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Home field means everything in the NFC South. The four division teams are 22-2 at home this season.

Home-field advantage in the playoffs and more is at stake when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit the Carolina Panthers on ESPN's "Monday Night Football" (8:30 ET). The winner has a great chance of securing the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, thus earning a bye week and putting that team one game away from the NFC title game. With the Bucs and the Panthers tied atop the division with 9-3 records, this could end up being one of the better Monday night games of the season.

The Bucs won the first meeting between the teams, beating the Panthers 27-3 in Week 6 in Tampa. Blocked punts and bad plays buried the Panthers early in the game, and quarterback Jake Delhomme couldn't recover.

The pressure is on the Panthers more than the Bucs in this game. The Bucs' closing schedule is pretty easy, so they could survive losing this game and have a chance to catch the Panthers. Carolina has no margin of error. Its final three games are against the Broncos, Giants and Saints, with the final two on the road.

Jeff Garcia has given the Panthers fits since joining the Bucs. And he's been doing that his entire career. Garcia has won his past five starts against the Panthers, throwing nine touchdowns in those five games.

But the Panthers fear Garcia's legs more than his arm. Even when the Panthers had Kris Jenkins and Mike Rucker on their defensive line, they always have had trouble with quarterbacks who can run.

Garcia can turn any bad play into a first down with a scramble. That's a big concern for Panthers coach John Fox.

The other concern for the Panthers is Delhomme's inconsistent passing. He struggled for more than a month but bounced back with a solid effort in the Week 13 victory in Green Bay. Coming off Tommy John surgery, Delhomme has been one of the main reasons the Panthers have re-emerged as a playoff team.

Fortunately for the Panthers, Fox knows what to ask of his quarterback. This season, Fox went back to the style of football that previously led him to the Super Bowl, relying on a great running attack and a good defense.

DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart form one of the best 1-2 running back tandems in football. The Panthers got bigger and stronger along the offensive line. Delhomme has been asked to throw more than 29 passes only three times this season. The Panthers lost two of those games.

Naturally, Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin will try to stack the box and stuff the run. Delhomme then will be asked to try to hit a few play-action completions to Steve Smith.

Both teams enter the game reasonably healthy, which should make this game even better and eliminate any excuses for the loser.

These two teams could meet in the playoffs. The winner of this game should end up either 11-5 or possibly 12-4. The loser could make the playoffs as a wild card at 10-6 or 11-5, which would put it in position to play the winner of the NFC North, most likely Minnesota, in the first round of the playoffs.

If the NFC South second-place team wins that game, there could be a third installment of this Bucs-Panthers rivalry. In other words, this could be a playoff preview.

1. Dallas Cowboys at Pittsburgh Steelers: The Cowboys have the league's toughest closing schedule, facing four winning teams with a combined record of 34-13-1. They need to win at least two games to secure a wild-card spot.

While the Cowboys might be one of the most talented teams, they have to stay focused. Easy wins over the 49ers and the Seahawks boosted their confidence, but this game against the Steelers will be their toughest test down the stretch. Expect Steelers cornerbacks to be aggressive at the line of scrimmage with Terrell Owens. The Cowboys' offensive line, which has been spotty with its pass protection, will have to play its best game of the season, trying to keep James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley away from Tony Romo.

The Cowboys can still make the playoffs if they lose this game, but it will be a big confidence builder if they can pull out the upset.

2. Washington Redskins at Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens can't look ahead to the Week 15 game against the Steelers, whom they trail by one game in the AFC North race, so this is the perfect game to keep players focused. Ravens fans get a game against the area rival Redskins only once every eight years, so fans will be into this, and the fact that the game has been moved to Sunday night makes it even more entertaining.

Both quarterbacks -- Jason Campbell of the Redskins and Joe Flacco of the Ravens -- are young and will be facing a lot of blitzing, which should lead to a low-scoring, defensive game.

3. Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants: Life without Plaxico Burress officially begins Sunday in Giants Stadium. Burress' season ended Tuesday when the Giants put him on the non-football injury list, so now Domenik Hixon has to show he really is a starting wide receiver. Hixon and the rest of the receiving corps have to try to return this team to the Super Bowl.

In 2007, the Eagles were embarrassed in the Meadowlands when they gave up 12 sacks to the Giants. The Giants have dominated the Eagles of late. They've won six of the past seven games in this series, including a 36-31 game Nov. 9 in Philadelphia.

Donovan McNabb is coming off a strong showing against the Cardinals on Thanksgiving night. He's still trying to convince ownership not to trade him after the season.

4. Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints: The Falcons won the Nov. 9 game against the Saints in the Georgia Dome 34-20 and showed the nation they are playoff contenders. Since then, the Saints' defense has deteriorated because of injuries and off-the-field problems.

Cornerback Mike McKenzie blew out his knee in that Falcons game, and the diuretic-related suspension of defensive end Will Smith means the Saints have lost almost all of their pass rush. Defensive end Charles Grant also is out for the season. Overall, the Saints have had nine defensive starters miss games, including four who are out for the season. The Falcons are catching the Saints at the right time.

5. Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills (in Toronto): A season that began so optimistically in Buffalo could come to an unofficial close Sunday. After a 5-1 start, the Bills have lost five of six and now might have to play the Dolphins without starting quarterback Trent Edwards, who has a groin injury. The Dolphins beat the Bills 25-16 on Oct. 26 in Miami, thanks to a 314-yard passing day by Chad Pennington and a breakout game by wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. (175 yards receiving yards). If the Dolphins can pull off this victory, they have a chance to be a dark horse for the playoffs. They play the 49ers and the Chiefs in the next two weeks, teams with a combined record of 6-18. If the Dolphins win those games, they could go into the season finale against the Jets with a 10-5 record and a chance to get either a wild-card spot or maybe the division title.

6. New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers: Jets coach Eric Mangini must try to prevent repeats of the team's previous trips to the West Coast. The Jets have had bad games in Oakland and San Diego. The home loss to the Broncos in Week 13 could jeopardize their chances of getting a bye in the playoffs. If they lose this one, they might risk losing the AFC East title. The 49ers' Mike Singletary continues to build a case to stay on as the full-time coach, but he needs more victories to make it a reality. The Week 13 road win over the Bills helped. Ownership would love to keep him, but it's going to be hard if the 49ers are 5-11 or 4-12.

7. Jacksonville Jaguars at Chicago Bears: The Jaguars, out of the playoff race at 4-8, look unmotivated and disjointed. Quarterback David Garrard is struggling. The receivers have been disasters. The offensive line blocking has been a mess and is getting worse. Coach Jack Del Rio has yelled and yelled at his team, but the players don't seem to be responding. For the Bears, they are the perfect opponent against which to open a three-game homestand. New Orleans comes in the following Thursday, and the Packers visit next in a Monday night game. The Bears almost have to win out to make the playoffs because the Vikings hold all the advantages in the tiebreakers. Quarterback Kyle Orton has looked shaky since coming back from his ankle sprain. The good news for him is the Jaguars don't have much of a pass rush.

8. Houston Texans at Green Bay Packers: To make the playoffs -- which is a longshot at this point -- the Packers have to win their final four games. At home, the Packers have been average (3-3). Aaron Rodgers isn't the one to blame, though. He's completed 68.7 percent of his passes in those six home games for 1,492 yards and 10 touchdowns. His quarterback rating at home is 100.6. Halfback Ryan Grant has had 100-yard rushing performances in two of his past three home games. Meanwhile, Matt Schaub returns at quarterback for the Texans, who are coming off a nice victory over the Jaguars and are playing for some pride in the final weeks.

9. Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions: Could the suspensions of Vikings defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams set up the chance for the Lions to win their first game? It's possible, unless a Minneapolis judge goes through with a full injunction that allows both to play while he sorts out the case. The Vikings enter the game with only one healthy defensive lineman, end Ray Edwards. End Jared Allen, who's playing with a third-degree shoulder separation, will face more double-team blocking on early downs without the Williamses. Fred Evans and Ellis Wyms will start at defensive tackle. The Vikings now become one of the lighter 4-3 defensive lines in football. Expect coach Brad Childress to try to run Adrian Peterson 30 or so times in this game to eat up the clock and keep the Vikings' defense on the bench. The Lions can't stop the run, so a Peterson-led attack might bail out the Vikings.

10. New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks: It's hard to imagine that the Patriots have must-win games this early in December. But they do. The Week 13 loss to the Steelers put New England in a position in which it might need to win the final four games to make the playoffs. The problem facing coach Bill Belichick is that the Pats are 6-5 in AFC games, which could cost them in tiebreakers to get a wild card. The Patriots have back-to-back trips to the West Coast for the second time this season. They won in San Francisco (Week 5) but lost in San Diego (Week 6). Next week, they travel to Oakland. One of the sidebars to this game is Deion Branch, the former Patriot who was traded to Seattle to be a No. 1 receiver. Branch has battled injuries since the trade, but he will be going against a Patriots secondary that has struggled all season.

John Clayton, a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's McCann Award for distinguished reporting, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.