I seem to have more time these days on Thursdays than at weekends these days, and the new week does start tonight, and my attempt at a Assosiation Football thread was shouted down, so let's get into it:

TONIGHT, 1:25am, Sky Sports
San Diego Chargers (6-7) @ Denver Broncos (11-2)
Make or break game for the Chargers tonight, with a loss more or less eliminating them from playoff contention. The Broncos, though looking the likely number 1 seed, still have to finish the job. This will be a high scoring one with the Chargers playing for their playoff lives and Philip Rivers in excellent form lately. Broncos have been giving up silly amounts of points to nonsense teams like the Titans, but it doesn't matter because they outscore everybody, this will probably be the case again tonight. (DEN by 7)

SUNDAY, 6PM, SKY SPORTS
New England Patriots (10-3) @ Miami Dolphins (7-6)
Huge division game this, with the Pats looking to wrap the division up for another year with a win, and Miami trying to stay in contention for the 6th seed with Baltimore. Pats narrowly escaped (with some assistance) egg-on-face at home to Cleveland last week (poor Cleveland!) but lost their best offensive weapon in the process. This didn't matter so much last week, but going forward into the playoffs, Gronk will be a huge miss, as he was at the start of their stuttering season. So Miami have to fancy this one as a streaking team trying to make their first playoffs in what feels like ages (5 years?) but I do have to feel Brady will still find a way, he always does. Should be tight though (NE by 3)

9:25PM, SKY SPORTS
Green Bay Packers (6-6-1) @ Dallas Cowboys (7-6)
Another one of those vintage matches here. Rodgers-less Green Bay are still alive! Though not thanks in part to their opponents this week, who looked like inanimate carbon rods to a back-up QB in Chicago on Monday. Terrible result for the Cowboys as the Eagles are flying in the East, and slipped down to 9th in the NFC putting themselves in a perilous position for the playoffs. The Packers could knock them off outright with a win, though it's hard to expect the Cowboys will be quite as bad back home in Jerrydome. Still no clearance for Rodgers, but Matt Flynn was majorly improved against the Falcons and must fancy his chances given the fairly pathetic defensive display shown against the Bears. Romo should have his offensive clicking much more against this banged-up Packers team though, which could well be the difference. (GB by 3/7 if Rodgers plays)

1:30AM, CHANNEL 4
Cincinnati Bengals (9-4) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (5-8)
Pittsburgh were a step away from staying in contention of the 6th seed in the AFC. Sadly (lol) that step was out of bounds and they are done for the year. But they will still want to maintain some dignity at home to division rivals (or maybe not because then they'd be doing Baltimore a favour) so don't expect them to lie down. Unfortunately though, the team must be feeling deflated after rallying back against Miami only to step out of bounds. Cincy looked mighty impressive (despite an incredibly dodgy goal-line call) against their nearest rivals Indy, and will know by then if they're still within a shout of a bye week depending on how New England get on. Either way, Cincy will be keen to wrap up the division asap, so should be fairly comfortable here. (CIN by 4-5)

MONDAY, 1:40AM, EUROSPORT
Baltimore Ravens (7-6) @ Detroit Lions (7-6)
At this stage of the season, it will be nice to play on a Monday night for both these teams because they'll have a better idea of their fates. This should be a very close one (think I'm gonna use my one week free gamepass trial on it so I can watch the next day) with a hot, streaking Baltimore up against an inconsistent but still solid at home Detroit. This game could go anywhere really, and although Baltimore were lucky to escape Minnesota bringing the frozen tundra with them from the great white north, it was still an impressive clutch (eugh) performance from Flacco to get the win where it was snatched away twice in a minute, Detroit could not handle the fairly incredible amount of snow thrown at them by those pesky Philly fans. No chances of the elements effecting Ford Field though, which may be what gives Detroit the upper-hand on Monday, knowing that the Bears and Packers could have overtaken them by then. Incredibly difficult to predict, but it should be a lot of fun (for neutrals) but I'm going for a bit of kik anti-bants and taking DET (by 3)

THE REST:
Washington Redskins (3-10) @ Atlanta Falcons (3-10) - Ah the race to the NFC bottom. Both have had disastrous, disappointing seasons, though Atlanta have been a trifle more unlucky than the just plain bad Redskins. RGIII is allegedly being shut down for the year too, just when it couldn't get worse. (ATL by 4-5)
Houston Texans (2-11) @ Indianapolis Colts (8-5) - Speaking of terrible seasons... the Texans got fairly humiliated by usual divisional whipping boys Jacksonville, and don't expect much give from a Colts teams who clinched the division despite a rough couple of weeks, and will want to build confidence going into the playoffs, so expect a hammering. (IND by 7+)
Chicago Bears (7-6) @ Cleveland Browns (4-9) - Poor, poor Cleveland, they were on the verge of making a historic upset only to have the refs decide that the world cannot handle such a result. I don't expect they'll get much joy from a streaking Bears squad either. (CHI by 7)
Buffalo Bills (4-9) @ Jacksonville Jaguars (4-9) - After the shocking revelation that Jacksonville fans exist and he posts on DiS, they must feel better than they ever have in recent memory putting together 4 out of 5 wins since Wembley and against a very poor Bills side at home, expect them to add another to the list. #JAGS4PLAYOFFS! (JAX by 4-5)
Philadelphia Eagles (8-5) @ Minnesota Vikings (3-9-1) - Poor Minnie, they came so close until Gummy Joe snatched victory from them (I think, couldn't really see for all the snow). Philly meanwhile are playing some of their football in sometime, and should make short work of an Peterson-less Vikings. (PHI by 7)
Seattle Seahawks (11-2) @ New York Giants (5-8) - The Giants have finally stopped flirting with yet-another last minute playoff run and are done. The Seahawks (spoiler alert) struggle when they travel to the East Coast. However, the Giants were so poor crashing out to San Diego last week, Seattle should have enough to win and with it, the NFC West. (SEA by 7)
San Francisco 49ers (9-4) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-9) - How 'bout 'dem Bucs? Like Jacksonville, they have turned their year around with the potential to build on next year, although one has heard this somewhere before... unfortunately for them, they play a Niners team coming off a victory against their division rivals who will want to cement their place in the playoffs. (SF by 4-5)

LATES:
New York Jets (6-7) @ Carolina Panthers (9-4) - Just when you thought the descent was starting again, the Jets pick up a nice victory at home to an underrated(ish) Oakland team. Shame they face one of the scariest D's in the country coming off a humbling loss to their division rivals then. (CAR by 7)
Kansas City Chiefs (10-3) @ Oakland Raiders (4-9) - Weird for KC being locked into 5th seed, but they'll want to keep up their form heading into the playoffs (KC by 4-5)
New Orleans Saints (10-3) @ St. Louis Rams (5-8) - Now then, here's the likeliest upset of the weekend as the Saints travel to perennial bogey-men, the Rams. The Rams are done for the year, but have had a reasonably impressive year and will want to build, whereas the Saints are (virtually) in the playoffs, but a different beast away from the Superdome. Here's my big call (STL by 3)
Arizona Cardinals (8-5) @ Tennessee Titans (5-8) - Arizona are still quietly having a year and very much in playoff contention. The middling-to-average Titans are done. (ARZ by 7)

And that's yer lot, let's talk football.