And down the stretch they come.The Cowboys already are in the playoffs. The Patriots and Seahawks almost certainly will qualify soon, too. Believe it or not, Raiders fans, your team is about to end its 13-season drought.As for the rest, well, the scramble is on. Heres whats ahead in the frantic final four weeks of an already unpredictable season:AFCIt would seem that the wild cards will come out of the West, by far the best division in football. Whether its Denver, Kansas City or Oakland, those teams will provide quite a test for the North or South winner in the first round of the postseason.Whoever wins the West almost certainly will have a first-round bye, too. After the Chiefs win Thursday night and their sweep of Oakland -- plus a win over Denver in their pocket -- they hold most of the cards in the division.It just shows how good our division is, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr says. I think its a cool thing, to be honest. I think its awesome. Competition brings the best out of everybody. Its been like that all year. Weve all been right there with each other and weve all been pushing each other. Its fun, man.Defending Super Bowl champ Denver (8-4) has the toughest road with games against Tennessee, New England, Kansas City and Oakland.The other bye figures to go to the Patriots -- no surprise there. It would be the seventh straight year New England was off for the first weekend of the playoffs.The other two divisions are murky, with the South a tossup.Houston has led the division all season, but is in the midst of a major swoon, its offense unreliable, its defense banged-up. Indianapolis has Andrew Luck back, and he could be a difference maker, but losing its best defender, linebacker DQwell Jackson to a four-game suspension, is damaging to a mediocre unit.Tennessee, a team to watch out for in 2017, must play Denver and Kansas City before finishing with the Jaguars and Texans.This is a four-game playoff to get to the playoffs, Texans coach Bill OBrien says.Houston, Indy and Tennessee all are 6-6. Will 8-8 be good enough to sneak off with the South -- and then get hammered by a wild-card team?As for dropping the hammer, thats the operating standard for the North, best personified by the Ravens and Steelers. Both are 7-5, both are hitting stride, and both face off Christmas night. Cant wait.NFCDallas has so separated itself from the rest of the conference that not only can it secure the East title with a win at the Giants on Sunday night, it also can nail down home-field advantage throughout the playoffs if Detroit and Seattle lose.Well let other people talk about those kinds of things, coach Jason Garrett says. The best thing this team has done is focus. We focus on one opponent at a time. We focus on one days preparation at a time. Well continue to do that.Lets pencil in the Cowboys as the top seed, then sit back and watch an intriguing race for the other bye between the Seahawks and Lions.Detroit (8-4) almost is as much a surprise as Dallas, but it hasnt yet convinced folks it will win the North. Its final three games are at the Giants and Cowboys, then hosting the Packers (6-6) on New Years Day. Green Bay won the first meeting, and Aaron Rodgers has been playing lights-out football for weeks.But give Detroit its due: No team has been more impressive in close games, Matthew Stafford is having his best season, and its plus-6 turnover margin is among the NFL leaders.The Packers, who must navigate through three divisional games to finish the schedule after hosting Seattle on Sunday, look more like a wild-card chaser.Seattle (8-3-1) might have the leagues most talented roster when everyone is healthy. Thats hardly the case now, and losing perennial All-Pro safety Earl Thomas for the rest of the season is damaging.The good news for the Seahawks is their offense, while streaky, has playmakers such as Russell Wilson -- also in the midst of an MVP-caliber year -- Jimmy Graham and Doug Baldwin, plus, at last, a threat at running back with Thomas Rawls return to the lineup.And the Seahawks have little reason to look behind them in the West.Atlanta (7-5) hadnt been looking in the rearview mirror since it took hold of the South at 4-1. Now it has been caught by Tampa Bay, and the Falcons have thrown away some games, making everyone wonder how much staying power they have.They do, however, have a huge edge in the remaining schedule. While they face the Rams, 49ers, Panthers and Saints (total record: 14-34), Tampa gets New Orleans twice, Carolina -- and Dallas.The wild-card race is such a jumble that diving deep into tiebreakers on Jan. 1 might be needed to settle things. The Giants (8-4) have the inside track, but also a difficult schedule (Cowboys, Lions, Redskins, Eagles) and a major injury with Jason Pierre-Paul done for 2016.Its possible the runner-up in the North and South, perhaps even the Cardinals or Vikings if they ever get things straightened out, will be alive beyond Christmas.The NFL sure must like a the more the merrier idea.---AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Soccer Jerseys From China . Paul Pierce couldnt believe he missed at the end. Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the leagues most productive bench, and Los Angeles beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-94 on Wednesday night after blowing a 27-point lead. Cheap Replica Soccer Jerseys . Luis Suarezs double powered Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Fulham, and Southampton easily overcame Hull 4-1 to continue the south coast clubs impressive start to the season. Liverpool and Southampton sent Chelsea down to fourth place as the west London club was held to 2-2 at home. http://www.wholesalesoccerjerseys.us/ . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys China . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. Authentic Soccer Jerseys Wholesale . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. DENVER -- The lights went out at the Pepsi Center. And no, the power outage had nothing to do with Damian Lillards shooting.It only appeared that way since he was shooting lights out.Lillard scored 37 points, including the go-ahead floater with less than a second remaining in overtime, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 115-113 on Saturday night in a game that featured a 28-minute delay in the fourth quarter due to a power surge.Lillard blew past big man Kenneth Faried in the lane and floated in a shot with 0.3 seconds left. Lillard had tied the game on a runner in regulation with 2.1 seconds remaining.Denver led 90-85 with 9:18 remaining in the final quarter when a bank of lights went out near the ceiling. The teams shot jumpers until the game was restarted. Portland shot lights out in its return to the court -- the Nuggets not as much, especially down the stretch when they squandered a nine-point lead.That was one of the craziest games Ive been a part of, with the lights going out, us playing a great game, Lillard said of a contest that lasted 3 hours, 18 minutes. They played a great game, and us finding a way back in a short amount of time, forcing overtime, being down in overtime and us just finding a way. I think that speaks to our resiliency as a team.CJ McCollum had seven of his 23 points in overtime to provide a spark for Portland.We essentially told the team after the lights (went out), it was a nine-minute game, Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. We won that, and then we won the five-minute (overtime) game. To have a good season you have to find ways to win games like this.Nikola Jokic led six Denver players in double figures with 23 points and he had a career-high 17 rebounds in the home opener for Denver.Trailing 70-59 at 9:35 of the third quarter, the Nuggets went on a 17-0 run to take a lead that held up until Lillards layup off an inbounds pass from Mason Plumlee.Wilson Chandler had a chance to seal the game in the closing seconds of regulation but missed two free throws.If I make those free throws, game over, Chandler said.Really, though, it was a combination of facttors.dddddddddddd. Like with 52.7 seconds remaining in regulation and Faried came up with a steal, only to turn it back over by throwing a bad pass. Lillard turned that mistake into a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 104-99 and give Portland a chance.Turnovers, missed free throws, poor execution, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. Give them credit, they hung around and stole a game on the road, which is what good teams do. For us, going to keep our heads up. Weve got to learn from this.Denver honored Dikembe Mutombo at halftime by retiring the No. 55 jersey of the finger-wagging, shot-blocker extraordinaire. The team even brought out their Rainbow Skyline throwback uniforms for the occasion.TIP-INSBlazers: C Festus Ezeli (left knee) missed the game. ... The Blazers are 6-1 in their last seven games in Denver. ... Plumlee finished with 13 points. ... McCollum had 10 rebounds and a career-high three blocks.Nuggets: F Darrell Arthur (left knee) and G Gary Harris (groin) didnt play. The Nuggets were down a stalwart perimeter defender in Harris. ... G Emmanuel Mudiay had 21 points.NO TIMEOUTThere was no way Lillard was calling a timeout with the game on the line in OT since Denver had three big men on the court. Instead, he drove right past Faried.If we called a timeout they could have adjusted, put maybe a defensive team in and got more wings out there, Lillard explained.MORE MUTOMBOMutombo became the fifth player in team history to have his jersey raised to the rafters, joining Byron Beck (40), Alex English (2), Dan Issel (44) and David Thompson (33). Coach Doug Moe had No. 432 raised up to the roof, too, in commemoration of his franchise-record number of wins.In addition, the team presented Mutombo a $50,000 check for his foundation and a painting of him lying on the court, clutching the ball over his head, after the eighth-seeded Nuggets upset top-seeded Seattle during the 1993-94 postseason.UP NEXTBlazers: Host Golden State on Tuesday night.Nuggets: At Toronto on Monday night. ' ' '