Playoff predictions

I hate doing predictions, but here's my sense of things for the divisional winners:

New England
Cincinnati
Indianapolis*
San Diego

Philadelphia
Minnesota
New Orleans*
Arizona

Nothing too crazy here; in fact, two of those teams* have already clinched playoff berths.

For the NFC wild cards, I see Green Bay and probably New York locking things up. The Cowboys are a better team than the Giants, but their two losses to them make it entirely possible for things to get crazy. We'll learn a lot after tonight's game, but if Green Bay loses to Baltimore, it's possible that their remaining schedule makes them the odd man out, and both the Giants and 'boys make it.

Baltimore is probably my dark horse pick to blow through the end of their season and go deep into the playoffs. I don't really have the analysis to back that prediction, but I feel like I may as well call a shot. They're absolutely the best team to not be in the current playoff cut, and I think they've got the talent to go on a rampage of upsets in a small sample size.

Jacksonville and Denver have the inside tracks to the AFC wild card seeds. Denver will probably be able to hang on, Jacksonville probably not. The Broncos are a decent team with a 2-2 schedule coming. The Jaguars are over-performing and have to play the Dolphins, Pats and Colts before getting to the Browns.

Jets, Dolphins, Ravens and Steelers are where the final seed is coming from. A lot of similar opponents and crossing schedules, so we should be able to eliminate at least two of those teams from the discussion very soon. I'm not throwing in the Terrible Towel when I say this, but my guess is the Ravens will emerge from the fray, and Denver will come perilously close to imploding when it counts.