Posted by Dave as Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, NFL, New England Patriots, Philadelphia, San Diego Chargers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 9:06 PM CST on December 28th, 2008

There’s one game left — and it’s essentially a playoff — between San Diego and Denver right now, with Denver up 6-3. The winner of that game will advance to the playoffs and play at home against the Colts next week. Here’s the rest of the playoff picture.
-Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins: The first time these two teams played, Baltimore killed them. But Miami’s done a lot of growing up since then.
-Indianapolis Colts @ Denver/San Diego: The Colts will be rooting hard for Denver in this one. The Chargers have given them absolute fits over the last couple of years.
-Philadelphia Eagles @ Minnesota Vikings: Are the Eagles the hottest team in the NFL right now? Minnesota can’t be happy about drawing them in the first round.
-Atlanta Falcons @ Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals will need to play better than they have the last few weeks to win this one. Atlanta can run, and they don’t turn the ball over often.
What you’ll notice is that Dallas is out. That’s because they sucked balls against Philadelphia, and there’ll surely be some heads rolling soon. And Tampa Bay is out because they lost again, only it was at home to the Raiders, which isn’t really excuseable.