NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

To call the NFC West wild would be an understatement.

With three games remaining for all four teams, almost everybody is still in play for the division championship.

Leading the pack is Seattle and St. Louis. Both are 6-7 and lost last weekend. Behind them is San Francisco. After starting 0-5, the 49ers have roared back and, at 5-8, are just one game behind the Seahawks and Rams. The fourth place team, the Arizona Cardinals? Well, they're the only ones that know they won't be playing past the first weekend of January.

Of the three teams in contention for the NFC West's automatic ticket to the playoffs, the Seahawks have hardest remaining schedule. The team's remaining opponents are a combined 25-14 this season, the only remaining group for any of the three NFC West contenders to have a winning percentage over .500.

Sunday, Atlanta (11-2, first in NFC South) comes to Qwest Field after extending its win streak to seven straight after picking a 31-10 road victory against Carolina last week.

After the Falcons, Seattle heads east to Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers (8-5, third in NFC South) have won three of their last five while showcasing a youth movement on offense. Tampa Bay's leading receiver, Mike Williams, and running back, LeGarrette Blount, are rookies and Josh Freeman is wrapping up his second season in the National Football League.

To finish the season, the Seahawks fly back home to take on the Rams (6-7, tied for first in NFC West) in what could be the game that determines who will represent the division in the playoffs.

Like Seattle, St. Louis will play two of its final three games at home. Unlike the Seahawks, the Rams will only play one team with at least eight wins.

Sunday, Kansas City heads to the Edward Jones Dome. The Chiefs (8-5, first in AFC West) are coming off are coming off a 31-0 loss in San Diego, but, despite the loss, find themselves atop the AFC West thanks to winning three of their last five games.

The final two games of the season for St. Louis will be divisional matchups, with the first being a home contest against San Francisco (5-8, third in NFC West) and the last being a road game against Seattle (6-7, tied for first in NFC West).

San Francisco has the easiest remaining schedule of the three NFC West contenders.

The 49ers will head down Interstate-5 for Sunday's matchup in San Diego against the Chargers. San Diego (7-6, second in AFC West) has quietly been one of the NFL's hottest teams of late, winning four of their last five, and, after starting the season 2-5, are just a game back in the AFC West title hunt.

Following the in-state matchup, San Francisco heads to St. Louis (6-7, tied for first in NFC West).

To finish the season, San Francisco will welcome Arizona to Candlestick Park. The Cardinals (4-9) have gone through three quarterbacks this season after cutting potential starter Matt Leinart prior to the start of the season and four of their last five games.

Can't get enough NFLGridironGab? Follow SeahawksGab Editor Devon Heinen on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DevonHeinen.

The St. Louis Rams cross-state rival Kansas City Chiefs are coming to town to play the Rams in the Edward Jones Dome and I only ask two things of St. Louis-area Rams fans.

1. Please buy more tickets to the game than traveling Chiefs fans.  There are a ton of Chiefs fans in the St. Louis area and they aren't afraid to drive 4 or less hours from across the state to cheer on their team in St. Louis.  Please, Rams fans.  Do not sell your tickets to Chiefs fans.  If you have already sold your tickets to Chiefs fans, buy some more tickets to go yourself and make more noise than those Chiefs fans.  That's the best you can do since you have betrayed your team like that.

2. Sellout the Dome.  The Rams need the home-field advantage on their side if they are going to play to their best and knock off the Chiefs.  More Rams fans = More noise.

3. In the past, the opposing fans have been so loud that they have forced the Rams to go to a silent count on offense AT HOME.  Please save the Rams and St. Louis this embarrassment again.

That is your mission St. Louis-are Rams fans.  Who's going to the game?

For Browns fans who are hoping that rookie QB Colt McCoy will find his way back into the lineup Sunday in Cincinnati, coach Eric Mangini feels your pain.

And he’s hoping come Wednesday, McCoy won’t have much pain and will be able to take a big step towards starting the game against the 2-11 Bengals.

“I’m going to see where we’re at on Wednesday and kind of go from there,” said Mangini. “He was able to get to where he could function as the third [in Buffalo], so we’ve got to see where that is and think about it and we’ll go from there.”

McCoy told Jim Donovan of the Browns Radio Network on Sunday that he thinks he will be healthy enough to start Sunday, and the Browns need it after two rather awful starts by Jake Delhomme in Miami and Buffalo as the team went 1-1.

And you can pretty much rule out backup Seneca Wallace, who hasn’t had a shot to play since the Falcons game when he went down with an ankle injury. Mangini seems to want no part of the former Hawks backup at this point.

“If Colt couldn’t play, then I’d go with Delhomme,” said Mangini.

