Playoff picture starts to develop
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It’s December, and time for NFL teams to break out their tiebreaker calculators.
The playoff picture is coming into focus.
The league’s two undefeated teams, Indianapolis and New Orleans, have won their divisions and can clinch first-round byes with victories Sunday. The Saints play at Atlanta and the Colts play host to Denver.
Cincinnati can claim the AFC North title . . . but has to win at Minnesota.
Arizona, which is coming off a victory over Minnesota, can lock up the NFC North with a victory Monday at San Francisco.
And San Diego could conceivably emerge from Dallas with its fourth consecutive AFC West title, although the Chargers need a lot of help to wrap up things this week.
They need to defeat the Cowboys, and need four AFC teams -- Baltimore, Pittsburgh, the New York Jets and Miami -- to lose or tie.
In other words, Chargers, keep that champagne on ice for at least another week.
History awaits
Should they beat Denver, the Colts will collect their 22nd consecutive regular-season victory, breaking the league record they share with the 2006-08 New England Patriots.
That’s no small feat, but the real goal, of course, is to pick up another Lombardi Trophy.
But first things first, and the Colts have a tough opponent in Denver, even though the Broncos really took a tumble recently with four losses in a row.
Since then, Denver has collected consecutive victories and is in the thick of the playoff hunt. Winning at Indianapolis will be awfully tough. The Broncos will face Peyton Manning, who in eight games against Denver has 17 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Indianapolis won six of the eight games.
Can they rebound?
Atlanta scored a season-low seven points in losing at home to Philadelphia on Sunday, and did so on the last play of the game. The Falcons will have to do a lot better than that if they want to keep pace with New Orleans’ top-ranked offense.
Then again, Atlanta played the Eagles without five offensive starters, among them quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner. Those two could be back for the Falcons’ game against the Saints, and Atlanta is 12-2 at home over the last two seasons.
What’s more, the Falcons’ previous low this season was 10 points in a Week 3 loss at New England.
The next game, Atlanta won at San Francisco, 45-10.
Winter wonders
While the Saints and Colts strive for perfection, the Chargers are riding their own streak. They are a pristine 15-0 in December under Coach Norv Turner.
LaDainian Tomlinson is a major contributor in that, leading the NFL in rushing yards and touchdowns in this decade of Decembers. That’s 3,888 yards and 36 touchdowns on the ground.
In terms of yardage, the next three players on that list are Jamal Lewis, 2,789 yards; Clinton Portis, 2,789, and Fred Taylor, 2,786.
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