Television ratings have been down for NFL games, but some of the best remaining matchups fall on holidays. The ratings of those games will be worth following.The good news for commissioner Roger Goodell is two divisions that typically get good ratings have the most teams battling for playoff spots. The NFC East has been a good ratings draw, thanks to its tradition and rivalries, and also because all four teams are in big markets. And three AFC West teams?could make the playoffs.To preview the most intriguing games, Im putting Week 17 aside. Goodell made sure years ago that the final week of the season would be filled with 16 divisional games with the hopes of division races being tight so that those games dictate playoff seeding. But you dont know until that final week what they will mean, so well leave those out.One factor in determining the best remaining games: Some teams already are running away with their division. The Patriots, Seahawks and Cowboys all have at least two-game leads.?Another thing to watch: There arent many matchups between two top quarterbacks. The Russell Wilson-Tom Brady matchup drew 22.5 million fans last Sunday night. But many of the top quarterbacks playing for the rest of the season are on losing teams --?Cam Newton, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Andy Dalton and Aaron Rodgers. Great quarterback matchups are ratings draws, but it appears to be different if the teams are losing. The Dalton-Eli Manning game last Monday night drew a 7.9 rating -- 0.7 below a Bengals-Texans game last season.Heres how I rank the games to watch down the stretch.1.?Kansas City Chiefs at Denver BroncosSunday, Nov. 27 at 8:30 p.m. ETThe Chiefs have a great chance to win the AFC West, thanks in part to their win in Oakland. This a matchup of two great defenses and two great coaches.Hassan Whiteside Jersey . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Bill Walton Blazers Jersey . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. https://www.blazerslockerroom.com/Jaylen-Hoard-City-Edition-Jersey/ . -- Ty Montgomery had 290 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, and fifth-ranked Stanford held on to beat No. Caleb Swanigan Blazers Jersey .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Georgios Papagiannis Blazers Jersey . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th.Serbia and Croatia are Brazil bound. France or Canada will get the only Olympic basketball spot left.Serbia emphatically claimed its first Olympic appearance as an independent country Saturday, crushing Puerto Rico 108-77 in the championship game of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament it hosted in Belgrade. Bogdan Bogdanovic had 26 points and eight assists, while tournament MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets added 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists.Part of an international basketball power in the former Yugoslavia, Serbia made the Olympics for the first time since it became an independent nation in 2006. It appeared two years earlier as Serbia and Montenegro.Serbia beat Puerto Rico by just six points earlier this week in group play but left no doubt this one wouldnt be close. The Serbians raced to a 24-3 lead and were ahead 37-11 after one quarter, extended it to 60-27 at halftime, and shot 58.7 percent for the game.Croatia had a much tougher time, outlasting Italy 84-78 in overtime in Turin, Italy. Bojan Bogdanovic of the Brooklyn Nets scored 26 points, former Philadelphia 76ers lottery pick Dario Saric added 18 points and 13 reboounds, and the Croatians qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 2008.ddddddddddddThe other final is Sunday in Manila, Philippines, where Canada gets a second shot to claim the Olympic berth that slipped away last year when it blew a late lead and was stunned by Venezuela in the semifinals of the FIBA Americas tournament.Cory Joseph of the Toronto Raptors scored 23 points and Tristan Thompson of the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers added 13 points and 10 rebounds Saturday in a 78-72 victory over New Zealand.France beat Turkey 75-63 in the other semifinal, getting 17 points from Thomas Heurtel.After Sundays final, there will be a draw to place the three champions in the Rio field. Two of them will end up in the same group as the two-time defending champion U.S.Along with the Americans, the other teams who have already qualified for the 12-team field are Spain, Lithuania, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, China, Australia and Nigeria.---Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney ' ' '
