Week 12 of the NFL season is finally here. This week’s slate may not be filled with as many big-time matchups as last week, but from the Kansas City Chiefs vs Indianapolis Colts in the early window to the Los Angeles Rams vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football, there are still a lot of great matchups this week.

As I do every week, I went through every single NFL game this weekend and asked one big question I want to see answered this weekend.

Eagles at Cowboys

Has Dallas’ defense improved enough to keep their playoff hopes alive?

The Dallas Cowboys made a couple of moves at the trade deadline to add Logan Wilson and Quinnen Williams. We’ve only seen them play one game with their new additions, and they looked pretty good, holding Vegas to 16 points, seven of which came when they were down big in the fourth quarter.

I know the Philadelphia Eagles have had their fair share of offensive issues this season, but this will be a real test for Dallas. The Eagles have stars all over their offense, and all it takes is one good possession for them to get the ball rolling. So one thing I want to know is, how will this defense perform against a real offense?

If Dallas, who’s sitting at 4-5-1, wants a real chance to keep their playoff hopes alive, their defense is going to need to step up. Dallas has an elite offense, but Philly’s defense is playing some great football right now. They’ll be able to score, but I think Dallas needs to hold Philly to under 23 points on Sunday if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive. Can they do it? I’m not sure, but last week’s performance was encouraging.

Browns at Raiders

How will Shedeur Sanders perform in his first start?

Shedeur Sanders is making his long-awaited first start on Sunday. There are fans speculating whether or not he’s been sabotaged by the team because he wasn’t getting any first-team reps (which is normal for a backup quarterback, but I digress), but now, after a full week as QB1, there are no more excuses.

Sanders gets the luxury of playing the Las Vegas Raiders, who don’t have a great team, on Sunday. This is a perfect opportunity to put up some big numbers and get a win, but will he be able to do it? I still have a ton of concerns with his game. How will he handle the pocket? Is he going to hold onto the ball forever, like we saw in college and last week, and take a bunch of bad sacks? Or will he have learned from his first start and put an emphasis on getting the ball out quickly?

It will be very interesting to see how he plays. It’s not a tough matchup, and with Dillon Gabriel potentially coming back next week, this may be his only chance to make an impression in Cleveland.

Steelers at Bears

Can the Steelers topple the Bears with an injured Aaron Rodgers or Mason Rudolph?

Aaron Rodgers broke his left wrist last week, but was back on the practice field Thursday in a limited fashion. The understanding is, if they feel he can play and still protect himself and not risk injuring the wrist further, he’ll play. If not, it will be Mason Rudolph stepping in.

The question is, can they beat the Bears without Rodgers at 100 percent? I’ve hated on the Bears this season because I don’t think they’re as good as their 7-3 record, but that doesn’t mean they’re a bad team. They already had a decent shot at winning this game, but with an injured Rodgers or Rudolph starting, they should be the favorites in this game.

Will the Steelers be able to pull off the upset without their starting quarterback? Or will the Bears get another victory with a little asterisk next to it?

Patriots at Bengals

Should Joe Burrow start this game?

Joe Burrow suffered a turf toe injury early this season, and has been out ever since. It was speculated he could return for Thanksgiving, but it now appears Burrow is in line to start this week after taking first-team reps in practice on Wednesday and Thursday. But is it the right move?

For the Bengals, I think it is. They’re 3-7 and need to go 6-1 at worst to make the playoffs. With Burrow at quarterback, anything is possible, but they need to win this game against New England in order to keep their hopes alive. A loss here, and you might as well tank and get a better draft pick.

Is Burrow 100 percent, though? We don’t know. He’s the only one who knows how he really feels, but my gut tells me he’s not quite there yet. With Joe Flacco doing such a good job in relief, it makes you wonder if they should just go with Flacco this week.

We’ll see if they make the right decision, but my money is that Burrow goes and gives Cincy at least a shot at upsetting the Patriots.

Giants at Lions

Can Jaxson Dart keep up with the Lions’ offense?

Jaxson Dart is on track to play this week after missing Week 11 with a concussion. The New York Giants desperately need him healthy because when he’s in the game, he gives them a chance to win pretty much every week.

