Let me take a moment to try to throw together a board for this weekend’s games. We’ve been tracking these teams all year, so we have a general idea of how the offenses on these teams operate. It’s mostly a matter of trying to decide how the matchups will play out.

GREEN BAY PACKERS
Packers went 8-0 at home, but they were only 4-4 on the road. In the regular season, they scored 31 touchdowns in home games (almost 4 per game) but just 19 TDs on the road, which is just over 2 per game. You’re looking at 40 points per game versus only 21 points per game. That’s a big difference. Here they’re taking on one of the all-time great defenses. It’s a unit that’s allowed only 5 TDs in its last seven games. Glimmer of hope is that the defense was a little off its game for much of last week. Carolina was the better team for probably the majority of that game, moving the chains consistently in the second and third quarters before losing on big plays. Part of that, however, could be due to trying to deal with that third dimension of a running quarterback. Aaron Rodgers has above-average mobility when he’s healthy, but he was clearly gimping around last week, trapped in the pocket like a Manning brother. Our leaning here is to respect the firepower of Green Bay’s offense. With their weapons and a Hall of Fame quarterback, this is definitely one of the rare offenses that can come into Century Link and put up some yards and points. But this isn’t like putting up a big score against Minnesota or Chicago at Lambeau. We expect the Packers will score 2-3 TDs, and our leaning is 2 TDs is more likely. That’s rushing and passing. It’s tough to move the pass the ball on this defense. Seattle has allowed under 200 passing yards in over half of its games. That includes holding Rodgers to 189 back in Week 1. But at the same time, it’s very difficult for any defense to hold an elite quarterback like Rodgers under 250 passing yards. As good as the Seahawks are, they’ve still allowed over 240 passing yards in each of their last two games, against Shaun Hill and Cam Newton. Definitely a below-average situation for Green Bay’s running game; Seattle doesn’t have a shutdown, smothering defense up front, but it’s one of the top half-dozen run defenses in the league.

Davante Adams was a disappointment for much of the season (under 20 yards in seven of his last eight games in the regular season). But he came up big in the win over Dallas, with 7 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. Seattle has some great cover guys in its secondary, so it’s possible they’ll decide Adams represents their best matchup in a lot of situations.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
Indianapolis has played New England three years in a row, and all of the games have been the same – blowout wins for the Patriots, with the Colts at least managing some production in defeat. Despite losing every game by at least 19 points, Indianapolis has scored 24, 22 and 20 points in its last three games against the Patriots. That’s the kind of game we’re expecting: Maybe a 34-20 kind of game. New England’s defense was a huge disappointment last week, letting Baltimore score 31 points. This is the same group that allowed only 9 TDs in its last seven regular-season games. The Colts, meanwhile, aren’t as good now as they were earlier in the year. This offense scored 32 TDs in its first nine games (almost 4 per week); in it’s last nine games, it’s scored only 24 TDs, with more than 3 TDs in only one of those games. That includes the Week 11 loss at home to New England, where the team ran for only 19 yards, with Andrew Luck passing for 303 yards and 2 TDs. The Colts in the regular season averaged 40 more passing yards per game than any of the other three remaining teams, while the Patriots allowed the most passing yards. So even in a one-sided defeat, Luck might still finish with the most passing yards of anyone this weekend.

The Colts have given up on Trent Richardson. He wasn’t even active at Denver. They’re going with Dan Herron, and he should be pretty much a full-time player. He might play on a higher percentage of his team’s plays than any other running back this week (including Marshawn Lynch and Eddie Lacy). The Colts will probably put up the worst rushing numbers of the weekend, but Herron also has gone over 30 receiving yards three weeks in a row. … Reggie Wayne doesn’t have it anymore. He’s old and slowing down, and he’s also trying to play hurt. He’s been under 25 receiving yards in five of his last seven games. He was shut out entirely at Denver. Donte Moncrief is the receiver they’d like to work in opposite T.Y. Hilton, but Moncrief caught only 2 of the 8 passes thrown his way at Denver.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
The Patriots are the clear favorite to be the highest scoring team this weekend. Setting aside a meaningless Week 17 game, their offense has scored 45 TDs in its last 12 games. Almost four per week. The Indianapolis defense, meanwhile, is probably the worst of what’s left. It gave up 6 TDs in losses to the Steelers, Patriots and Cowboys. So this very much looks like a game where New England can score in the mid-to-high 30s. Maybe even the 40s – it piled up 501 yards and 42 points in a blowout win at Indianapolis in Week 11. The Patriots ran for 244 yards in that game, with Jonas Gray going for 201 yards and 4 TDs. Since that time, the Patriots seem to have soured on Gray. He appears to be their No. 4 running back right now. So when they have some success pounding the ball in the middle in this game, it’s most likely to be LeGarrette Blount in that role. Blount hardly played last week, but that was out of offensive design (Baltimore is really tough to run against inside). Blount is definitely the No. 1 runner on this roster, and he potentially could bang out about 120 yards and a couple of touchdowns on Sunday. He’s not a factor in the passing game. Shane Vereen will rotate in, but he’s more of a third-down back. Brandon Bolden probably will get some spot duty, and we’re guessing Jonas Gray probably won’t be active.

Danny Amendola is coming on. He’s been an afterthought in this offense for most of the season, but now they’re utilizing him more as a third receiver behind Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell. Amendola has caught 17 passes in his last three games. … With the way the Patriots might run the ball in this game, it’s not a super matchup for Tom Brady, but he’s playing awfully well. He’s thrown multiple touchdowns in all but one of his last 11 meaningful games.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
The Seahawks are a 10-1 run, but they don’t have a great offense. That group has scored only 26 TDs in those 11 games. It’s scored more than 2 TDs in only four of those 11 games. Here it’s taking on a pretty average Green Bay defense. The Packers have allowed 40 TDs in 17 games. Those kind of numbers indicate Seattle should score 2-3 TDs. We’re putting them down for 3. They’re at home, and we’re not sure the Packers can adequately slow down Marshawn Lynch. The Seahawks ran for 207 yards when they beat Green Bay 36-16 back in Week 1, with 2 TD runs and 2 TD passes. Green Bay is playing better now against the run than it was early in the season, but this is still probably just an average run defense. The Seahawks averaged a league-high 173 rushing yards in the regular season (26 more than any other team), while Green Bay allowed 120 yards, the most of any of the remaining run defenses.

Russell Wilson will finish with the worst passing numbers of any of the three quarterbacks this week, but he’ll have the best rushing production. He averaged 217 passing yards per game in the regular season (50 fewer than any of these other quarterbacks), but supplemented that with 53 rushing yards per week. He threw only 10 TD passes in his last 10 regular-season games (along with 3 TD runs). Back in Week 1, Wilson passed for only 191 but threw 2 TDs and added 29 yards as a runner. … Paul Richardson is out for the year with a torn ACL, so Seattle is down to two reliable wide receivers. Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse. Both played pretty well and scored last week. Kearse really struggled in the regular season. Seattle doesn’t have much else at wide receiver (Ricardo Lockette and Kevin Norwood should be their next two guys). Luke Willson has been coming on. He’s caught 9 passes for 239 yards and 3 TDs in his last three games. With their issues at wide receiver, they should rely on him more. Willson has very good speed; defensive backs couldn’t catch him on an 80-yard touchdown at Arizona, and he got loose for a 29-yard catch against Carolina.

Anyway, you put them all in the blender and it comes out something like this. Scoring system here is 6 points for touchdowns, 4 for TD passes, 1 for every 10 run/rec yards, and 1 for every 20 passing yards.