Welcome to week 17 on the NFL Talkboard. Pick your winners from these six games and submit your choices below the line. This week's live blog – hosted by David Lengel – will be Dallas Cowboys @ New York Giants from 8.20pm EST (Sunday) / 1.20am GMT (Monday). We will then be back on Tuesday with five things we learned from the weekend's games. If you're on Twitter, you can get all the latest news, views and live coverage from @GdnUSsports. We also have a Facebook page.
Anyway, it's time for our final Pick Six of the season. Wild shrieking, please, in honour of Nostradamus – the only person to correctly predict all six games last weekend. But you can probably start getting the champagne ready now for HereComesTreble, who leads the overall standings by five points going into the final round of games. I shall post the full list below the line shortly.
To guard against the (unlikely) eventuality of two people finishing level at the top of the standings, I will include a tie-breaker below after the Pick Six games. But if you're already out of the running then fear not: we will have a whole new competition starting next week when we invite you to Pick The Playoffs …
Chicago Bears @ Minnesota Vikings
Perhaps I should have kept to games with playoff implications this week, yet this might be the toughest to pick of the whole slate. On the one hand a team which looked like a postseason lock after 10 games, only to lose its starting quarterback and drop five straight (Martin1000 made the case in the comments section of our week 16 review that on this basis Jay Cutler deserves consideration as the league's MVP. On the other, one that won just its third game all season last week despite losing arguably the most talented back in the league – Adrian Peterson – to a shredded knee. With nothing more than draft position and next year's contracts at stake, who wants it more?
Vikings to win
Tennessee Titans @ Houston Texans
The Titans need help, but with their rivals for the AFC's remaining wildcard berths all facing tough games it is certainly not inconceivable that they find a way in. Houston, by contrast, are locked into the No3 seed – but can hardly afford to take this game lightly after consecutive defeats in the last two weeks. It has been suggested that rookie quarterback TJ Yates (the third-stringer thrust into the starting role by injuries to Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart) needs to step his game up for the Texans to get back on track. He will find that an awful lot easier if, as anticipated, Andre Johnson returns to the line-up for this game.
Texans to win
New York Jets @ Miami Dolphins
How's that Super Bowl prediction looking, Rex? The Jets need even more assistance than the Titans to make it into the playoffs, but once again the first question will be whether or not they can help themselves. The Dolphins might be 5-10, yet already they feel light-years removed from the team who were beaten 24-6 in New York in week six. How many people would have predicted in preseason that Reggie Bush would reach this point with more rushing yards than Shonn Greene? Probably more than would have said after week eight that Miami could go into this game with a points differential (+14) comparable to that of New York (+16).
Dolphins to win
San Diego Chargers @ Oakland Raiders
Oakland's destiny, too, is out of their hands, but with possibilities to get in either as a wildcard or the AFC West champion, they at least have more reasons to be hopeful. This game may determine how Oakland's midseason trade for Carson Palmer is ultimately viewed – in giving up a 2012 first-round pick and a 2013 second (which would also become first if they make the AFC title game) the Raiders made a clear statement that they believed their team was otherwise ready to win now. But it will also be fascinating to see how hard the Chargers play for Norv Turner in what is expected to be his final game as the team's head coach.
Raiders to win
Baltimore Ravens @ Cincinnati Bengals
It's win-and-you're-in for the Bengals, but the Ravens themselves have a first round bye on the line. For all the progress that Cincinnati have made this season, only one of their nine wins this season has come against a team that now holds a winning record – a 24-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans back in week nine. But with AJ Green returning from injury, and the Ravens having already dropped four road games, this might just be their moment.
Bengals to win
Dallas Cowboys @ New York Giants
You couldn't ask for a much better set-up than this on the final weekend: winner takes the division, loser packs up for the year. The losing coach might just be asked to pack up his things in a more permanent sense. Both teams have shown themselves over the past few weekends to be utterly untrustworthy, but if you're asking me to pick between Eli Manning and Tony Romo at this time of year, I know which way I'm leaning.
Giants to win
Tie-breaker
For the tie-breaker, the challenge is to predict the total number of points that will be scored by the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. In the event of a tie for first place, whoever is closest to the correct figure wins. So if you're out of the running already, you need not take part (on the other hand, feel free to do so if you want to – it's only a bit of fun after all). I am well out of contention, but for argument's sake, I will say: 53 points.
