Baltimore Ravens (2-5) at Miami Dolphins (2-6), Thursday, 8:15 p.m. ET

As always, there is not much Buccaneer-related context to any game pitting two AFC teams against each other. In this case, the Buccaneers do play one of these teams later in the season, as they travel to Miami in Week 17. That could be a very important contest if the NFC South standings or the overall conference standings are coming down to the wire. The Dolphins’ season looked it was circling the drain before the team went to Atlanta and lit up the Falcons, 34-10, last Sunday. Thank you for that, by the way, Miami. And now I’m going to look ungrateful as I advise everyone to root against you in Week Nine. Would you rather the Dolphins prove that last week wasn’t a fluke on get on hot streak, thus profiling as a much tougher out in late December, or would you rather see their will crushed, leading them to limp into the offseason. Yeah, the latter. Plus, it would be fun to see Lamar Jackson and the Ravens somehow go from a 1-5 start to AFC North champions.

Chicago Bears (4-3) at Cincinnati Bengals (3-5), Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET

In a similar vein, any interconference game between one NFC team and one AFC team is usually going to be an easy call. We’re almost always going to want the NFC team to lose, and this one is no exception. The Bears are currently eighth in the overall conference standings, but they’re just a half-game behind the 5-3 49ers for the final playoff spot. Chicago will have a hard time leap-frogging the 5-1-1 Packers and the 5-2 Lions in the NFC North, particularly as they are already 0-2 in division play, so this is only relevant to the Buccaneers if they lose their grip on first in the NFC South and are grubbing around for a Wild Card spot. Still, that’s a possibility, so we should look ahead and root against any bubble team in the conference field. We’ll go with the team that pairs orange with black over the one that goes with orange and blue.

Verdict: Go orange and black!

Minnesota Vikings (3-4) at Detroit Lions (5-2), Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET

On one hand, we’d like to see the Vikings get buried farther down the standings for the same reasons as mentioned above, but on the other hand the Buccaneers and Lions could be fighting for the NFC’s top seed and a first-round bye at the end of the season. Let’s dream big! Tampa Bay already has a loss to the Lions on its resume, so they would need to finish at least a game ahead of Detroit in order to win any head-to-head tiebreaker situation. Let’s root for young quarterback J.J. McCarthy to get his starting gig back this week and for quarterback-whisperer Kevin O’Connell to get him on track.

Verdict: Go J.J. and KOC!

Carolina Panthers (4-4) at Green Bay Packers (5-1-1)

I’d tell you to hold your nose on this one, but a little farther down the page it’s going to get even worse. Yes, Carolina is in second place in the NFC South, two games behind the Buccaneers, and we would obviously like them to lose most of their remaining games. But two of those games are against Tampa Bay in the final three weeks of the season, so the Buccaneers will have every opportunity to take care of that division title business on their own. In this case, the most pressing issue is that the Packers currently own the top seed in the conference even though the Eagles and Buccaneers have more wins, thanks to a superior winning percentage, .786 to .750. Again, we’re shooting for the moon here and considering the possibility that the Bucs could earn that top seed and the precious first-round bye that comes with it. The Lions are fun team that is easy to root for and the Panthers are…the Panthers. So you’ll probably have to force yourself to do this, but we need to root for the men in teal this weekend.

Verdict: Go Panthers. Ugh.

Denver Broncos (6-2) at Houston Texans (3-4)

Indianapolis Colts (7-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3), Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Chargers (5-3) at Tennessee Titans (1-7), Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET

Three early-slate all-AFC games that don’t mean much to Tampa Bay. As I noted early, the Colts are a great story and apparently their offensive is operating at an historically efficient rate. Personally, I haven’t had a chance to sit down and watch them yet this season, but that’s what I’ll be doing at 1:00 on Sunday. Denver-Houston could be fun, too, if the previously sluggish Texans look more like they did in last week’s win over the 49ers. Plus, the Bucs have a win over Houston this season, so when the Texans win that improves Tampa Bay’s strength-of-schedule and strength-of-victory numbers for potential tiebreakers.

Verdict: Go Texans and any other AFC team you fancy in the early afternoon!