With only five weeks left, it’s definitely not too early to start looking at playoff matchups. If the season ended today, here’s what we’d be looking at (take these with a grain of salt since some are based on tiebreakers):

Before we take a look at tonight, let’s take a quick look at what happened in the rest of the Week 12 games. I’m sure most of you saw this, but the Packers continued their quest towards perfection with a big Thanksgiving Day victory over the Lions (and yes, Ndamukong Suh a dirty player but let’s not get carried away…it’s not like he killed anyone!). Elsewhere on Turkey Day…Tony Romo avenged Leon Lett and took down the Dolphins, while the Ravens won a defensive struggle over the 49ers in the Harbaugh Bowl.

In the early games yesterday…Matt Ryan’s 3 TDs led the Falcons to victory over the Vikings, Andy Dalton led the Bengals to a comeback win over the Browns, and there was a Chris Johnson sighting in Tennessee as the Titans moved to 6-5 in beating the Buccaneers. Elsewhere, the Texans overcame Matt Leinart’s apparent season-ending shoulder injury to beat the Jaguars, and the Bills weren’t able to overcome a dumb penalty and a costly drop by Stevie Johnson in a 28-24 defeat to the Jets. The last of the early games included some nice rushing performances as DeAngelo Williams’ 2 TDs led the Panthers to a victory over the winless Colts, and Beanie Wells’ 228 yard game powered the Cardinals over the Rams.

And in the late games on Sunday…Patriots dismantled the “Dream Team” Eagles in Philadelphia, the Raiders held off the Caleb Hanie-led Bears in Oakland, the Redskins won a “thriller” over the Seahawks, and Tim Tebow did it again in leading the Broncos to an overtime victory in San Diego. Oh ya, I almost forgot since this game put me to sleep last night…but the Steelers won a “barnburner” over the Chiefs, 13-9, in the Sunday Night game.

I feel like I say this every week, but tonight’s game is a match up of teams going in two different directions. The Saints are 7-3 and riding a two-game win streak, while the Giants are 6-4 and trying to break a two-game slide. As the Saints try to keep a game up on the Falcons and the Giants try to keep pace with the Cowboys, Eli Manning’s New Orleans homecoming should prove quite interesting tonight…

With two statistically porous pass defenses, this one has all the makings of a shoot-out and that’s great news for Brees/Manning/Colston/Nicks/Graham/Cruz owners. Rushing-wise, it should be tough sledding for Brandon Jacobs and the Saints’ three-headed RB monster (Ingram, Sproles, Thomas) so I’m not expecting much in terms of fantasy points there. If anything, I think Sproles and Thomas will have the best day of the bunch as they should see a good amount of screen passes and check-downs in the face of the Giants pass rush. In the end, I just don’t see the Giants offense being able to hang with the Saints and I might lose some Giants readers with this one, but I’m going with a prediction of 27-17, Saints.

As always, let’s end with a quick look at some of top fantasy-related news from Sunday:

–       Last weeks’ top waiver pick-up, Kevin Smith, suffered an ankle sprain on Thanksgiving and if he misses any time, Maurice Morris looks like the guy to own in Detroit.

–       Sorry Andre Johnson owners, but I think Matt Leinart’s shoulder injury might be the death of AJ’s fantasy value this year. You don’t believe in T.J. Yates, do you? (I don’t…)

–       Mike Shanahan was apparently in a Roy Helu kind-of-mood yesterday as the rookie tallied 23 carries for 108 yards and a TD, while adding 7 catches for 54 yards. I’m picking Helu up again this week where I can, but I still think starting him on your fantasy team is absolute lunacy.

–       Peyton Hillis made a re-appearance in Cleveland with 19 carries for 65 yards yesterday. I think he’s worth a pickup if someone dropped him, but like Helu…I think you’re setting yourself up for disappointment if you’re starting him week-to-week.