers since Week 8 of 2015
Steelers over Bengals - Mike Tomlin in a Sunday interview talked openly about facing the Patriots in several weeks, and thus gave away a lack of focus on next week's opponent. Not that the 5-6 Bengals - a surprising 5-6 at that - are really much of a challenge (just one Bengals win in the last eight meetings) and the speculation that Marvin Lewis will finally be fired has resurfaced. To their credit the Bengals are tenth in fewest points allowed and fifth in passing yards allowed per game.
Well, Lucky 13 is on the NFL roulette wheel.
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