This week, they have to travel to Detroit to face a Lions offense that can score a whole lot of points, especially against a defense as bad as New York’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jared Goff and Co. put 30+ on the scoreboard this week, which means it will be up to Dart to pull off some magic.

In the seven games Dart has played, the Giants have scored 20+ in every single one of them, which includes 34 against the Eagles and 34 against the Broncos. Detroit has a good defense, but nobody’s had an answer for Dart this year. Will he be able to keep pace with Goff? Or will Detroit’s offensive firepower be too much for the rookie to keep up with?

Vikings at Packers

Can the Packers stay within a game of the NFC North lead?

This is a sneaky big game for the Green Bay Packers. They’re 6-3-1 and one game back in the NFC North. With the Bears likely winning this week against a banged-up Steelers team and Detroit likely toppling a 2-9 Giants team, they need to win this game to stay within a game of the NFC North lead.

At first glance, this should be an easy win. J.J. McCarthy has not been playing well, and Minnesota’s defense isn’t as good as it’s been in years past, but it’s not that simple. The Packers will almost certainly be without Josh Jacobs on Sunday, and Matthew Golden and Romeo Doubs could also miss this game if they don’t get healthy in time. With Tucker Kraft also out for the year, that’s their four best offensive weapons possibly out on Sunday.

To make matters worse, Green Bay’s offense hasn’t looked great in recent weeks. They put up 27 on a terrible Giants defense last week, but that was after an extremely slow start. In the two weeks before that, the Packers scored just 2o combined points against Carolina and Philadelphia.

This feels like it could be a bit of a trap game for Green Bay. They just need to make sure they play Packers football and get out of there with a win, no matter how ugly, so they can stay within immediate striking distance of the NFC North crown.

Seahawks at Titans

How much do the Seahawks win by?

The Seattle Seahawks are pissed off about their loss last week. They played horrible football, turning it over four times, and yet they still had a chance to win the game with a long field goal. They know that, if they played their best, they would’ve won that game. Now, they get to take their anger out on the worst team in the league.

I think the Seahawks come out with their foot firmly on the gas, and they don’t let up. Sam Darnold’s going to be frustrated with his four-INT performance last week, and I expect him to sling the ball all over the field on Sunday. Jaxson Smith-Njigba is arguably the most dangerous receiver in the league right now, so I expect him to have a big game as well.

Seattle’s defense actually played really well against the Rams, holding their high-powered offense to just 21 points. They’ll still be pissed off about the loss, though, and the Titans don’t really pose much of a threat offensively.

Seattle could, and probably should, win this game by three scores. There’s no reason this game shouldn’t be in the 28-10 range, so I just want to see how badly Seattle beats up on them.

Colts at Chiefs

Can the Chiefs stop Jonathan Taylor? And if so, can Daniel Jones out-duel Patrick Mahomes?

Jonathan Taylor and the Colts’ offensive line are arguably the best duo in football right now. Taylor is having an MVP-caliber season this year, and pretty much nobody has been able to stop him. There have been just three games this season where Taylor hasn’t rushed for 100 yards or hasn’t scored a touchdown. The Colts, who are 8-2, are 1-2 in those three games. They beat the Dolphins in Week 1, and lost to the Rams and Steelers in Week 5 and 10, respectively.

It’s no secret that, when you stop Taylor, you stop the Colts. Making Daniel Jones beat you with his arm is how you take down Indy. In the three games where Taylor hasn’t rushed for 100 yards or scored a touchdown, Jones has thrown for 292 yards per game, but has three touchdowns to five interceptions. In his seven other games this year, he’s averaging 254 yards and has thrown 12 touchdowns to two interceptions.

Obviously, stopping Taylor is much easier said than done, but the Chiefs have the defense to do it. They are a top-three scoring defense and allow exactly 100 rushing yards per game. There are very few teams capable of stopping Taylor, but I believe the Chiefs are one of them. We’ll find out this Sunday if they truly are.

Jets at Ravens

Will Tyrod Taylor make a difference for the Jets’ offense?

The New York Jets have named Tyrod Taylor their starter for Sunday’s game against Baltimore. I think we all know there’s a 95 percent chance the Jets lose this game, so I just want to see how much of a difference Taylor makes.

