NFL playoff picture: Who's in, who's out and what's on the line in Week 13

Week 13 of the NFL season is under way. The Dallas Cowboys won their 11th straight game by defeating the Minnesota Vikings, 17-15 on Thursday night, strengthening their hold on both the NFC East and the No. 1 seed in the NFC in the process. The Vikings, meanwhile, fell even farther back in the NFC North race.

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 New England Patriots (9-2)
No. 2 Oakland Raiders (9-2)
No. 3 Baltimore Ravens (6-5)
No. 4 Houston Texans (6-5)
No. 5 Kansas City Chiefs (8-3)
No. 6 Miami Dolphins (7-4)

AFC: Who's out

No. 7 Denver Broncos (7-4)
No. 8 Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5)
No. 9 Buffalo Bills (6-5)
No. 10 Tennessee Titans (6-6)
No. 11 Indianapolis Colts (5-6)
No. 12 San Diego Chargers (5-6)
No. 13 Cincinnati Bengals (3-7-1)
No. 14 New York Jets (3-8)
No. 15 Jacksonville Jaguars (2-9)
No. 16 Cleveland Browns (0-12)

NFC: Who's in

No. 1 Dallas Cowboys (11-1)
No. 2 Seattle Seahawks (7-3-1)
No. 3 Detroit Lions (7-4)
No. 4 Atlanta Falcons (7-4)
No. 5 New York Giants (8-3)
No. 6 Washington Redskins (6-4-1)

NFC: Who's out

No. 7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-5)
No. 8 Minnesota Vikings (6-6)
No. 9 New Orleans Saints (5-6)
No. 10 Green Bay Packers (5-6)
No. 11 Philadelphia Eagles (5-6)
No. 12 Arizona Cardinals (4-6-1)
No. 13 Carolina Panthers (4-7)
No. 14 Los Angeles Rams (4-7)
No. 15 Chicago Bears (2-9)
No. 16 San Francisco 49ers (1-10)

Games to watch in Week 13

The rest of Week 13 features two games where both teams are currently in playoff position heading into the contest.

Chiefs at Falcons

Kickoff: 1 p.m. ET, TV: CBS

How it affects the standings: Kansas City currently occupies the No. 5 seed in the AFC, and sits just one game behind Oakland in the AFC West and one game ahead of both Denver and Miami in the wild-card race. The Falcons now have a slim one-game lead over the Buccaneers in the NFC South. A loss couple with wins by Washington and Tampa would actually knock the Falcons out of a playoff spot for now.

Matt Ryan and the Falcons are 7-4, but a loss on Sunday would hurt their playoff chances. USATSI

Dolphins at Ravens

Kickoff: 1 p.m. ET, TV: CBS

How it affects the standings: Miami jumped ahead of Denver for the AFC's final playoff spot on the strength of its sixth consecutive win last week. They're ahead on the tiebreaker for now, but the Dolphins need to keep stacking wins to hold onto that slot. Baltimore has been ping-ponging the AFC North lead back and forth with the Steelers for a few weeks, but by virtue of beating the Steelers a few weeks ago, holds the lead for me. The two teams have the same record, though, so all it takes is one stumble to lose grip on the spot.

Week 13 features two additional games where both teams are at least within one game of a playoff spot heading into the contest.

Bills at Raiders

Kickoff: 4:05 p.m. ET, TV: CBS

How it affects the standings: Buffalo is right behind the pack for one of the AFC wild-card spots with a 6-5 record. Considering the strength of the AFC West teams and the Steelers, the Bills cannot afford many more losses. Oakland, meanwhile, still maintains its AFC West lead but has traded the No. 1 seed in the AFC back to the Patriots on the tiebreaker. With Rob Gronkowski now done for the year, there's an opening for Oakland to take the top seed and run with it.

Giants at Steelers

Kickoff: 4:25 p.m. ET, TV: FOX

How it affects the standings: Arguably the best game of the week pits 2004 quarterback class mates Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger against each other, but also features one of the best offense-defense matchups of the year. The Giants are riding high in the NFC wild-card race at 8-3, but are also still 2.5 games back of the Cowboys in the NFC East, with another battle looming next week. That game obviously becomes much more important if the Giants can pull off a win against Pittsburgh, which needs a victory to keep pace in both the AFC North and AFC wild-card hunts.

Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers are trying to keep pace in the AFC North and wild-card races. USATSI

Other games with playoff implications

A few other games, like Lions at Saints (1 p.m.), Texans at Packers (1 p.m.), Eagles at Bengals (1 p.m.), Buccaneers at Chargers (4:25 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.