Macca

You're hanging in there ...

Next Monday night at Lambeau for your blokes ... might be a 'trap' game for the Packers after today It's now out of the Falcons & Saints for the division you'd reckon. Excellent win against a good opponent - a game you had to win. Although a game behind the Eagles and Green Bay, Seattle will almost certainly hold the tie break against those 2 teams if they draw level on wins (and win the NFC West) It's conceivable that the Seahawks could have home field advantage right through to the Super Bowl if they win the NFC West. Next weeks Seahawks @ Eagles game holds the key to the NFC I believe.

Monday 5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN) 5.00am San Diego 7/4 at Baltimore 7/4 (7mate) 8.25am New England 9/2 at Green Bay 8/3 (7mate) 12.30pm Denver 8/3 at Kansas City 7/4 (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 12.30pm Miami 6/5 at NY Jets 2/9 (ESPN) All the week 13 games & BS Report Bill Simmons' column

From a neutral perspective, I'm not so sure that Dallas will win next week - the Bears are capable and their coach (Trestman) will need to get some wins to keep his job. The match is line ball in my eyes. As for the Seahawks, their weakness all year has been their passing offense (currently 30th) Stats are stats but in this sport, they really do tell a story. However, I'm worried about them because they're strong in nearly all the other facets of the game ... so, I'm hoping like hell your blokes can knock them off. If you kick 2 games clear in the NFC East it's then only a matter of the seedings - the division will be yours.

It is still quite possible that Dallas could end up at 8/8 By the time they get to their last game (@ Washington) they might be out of the running already ... their next 3 are @ Chicago, @ Eagles and vs Indi. If they lose to the Bears the "meltdown" will be in full swing.

Yeah, you're right about that ... I had a quick look at the stats but didn't notice the attempts ... I did notice during the game that Forte was not making any sort of impression when he often does make an impression. I guess we can say that Detroits run defense was so intimidating that Chicago didn't even bother That's my excuse anyway. The Lions have had a decent year so credit where it's due I reckon. The Pats @ Packers has all sorts of intriguing match-ups ... our run defense is our weakness and of late, they've been quite strong in that area ... Belichick is the master coach and it's him who I'm concerned about as well. I'm just glad the game is at Lambeau. I'll take any sort of win. I'm not sure that the 49ers are done with yet but I feel they're going to have to win their last 4 games - that includes a trip to Seattle. I think a wild-card team in the NFC will need to win 11 games ... 10 wins might get it done but there will need to at least be tie-break advantages involved.

Eagles, Seahawks & Detroit all looked good ... their opponents just didn't come to play. Could have done with 1 close game but the victors won't be thinking that way. Line ball on who looked the most impressive ... Eagles or Seattle - the truth is that both were very impressive. The Eagles because they blew the Cowboys off the park (Sanchez had a good game) and the Seahawks because of their fantastic defense (especially Sherman) Romo & Kaepernick both had games they'd rather forget. The Lions won as expected with Stafford posting excellent numbers ... Tate has really added to their offense but it's their rushing defense that was the standout feature (again) ... they lead the league in that area.

Yeah, I'm with you Gorgoroth ... Bengals Miami Giants

Possibly the best line-up of TV games I've come across ... Friday 4.30am Chicago 5/6 at Detroit 7/4 (7mate & ESPN) 8.30am Philadelphia 8/3 at Dallas 8/3 (7mate) 12.30pm Seattle 7/4 at San Francisco 7/4 (7mate) Monday 5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN) 5.00am San Diego 7/4 at Baltimore 7/4 (7mate) 8.25am New England 9/2 at Green Bay 8/3 (7mate) 12.30pm Denver 8/3 at Kansas City 7/4 (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 12.30pm Miami 6/5 at NY Jets 2/9 (ESPN) All the week 13 games & BS Report 'Elo' ratings and playoff chances

A terrible tragedy and to be taken so young is difficult to understand. I feel deep sympathy for his family and teammates. RIP Phillip

Looks like Washington have run out of patience with RGIII ... The end is near for RG III, Redskins

Wishing Phillip a full and speedy recovery ... my thoughts and prayers are for him and his family. Just like you Smithy, I felt quite ill when hearing the news.

Just a heads up ... 7mate are covering all 3 games on Friday (Thanksgiving) ... 5.00am Bears @ Lions, 8.30am Eagles @ Cowboys, 12.30pm Seahawks @ 49ers ... ESPN are only covering the early game by the looks of it (Bears @ Lions) Also, next Monday the early game on 7mate is San Diego & Baltimore and the late game on 7mate is New England @ Green Bay. SNF featuring Denver @ KC is on both 7mate & ESPN. A feast of a line-up Week 13 games

Yeah, that was a hell of a catch - wow! Agree with you cfh - Baltimore to win tomorrow to keep both the NFC South and the AFC North up for grabs for any team to win (with the 'possible' exception of TB!) A couple of hard earned points picked up in the comp by Dappa Dan & pantaloons ... the rest of us all bombed on KC. We now have a new outright leader ... Leaderboard 4 - Dappa Dan 3 - JV7, Go the Biff, Georgiou R. R. Martin 2 - pantaloons, Macca 1 - cowboy_from_hell, Gorgoroth Week 13 games

The conclusion I've come to is that either there are a number of players in the running or they need someone to put their hand up big time ... wouldn't hurt for any of the batsmen to make a big hundred in any of the 3 shield matches (starting tomorrow) At least they all know where they stand ... get the job done and you might just get picked for your country. I've warmed to the idea on this occasion.

