Weeks 17 and 18 in NFL are all about scenarios. To name a few, there are teams that are win-and-in for a division title or playoff berth. Others will find motivation or discouragement in the result of an earlier game or some flickering numbers on the scoreboard.

Overall picks to win: 8-8 in Week 17 (173-82-1 for the season) Picks to win with 1-5 confidence: 4-7 (103-64-1) Picks to win with 6-10 confidence: 4-1 (70-18) Overall to cover the spread: 9-6-1 (130-117-9) Cover-the-spread picks with 1-5 confidence: 8-4-1 (107-93-8) Cover-the-spread picks with 6-10 confidence: 1-2 (23-23-1)

However Sunday night, the 272nd and final game of the regular season, will have winner-take-all stakes as the archrival Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens vie for the AFC North title in the latest installment of their border way. The loser goes gets nothing.

Chris Vasile breaks down his favorite NFL picks against the spread for Week 18, including the Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens.

NFL Week 18 could very well get crazy. There's no other way to say that as we look at both the NFL Playoff picture and the potential effects on the NFL Draft or

Must-win AFC North and NFC South showdowns? No. 1 seeds on the line? We have picks, predictions, stats and what's at stake for every Week 18 game.

Picking the Ravens over the Steelers is almost too easy. We also like the Seahawks over the 49ers and Bucs over Panthers in critical games.

Our NFL Week 18 early picks against the spread start with Saturday's NFC South clash between the Panthers and Buccaneers.

Week 17 in the NFL already has five games in the books from three Christmas Day games and two on Saturday. The Sunday schedule starts with seven games kicking off at 1 p.m. ET. That gives you seven shots at making a little money on the outcome of those contests.