McCoy returned to practice on a limited basis on Friday and moved well in pre-game warmups in Buffalo. He shed the walking boot last week, and if he can take the field even on a limited basis Wednesday, then it will be a good sign that he will be starting against the Bengals.

Rams Gab is at the Nike Media Summit in Dallas, and we had a chance earlier to catch up with Steven Jackson the workhorse running back of the NFC West division leading St.Louis Rams. Hear what he has to say about Sam Bradford, the fight for the division, the 2010 season, Nike and the Rams season.

The Falcons have lost just two games the entire season, but are starting to show cracks in a season that has seen them lose to only teams that play in Pennsylvania?

"We have lulls,” center Todd McClure said. “You can't do that when you play good teams. We have to try to figure out what's going on and make sure that doesn't happen."

It happened again Sunday vs the Panthers, as the Falcons built a 17-0 lead, but then saw the one-win Panthers claw back in the game, and it wasn’t until late that you could finally take a breath again.

Until a touchdown with four minutes left, the Falcons were ho-hum. They played the Panthers even, each team scoring 10 points, and it was 24-10 after a John Kasay field goal with 9:44 left.

Now mind you the Falcons were not going to blow this game, but like McClure said, you can’t have lulls against good teams, and the Panthers are clearly not one of them.

The Falcons are well aware of the lulls, as Mike Smith put it – "We didn't play very well after we jumped up on them."

Two weeks from now, the Falcons have their rematch with the Saints, and if they don’t get the lulls out of their system by then, those cracks may grow wider as the team tries to wrap up the division and home field for the playoffs.

Bronco fans are more irate than ever today, as the team was crushed by the not so good Arizona Cardinals 43-13. It starts and ends it seems these days with QB Kyle Orton, who had his worse game as a Bronco. The fans spent Monday calling for Orton’s head, and to see what #1 draft pick Tim Tebow can do.

Not so fast though, as acting head coach Eric Studesville says that for now – all positions on the team are up for grabs.

“We’re going to look at everything,” Studesville said. “I want to look at this and talk with the coaches and make sure what we’re doing is best for us as a football team and where we’re going.”

Orton had been having a monster season at the QB spot for the Broncos, but the last two weeks have seen him go downhill in a hurry.

The last two games against the Chiefs and Cards have been awful for Orton, which is why the fans want to see what the former Florida QB can do.

“Kyle Orton’s our quarterback,” Broncos right guard and captain Chris Kuper said. “He’s had a good year. We want to continue to fight for him. I don’t know why it’s even brought up.”

Kuper needs to watch the tape again, then maybe he, like the fans, will be calling for Tebow as well.

As we continue our coverage here in Dallas at the 2010 Nike Summit, five NFL players were good enough to spend their day off being at the event. Included were Lions DL Ndamukong Suh, Cowboys RB Felix Jones, Packers LB Clay Matthews, Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe, and Rams RB Steven Jackson. Here are some photos of the players and we also will have video interviews with each one as the day goes as well.

Clay Matthews Jr. of the Packers

Felix Jones of the Cowboys

Ndamukong Suh of the Lions

Steven Jackson of the Rams

Lions Gab is at the Nike Media Summit in Dallas, and we had a shot to catch up with Ndamukong Suh, Lions DL and soon to be defensive rookie of the year. Hear what he has to say about fines, the Culter push, Nike and the Lions season.

Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium the Colts will take on the Jags, and that very well could be the 2010 season on the line for both teams.

With two teams at 9-4, the Colts are very unlikely to be able to survive a loss Sunday and still find a way to backdoor in the postseason.

They will have the home field on their side, but other than that, they are playing a Jaguars team that is not only playing well on offense, but already has the confidence of a win over the Colts under their belt from earlier this year.

The Jags beat Oakland 38-31 at home Sunday, and have shown the ability to find ways to win over the last two months, which is why they have the one game lead over the Colts.

For Jacksonville, a win and they can almost for sure print playoff tickets, their first division title since 1999. Plus it will put the Colts playoff lives in critical condition, not a place Indy wants to be in.

A win, and it will all come down to the final two games of the season, which means for the Colts games vs the Raiders on the road and at home vs the Titans.

It’s anyone’s guess if the Colts can and will show up Sunday, if they do, it will be time to get down to business and make short work of a Jags team that looks to be ready to go toe to toe with the defending AFC Champs.

Five NFL studs are on hand in Dallas today for the 2010 Nike Football Summit, including Lions DL Ndamukong Suh, Cowboys RB Felix Jones, Packers LB Clay Matthews, Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe, and Rams RB Steven Jackson. We will have interviews with the players later on, but for now, some poses with the players and the new Air Zoom Alpha Talon.