Test squad Michael Clarke* © Brad Haddin (vc) Ryan Harris Josh Hazlewood Mitchell Johnson Nathan Lyon Mitchell Marsh Chris Rogers Peter Siddle Steve Smith David Warner Shane Watson *A replacement batsman hasn't been named as yet (if Clarke is unavailable) Apparently the selectors want to look at the next round of Shield games (starting tomorrow) Two days until Clarke fitness decision

Like this fella, I'm not so confident

Monday 5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN) 5.00am Cleveland (6/4) at Atlanta (4/6) (7mate) 8.30am Miami (6/4) at Denver (7/3) (7mate) 12.30pm Dallas (7/3) at NY Giants (3/7) (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 12.30pm Baltimore (6/4) at New Orleans (4/6) (ESPN) All the week 12 games & The BS Report Week 12 Elo Ratings, Playoff Chances & Match-up Scenarios & Bill Simmons' latest column

I usually get 2 out of 3 in the comp so KC losing probably means that my other 2 tips will get up - Green Bay is one of those tips (I'm still not optimistic though - how can you be in this League?)

Like your thinking there TD If Clarke is out I'd find room for Watson as we'll need his experience ... anyway, Lehmann has indicated that Watson and Mitch Marsh could both play and the selectors might decide to persevere with Doolan or give Hughes another shot at it. I tend to think they'll bring in a new player ... Handscomb, Burns, Maddinson and Ferguson all have claims but it might even be someone else. Khawaja & S Marsh could be in the mix as you indicated. Smith could bat at no.4 and I believe he could even bat at no.3 in the future - he's improving as each year goes by. Watson would be better suited down the order so he could take Smith's spot at no.5. Which leads us back to the no.3 spot - it's Doolan or Hughes or a new player in my opinion. Burns made 183 at the Gabba last weekend so he'd be my 'smoky' As for the bowling, only Johnson & Harris (if fit) are assured of spots although I reckon Lyon will probably play ... the 3rd seamer could come from Siddle, Starc or Hazlewood. Apparently the team is going to be announced on Monday.

Kansas City Green Bay Cincinnati

Would have liked to have seen the Lions @ Pats and Arizona @ Seattle games on 7mate ... however, all the TV games have playoff implications. And there's always 'RedZone' if you can access it. I can't get enough of it - it's frantic but brilliant. Friday 12.30pm Kansas City (7/3) at Oakland (0/10) (ESPN) Monday 5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN) 5.00am Cleveland (6/4) at Atlanta (4/6) (7mate) 8.30am Miami (6/4) at Denver (7/3) (7mate) 12.30pm Dallas (7/3) at NY Giants (3/7) (7mate & ESPN) Tuesday 12.30pm Baltimore (6/4) at New Orleans (4/6) (ESPN) All the week 12 games & The BS Report Week 12 Elo Ratings, Playoff Chances & Match-up Scenarios

Yeah, it's just opinions though, pantaloons - if Detroit can somehow upset them this week then everything changes again. Who knows in this league ... By the way, Reid has done fantastically well at KC - is that 7 wins from your last 8? He uses Smith very intelligently.

Well I'm reasonably pleased but our run defense has been an issue for a lot of our games (we're currently ranked 29th) We're getting better but a good running team does present it's problems. I honestly believe the whole NFC is up for grabs and it might come down to on the day - nearly all the contenders have a decent home field advantage so we'd have to at least win the division and get a 1 or 2 seed before I'd be thinking we can win the whole thing. Even the Saints could win at least 1 playoff game if they win the NFC South and Atlanta might be tough at home as well if they win the division. At the moment I don't see a firm favourite in the NFC - Detroit should win at least 4 of their 6 remaining games and they also visit Lambeau in week 17. At the moment the Lions hold the tie-break over Green Bay in 3 areas. It's a bit more clear cut in the AFC in my opinion - if New England get the 1 seed they'll be hard to stop - maybe Pittsburgh or Baltimore could go to New England and win but I have doubts about any other AFC team being able to win there.

When a team loses a franchise player from their offense (and it's best player) it's got to effect a team's season ... contrarily, even a good to average QB can be covered for quite easily sometimes and often a team may be better off if their QB gets injured. When a team is weak on defense it's often as a collective I read somewhere yesterday that Stafford is 0/15 when facing teams on the road with a better than 500 record. A way to differentiate teams sometimes is to look for the teams that win games on the road against the good teams (or at least play well against the good teams on the road) Both the Eagles and the 49ers have the best road records against good teams this year (so far) Both teams have only had 1 bad loss and both teams have had 4 tough road games (GB have had 3 bad losses on the road against quality opposition) By contrast, New England have only had 2 tough road games and got smashed in one of them (KC) and in the other one they smashed the Colts - in their case it may not matter because they could end up as the no.1 seed in the AFC.