The Week 18 Schedule is (now at about 4 PM Eastern) Out -- let's take a look at the NFL's storylines...

So the Week 18 schedules are out, let's see what kind of rigged tells there are.

Two games Saturday:

Kansas City at Las Vegas in the early game.  Kansas City needs a win and a Buffalo loss SOMEWHERE to get the #1 seed.  So good job on the NFL on this one -- it doesn't even give a tell as to tonight's Buffalo-Cincinnati game!  And this game wouldn't give a tell to the later game Buffalo would play Week 18.  Buffalo plays New England Week 18, so that game would still be relevant for the AFC Wild Card even if Cincinnati wins tonight and Kansas City wins on Saturday.

The Titans-Jaguars near-winner-take-all for the AFC Suck Division is the nightcap.  Another good move on the league's part:  You leave enough on the table for Sunday (if and only if Tennessee wins, Jacksonville could still get in the playoffs, but they'd need Sunday losses by Pittsburgh, Miami, and New England -- but they'd win the four-way tiebreaker on conference record (even though Miami and New England would tiebreak first, Jacksonville would still have a better conference record than both and Pittsburgh, one team advances in any step)).

Both those games are on the ESPN/ABC family.

The Sunday schedule was released as of 4 PM Eastern Monday afternoon.  

A quick review:

Irrelevant:  TB-ATL, CAR-NO, HOU-IND (except for the #1 draft pick, HOU is #1 draft if they lose or if CHI beats MIN).

NE-BUF:  BUF #1 seed if they win out or if they win tonight and KC loses to the Raiders on Saturday.

NE-BUF, NYJ-MIA, CLE-PIT:  #7 seed in the AFC, but only as a group, so all those games would have to kick at the same time.

BAL-CIN:  For the division if CIN loses to BUF tonight.  If CIN wins tonight, they win the AFC North.  But CIN can win the #1 seed in Week 18 with a win over BAL and a KC loss the day before.

LAC-DEN is only relevant for playoff seeding, and only in a specific situation involving Cincinnati.

DAL-WAS, NYG-PHI:  NFC East championship.  PHI gets it with a win, DAL gets it with a win and a PHI loss.

CHI-MIN is only relevant for seeding, and only if San Francisco loses to Arizona.

DAL-WAS, NYG-PHI, ARI-SF:  #1 NFC seed:  PHI gets it with a win.  SF gets it with a win and a PHI loss.  DAL gets it with a win and losses by PHI and SF.

DET-GB, LAR-SEA:  #7 seed.  GB gets it with a win.  SEA gets it with a win and a GB loss.  DET needs to win and have the Rams win.

So, my guess:

Early block:  TB-ATL, CAR-NO, HOU-IND, NE-BUF, NYJ-MIA, CLE-PIT, CHI-MIN 

Late Block:  DAL-WAS, NYG-PHI, ARI-SF, BAL-CIN, LAR-SEA, LAC-DEN

DET-GB Sunday night.

So here's what the NFL came out with:

They are using BAL-CIN as a "floater".  If Cincinnati wins over Buffalo tonight, that game will be played in the early block.  If Buffalo wins, BAL-CIN will go to the late block.

The schedule is exactly as I listed above, with the one "floater" caveat TBD.  DET-GB gets Sunday night, the AFC #7 wildcard situation gets the early block, and all the irrelevant games also go early.

The NFC East title chase can be seen simultaneously if the regions are right.  Dallas on FOX, Philly on CBS.

(Where I live won't get either.)

So: Early Block:  AFC #1 seed unless KC clinches, AFC #7 wildcard, irrelevant games.

Late Block:  NFC East, NFC #1 seed, AFC North if Cincinnati doesn't clinch it tonight.

Sunday Night:  NFC #7 wildcard.