Week 14 slate full of playoff appetizers

With four weeks left in the NFL's regular season, today's menu of games features some attractive playoff appetizers.

The wild-card races in both conferences are a rush-hour traffic jam. With so many teams stubbing their toes in recent weeks, the door is wide open to mount a charge to the postseason.

Let's start in the NFC. The Green Bay Packers, 31/2-point favorites at Chicago today, are riding a four-game winning streak and seem destined to secure one of the wild-card slots.

But the Packers, led by improving quarterback Aaron Rodgers, face a tough road in the final month of the season, with road games against Pittsburgh and Arizona. Green Bay should be fine, though, because the NFC East teams will be beating each other up in the home stretch.

The New York Giants face another must-win situation tonight when they host the Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants are 1-point favorites. With a win, New York would pull even with Philadelphia and own the best record within the division, which would be the key tiebreaker.

A daunting challenge faces the Dallas Cowboys, who have a one-game lead in the NFC East. But they might be in big trouble if they don't defeat the San Diego Chargers. Dallas is a 3-point favorite.

The Cowboys have remaining road games against New Orleans and Washington, and they end the season by hosting the Eagles.

The Saints are 10-point road favorites over the Atlanta Falcons, who might be toast already with a depleted offensive lineup.

The AFC playoff picture is far from settled, with five teams realistically battling for the two wild-card spots.

The Miami Dolphins (6-6) can muddy the waters even more with a win at Jacksonville (7-5). The loser probably will be pointing to next season. The Jaguars are favored by 21/2 to 3 points.

Baltimore gets a free pass today and should improve to 7-6. The Ravens are 131/2-point home favorites over the Detroit Lions. The remainder of Baltimore's schedule is favorable, with the big date on the dance card coming Dec. 27 at Pittsburgh.

Denver (8-4) has stopped the bleeding, and it seems likely the Broncos can win two of their remaining four games and at least draw a wild-card berth. The Broncos face a stiff test with a visit to Indianapolis, which is a 7-point favorite.

The New York Jets (6-6) seemingly had skidded off the playoff runway, but they still are in the hunt. The Jets, 3-point favorites at Tampa Bay, are going with Kellen Clemens at quarterback in place of injured rookie Mark Sanchez.

So what do the oddsmakers say about the crowded race to the finish line and the process of generating solid numbers?

"We're not shuffling the motivation card deck just yet," Las Vegas Sports Consultants odds director Tony Sinisi said. "There's still an element of teams playing with equal levels of motivation. That being said, we're watching teams closely to see who's on the brink of packing it in. In a few short weeks, the top-tier teams may be in the mode of resting players with a bigger goal in mind, and that's where the real subtleties kick in for us.

"Strangely enough, there aren't a slew of coaches that are on the hot seat and weaker teams that are in a rebuilding mode are still playing extremely hard."

Weather becomes a major factor the remainder of the season. Teams can function in rain, sleet and snow, but keep a watchful eye on the forecast pertaining to wind. The totals probably will be fluctuating with regularity in the weeks to come.

Brian Blessing, project manager for Las Vegas Sports Consultants, can be reached at bblessing@lvsc.com. Hear the LVSC oddsmakers on Sportsbook Radio, weekdays at 3 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM) and Sirius 98.