With the winter weather beginning to creep back in, the time is coming when the passing offenses begin to slow down and an effective running game becomes essential.

Prior to their come from behind victory over New Orleans, Carolina became the first team to clinch a playoff spot when Tampa Bay defeated Atlanta 23-19. The Panthers have won their third straight NFC South title and are a virtual lock for a first round bye. Meanwhile New England’s upset loss to Philadelphia dropped the Patriots to the number three seed in the AFC – though what many are overlooking is that the Pats still control their own destiny for a first round bye since Denver and Cincinnati play each other in Week 16.

The loss to the Denver Broncos was a minor one compared to the potential loss of Rob Gronkowski who was injured in the fourth quarter of the game on Sunday night

It is incredible the number of statistical categories that these two teams both rank in the top ten, top five, or best overall in – especially when you compare the Patriot offense versus the Bronco defense.

The reality is that NFL football is the ultimate team sport, nothing at all like individual sports such as boxing, golf or tennis. This leads to the question: which team in Sunday night’s feature game suffers more from injuries they are needing to overcome, the Patriots or Broncos?

While Sunday once again leaves NFL fans with a dearth of games between two quality teams, at least there are several competitive matchups involving a pair of clubs fighting for a playoff berth. Leading up to Sunday night’s highly anticipated game between the Patriots and Broncos, the only afternoon game between a pair of teams with winning records is Minnesota at Atlanta. However, with the exception of ESPN’s odious foistering of Baltimore at Cleveland Monday night, almost all of the of the other games should be competitive and entertaining; the Steelers-Seahawks, Bills-Chiefs and Bucs-Colts are among those that could be compelling games well worth watching.

The meeting was expected to be a typical Brady – Manning shootout when the schedule was released, but expect this one to be much more defensive oriented. The Patriots will have to be creative on offense with all the injuries against the Denver defense.

Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler is approaching this week exactly the same as he did last week against the Bears as the Patriots get set to visit.

The Broncos say they have a plan to try and slow down tight end Rob Gronkowski.

The Denver defense led by their pass rush of Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware and Shane Ray keys the top pass defense in the NFL. They’ll be looking to shut down Tom Brady just like they did with Aaron Rodgers.

Given how Sunday’s games finished, tonight’s showdown against Rex Ryan’s Bills definitely still has some key things to keep an eye on.

While Rex Ryan is proving he can dish out but can’t take it in anticipation for Monday night’s game between the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots, Vegas has published their early advanced ‘look ahead’ lines for NFL week 12. On Thursday the Westgate in Las Vegas listed the Pats as 5½ point road favorites for next Sunday night’s game against the Broncos at Mile High in Denver. This week the Broncos are in Chicago to face the 4-5 Bears.

The Patriots injuries are still piling up. Now they’ve lost WR Julian Edelman probably until the end of the regular season with a broken foot on Sunday

The good news for out of town Pats fans is that New England Patriots’ game will receive far greater broadcast distribution in week ten than it did in week nine versus Washington. The bad news is that even though it is a late game, is back on CBS and the network has this week’s doubleheader, the game still won’t get virtually universal distribution – like Denver at Indianapolis did last week, or Seattle at Dallas did in week eight, or Cowboys at Giants did in week seven. CBS has assigned their top broadcast team of Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Tracy Wolfson to cover the game between New England and New York. The Patriots-Giants game will be broadcast pretty throughout most all of the eastern United States, while Kansas City at Denver will be aired throughout all of the continental western states.

Even though the Patriots are not playing, Sunday looks to be a very good day for watching the NFL. The early CBS game in Boston as well as most of the U.S. has Ben Roethlisberger returning to the field after being shelved for five weeks with a knee injury as the Steelers host the undefeated Bengals in a key AFC game.