Week 12 of the NFL season is under way. Thanksgiving Thursday was a busy one this year with each game having playoff implications. For the first time since 1993, every team playing on Turkey Day was .500 or better.
In the early game, the Lions took control of the NFC North with a comeback win over the Vikings. The afternoon saw the Dallas Cowboys win their 10th game in a row, stretching their NFC East lead by taking down Washington. And in the night game, the Pittsburgh Steelers jumped back into first place in the AFC North by defeating the Indianapolis Colts.
As of today, here's how the rest of the NFL playoff picture looks, as well as a snapshot of some games that could potentially impact what it looks like next week and beyond:
AFC: Who's in
- No. 1 Oakland Raiders (8-2)
- No. 2 New England Patriots (8-2)
- No. 3 Houston Texans (6-4)
- No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5)
- No. 5 Kansas City Chiefs (7-3)
- No. 6 Denver Broncos (7-3)
AFC: Who's out
- No. 7 Miami Dolphins (6-4)
- No. 8 Baltimore Ravens (5-5)
- No. 9 Buffalo Bills (5-5)
- No. 10 Indianapolis Colts (5-6)
- No. 11 Tennessee Titans (5-6)
- No. 12 San Diego Chargers (4-6)
- No. 13 Cincinnati Bengals (3-6-1)
- No. 14 New York Jets (3-7)
- No. 15 Jacksonville Jaguars (2-8)
- No. 16 Cleveland Browns (0-11)
NFC: Who's in
- No. 1 Dallas Cowboys (10-1)
- No. 2 Seattle Seahawks (7-2-1)
- No. 3 Detroit Lions (7-4)
- No. 4 Atlanta Falcons (6-4)
- No. 5 New York Giants (6-3)
- No. 6 Washington Redskins (6-4-1)
NFC: Who's out
- No. 7 Minnesota Vikings (6-5)
- No. 8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-5)
- No. 9 Philadelphia Eagles (5-4)
- No. 10 Arizona Cardinals (4-5-1)
- No. 11 New Orleans Saints (4-6)
- No. 12 Carolina Panthers (4-6)
- No. 13 Los Angeles Rams (4-6)
- No. 14 Green Bay Packers (4-6)
- No. 15 Chicago Bears (2-8)
- No. 16 San Francisco 49ers (1-9)
Games to watch in Week 12
The rest of Week 12 features only one game where both teams are currently in playoff position heading into the contest.
Chiefs at Broncos
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. ET, TV: NBC
How it affects the standings: The Chiefs and Broncos are both looking up at the Oakland Raiders in the AFC West standings as of now, but they occupy the conference's No. 5 and No. 6 seeds heading into their tilt on "Sunday Night Football." The two teams have matching 7-3 records and have yet to play each other this season, so the winner will control the tiebreaker, at least until the rematch in Week 16.
Week 12 features one additional game where both teams are at least within one game of a playoff spot heading into the contest.
Seahawks at Buccaneers
Kickoff: 4:05 p.m. ET, TV: FOX
How it affects the standings: Seattle can put its NFC West lead in the bank with wins over the next few weeks, and of course wants to keep pace with the NFC-leading Cowboys. The Bucs, meanwhile, are suddenly within shouting distance of Washington for the final NFC wild card spot. They're 5-5 now, while Washington dropped to 6-4-1 after losing to the Cowboys.
Other games with playoff implications
A few other games, like Jaguars at Bills (1 p.m.), Bengals at Ravens (1 p.m.), Cardinals at Falcons (1 p.m.), 49ers at Dolphins (1 p.m.), Chargers at Texans (1 p.m.), and Panthers at Raiders (4:05 p.m.) feature either two teams within shouting distance of a playoff spot or one team that could conceivably be knocked too far out of the picture to reasonably come back by the end of the year, pending results of other games.
Week 12 schedule*
Sunday
- Tennessee at Chicago, 1 p.m.
- Jacksonville at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
- Cincinnati at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
- Arizona at Atlanta, 1 p.m.
- N.Y. Giants at Cleveland, 1 p.m.
- L.A. Rams at New Orleans, 1 p.m.
- San Diego at Houston, 1 p.m.
- Seattle at Tampa Bay, 4:05 p.m.
- Carolina at Oakland, 4:25 p.m.
- New England at N.Y. Jets, 4:25 p.m.
- Kansas City at Denver, 8:30 p.m.
Monday
- Green Bay at Philadelphia, 8:30 p.m.
* All times Eastern