Justin Fields has proven himself literally incapable of throwing the football beyond the line of scrimmage. He has two completions of 10+ yards downfield in the last three weeks. Taylor should be able to provide a bit more explosiveness in the pass game, but the question is, how much?

I don’t expect the Jets’ offense to suddenly take off, but I do expect them to be better than in weeks past. Baltimore’s defense isn’t great, but they’re improving, so they will provide a slight challenge for Taylor.

Jaguars at Cardinals

Can the Jags avoid falling victim to a trap game?

This is the definition of a trap game. The Jacksonville Jaguars are coming off a massive upset win over the Chargers, and now they have to fly two-thirds of the way across the country to face an Arizona team that has a pretty dangerous offense.

Jacoby Brissett has led Arizona to 22+ points in each of his first five starts. He also just set the NFL record for completions in a single game, so he’s not afraid to throw the ball all over the yard. Fortunately for Jacksonville, Marvin Harrison Jr. is out this week, but we just saw Michael Wilson catch 15 passes for 185 yards last week, so they can’t expect this passing attack to miss a step. To make matters worse, Jacksonville’s defense has not been great outside of last week.

When teams get an emotional victory, sometimes they can have a bit of a hangover next time out. Don’t ask me why, but we’ve seen teams slip up in this exact situation time and time again. Does Jacksonville have the mental fortitude to go out and win this game, like they should, or will they be the next trap game victims?

Falcons at Saints

How screwed are the Falcons without Michael Penix and Drake London?

Michael Penix Jr. is done for the year, and Drake London is expected to miss at least a week, possibly more, with a PCL sprain. This is a team that’s already lost five straight games, so how bad will things get without their starting quarterback and wide receiver?

Kirk Cousins is set to take over at quarterback. He’s probably one of the best backups in the league, but how much does that matter when he doesn’t have anyone to throw to? To make things even worse for Atlanta, they now have to travel to New Orleans to face their arch-rivals. In a season like this, where the playoffs are off the table (which seems to be pretty much every year for Atlanta), the Saints are their Super Bowl. They can’t afford to lose to New Orleans in a year where the Saints have their worst record this century.

Things were already grim in Atlanta, but now they could get even worse. Especially since they don’t have their first-round pick this year, which is likely to be in the top-10, if not top-five.

Buccaneers at Rams

Will anybody be able to beat LA?

The Los Angeles Rams are rolling right now. They’re 8-2 and the 2-seed in the NFC, and there really aren’t that many tough games left on their schedule. After Sunday night’s game against Tampa Bay, their only other real threats on their schedule are Seattle, who they’ve beaten already, and Detroit, whose offense hasn’t shown up against tough defenses. So my question is, will anyone beat the Rams before the playoffs?

Tampa has a decent chance. We know how explosive their offense can be, but they’re still very injured offensively. Bucky Irving and Chris Godwin could be out again, and Mike Evans is still on IR. Will this offense be able to keep up with the Rams, who also have an elite defense? I don’t really think they can.

So if the Rams win this game like many are expecting, there are only two other real chances for them to lose this season. They host Detroit, which plays heavily in their favor, but will have to travel to Seattle, which will be tough. There’s a real chance this team finishes 15-2, like I predicted in my playoff predictions earlier this week.

Panthers at 49ers

Who wins this crucial NFC playoff battle?

I’m sure this wasn’t what the folks who create the schedule had in mind when they put this game on Monday Night Football, but this game will be very important for the NFC playoff picture. The Carolina Panthers are 6-5, and just outside the playoff bubble.  The San Francisco 49ers are 6-4, and currently occupy the 7-seed in the NFC. We could see a changing of the guard on Monday night if Carolina is able to topple San Fran.

Despite how close their records are, I think San Fran is the much better team. Brock Purdy is back, and he looked great last weekend. Bryce Young also had a career game on Sunday, but he’s been incredibly inconsistent this year. Defensively, I do think Carolina has the edge, but the 49ers’ offense should still be able to outscore the Panthers.

If Carolina is able to pull off the upset, though, things could get really interesting in the race for the final Wild Card Spot, so I’m rooting for chaos.