The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

rwells@tribunemedia.net

WEEK 13 was good to me. 12-3 good.

With this, my second consecutive strong performance - and first winning week for the year - I have officially left last place behind ... and this time for good. Trust me!

Now at 110-77-2 on the year, here is to my continued ascent of The Tribune competition standings.

Oakland Raiders (10-2) @ Kansas City Chiefs (9-3)

Not only is the division lead on the line in this match-up, but a possible first round bye.

With a noteworthy comeback last week against the Carolina Panthers, the Raiders certainly look as if they’re built to hold on to their division lead.

On the other end of things, the Chiefs are no pushover, far from it. Despite having a defence ranked in the lower half of the league, and an at times flat offence, the Chiefs have managed to put together a tremendous year thus far.

With a 4-1 record at Arrowhead so far this year, Kansas City are looking to make their case for the division crown.

RAIDERS

Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5)

@ Buffalo Bills (6-6)

Steelers are playoff bound in my opinion. After dismantling the New York Giants, I can’t see the Steelers dropping one to the Bills.

STEELERS

Denver Broncos (8-4) @ Tennessee Titans (6-6)

Let me just note it here: the actions of the Broncos front office has limited the potential of this team. While we all know that Peyton Manning of last year wasn’t the Peyton Manning that dominated the league for the last decade, we could see that he was more than serviceable enough to steer this team through to the Super Bowl.

Without Manning now, this team is still good, but its inefficiencies on offence is starting to show. However, I do think the Broncos have enough to get it done this week.

BRONCOS

New Orleans Saints (5-7) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5)

Tampa Bay are red hot, and that will not change this week.

BUCCANEERS

Washington Redskins

(6-5-1) @ Philadelphia

Eagles (5-7)

Both team are still mathematically in the wildcard race. Eagles are at home.

EAGLES

Arizona Cardinals

(5-6-1) @ Miami

Dolphins (7-5)

Arizona are living by the mantra ‘one game at a time’ as they look to climb out of the abyss and into the playoff hunt.

Now that the floor has given way underneath that Dolphins ‘win streak hype’, the team is now looking to hold on to their playoff lives.

The better team in this one will win out.

CARDINALS

San Diego Chargers

(5-7) @ Carolina

Panthers (4-8)

Toss up. I am siding with the home team here.

PANTHERS

Cincinnati Bengals

(4-7-1) @ Cleveland

Browns (0-12)

I can’t be the only one hoping for a winless season for the Browns.

BENGALS

Chicago Bears (3-9) @

Detroit Lions (8-4)

The Lions are super for real, stay awake. LIONS

Houston Texans (6-6) @

Indianpolis Colts (6-6)

Look at this. Somebody come look at this stuff. The Colts with a win in this match-up will move into first place in the AFC South. I kid you not, first place.

I hate the AFC South.

COLTS

Minnesota Vikings (6-6)

@ Jacksonville Jaguars

(2-10)

The Jaguars can win this game. Of course they will not, but they could.

VIKINGS

Atlanta Falcons (7-5) @ Los Angeles Rams (4-8)

Falcons are trying to hold off the surging Bucs. They need a win in this one.

FALCONS

New York Jets (3-9) @ San Francisco 49ers (1-11)

I dare you to find one person that is not a diehard fan of either of these two teams who is seriously interested in this game.

Boy, oh boy. This one is going to be brutal to watch.

49ERS

Seattle Seahawks (8-3-1) @ Green Bay Packers (6-6)

This game once meant something. The Seahawks are the better team, but the Packers have under-performed so much this year, that it is really hard to gauge how bad they actually are.

Watch for the upset, but I am rolling for the Seahawks.

SEAHAWKS

Dallas Cowboys (11-1) @ New York Giants (8-4)

Thanks to the schedule makers. I am working this Sunday, so if this game was scheduled at 1pm, I would have missed it entirely. I want to see this one - and I will as it’s the Sunday night game.

GIANTS

Baltimore Ravens (7-5) @ New England Patriots (10-2)

No Gronk, no problem!

PATRIOTS