The beauty of late-season football is that every team looks more like itself: more complete in the best cases, often more flawed, but always more true. The long weekend of games that set up the final month of the 2014 regular season was no different, and it began to separate the pretenders to the throne from the real contenders.Denver's on Sunday night was a case in point. The had an opportunity -- in a frigid home game that would seem to have played to their strengths -- to send the tumbling into and to position themselves to win the Steve Largent Jersey AFC West. Instead, Kansas City struggled to stop the run, as it has all season, and mi sed several open receivers (the still haven't completed a touchdown pa s to a wide receiver this season) -- the two flaws that figure to doom any lofty championship dreams. The have unveiled a power running game with that shows they can win in cold weather even if can't carry them (he had 179 yards and completed just 50 percent of his pa ses against the )."I think you need to be able to win different types of football games," Manning said late Sunday night. "I can't speak for Kansas City, as far as what they were prepared for and what they were looking to stop tonight, but we wanted to come out and establish the run; we thought it was important and it went really well the entire night."Like the and , whose credentials were only enhanced by their , the again look equipped to make a long January run, particularly because they are now back in the hunt for the top seed in the AFC standings, with New England holding the lead because of its last month. So, too, do the , who have won five of six, haven't allowed a touchdown in two straight games and . If they can do something similar , they will look like the only team that can challenge the for NFC supremacy. Now, let's take a look beyond the surging powerhouses, at some other teams (and individuals) to watch in the regular season's final month:Teams in reverse Arizona: Strange to say this about a 9-3 team, but uh-oh ... The offense has scored just one touchdown in the ' past two games, . The defense sprang a leak against Atlanta -- Atlanta? -- on Sunday. And the injuries . With their record and the tiebreakers they have in hand, the are still . But Seattle is gaining fast in the NFC West. The -- -- with which they can save their season, but has his work cut out making backup into a Jordyn Brooks Jersey playoff quarterback. Oakland: So much for some late-season hope for the future. How does a team coming off suffer ? The showed no fight against the , marking an absolute low point of a terrible campaign. Oakland might have young building blocks in place, but this is a franchise at its nadir. Any team that calls Quandre Diggs Jersey MetLife Stadium home: It didn't look po sible to play worse than the did -- until to a one-win team. Before those two games, I wasn't convinced or would lose their respective jobs. Now I'm not sure either can survive. Against Buffalo, the appeared to be completely unprepared, despite coming off a bye week and. As for the , there have been subtle signals of hope for the future -- -- but over the past month, they've shown a disturbing inability to adjust in the second half of games. Can either group find a better coach than Ryan or Coughlin? Perhaps not. But when teams regre s this dramatically, it's hard not to think a change might be needed anyway.Teams at a turning point Cleveland: Though it's not the ideal time for a quarterback controversy, coach is facing the most delicate decision of his first year. has gotten the to 7-5, which has them in a three-way tie for second place in the AFC North and . But over his past four games, Hoyer has thrown one touchdown and six interceptions, and he's completed just 53 percent of his pa ses. Rookie when Hoyer was benched . This feels like a changing-of-the-guard moment, with Hoyer having seemingly crashed into his ceiling. While Hoyer by his benching, the real surprise should be that he held off Manziel this long -- a surprise that would be topped only if Pettine were to go back to Hoyer now. Washington:. has been in his public a se sment of him. And when , even though looked better than Griffin, everything else was cast under the unrelenting microscope, revealing a team with problems that don't stop at the quarterback position. There are a lot of big-picture decisions ahead for a franchise that has been at a turning point repeatedly in the past decade. Is Gruden, , worthy of his post? Can anybody here a semble a well-constructed roster? And whither Griffin? The final four weeks might provide answers to some of those questions -- particularly regarding Gruden and McCoy's viability -- but that is only the beginning of what feels like another in a long line of rebuilds.The NFL's best parlor gameIt says something about that anticipation for his departure from San Francisco centers not on who the might get to replace him, what they would get if they were to "trade" him to another team, or what will become of . It's all about . With his name connected to jobs from coast to coast (, , University of Michigan, , even remaining in San Francisco), we can only hope Harbaugh's offseason movements include meetings conducted under cover of darkne s, .The wild cards Atlanta: The 5-7 lead the NFC South. If they win the division, . Lose it, and coach probably gets fired. Considering the circumstances, Smith could be Marquise Blair Jersey fired even if he does make the playoffs. New Orleans: The are also 5-7 in the NFC South, with closing schedule . If New Orleans wins the division, somebody will have to play them in one of the NFL's most intimidating settings, even if the just lost three in a row at home. If they fail to win the lowly division, one could envision big changes in the Big Easy.Final auditions JoePhilbin: The are undoubtedly improved and free of the off-the-field controversies that marked them last year. But if they lose to inferior teams down the stretch (they play the once and the twice ) to mi s the playoffs again, as they did in 2013, will owner Stephen Ro s, who once coveted Harbaugh, stick with Philbin? Dan Quinn: The ' defensive coordinator is a prime head-coaching candidate. Now that the ' defense is back on top of the league and the team is again in control of its fortunes in the NFC West, the final month -- and perhaps beyond -- might provide the top line on Quinn's rsum. Rob Ryan: His Al Woods Jersey New Orleans defense has been at or near the bottom of the league all season. Does a playoff appearance save Ryan's job? MarkSanchez: The jettisoned quarterback will be a free agent this offseason, and if he continues his unexpected career renai sance with 's -- Sanchez is still not a great thrower, but he was mostly mistake-free -- he could pump up his value, either in Philly's eyes or on the open market.Follow Judy Battista on Twitter .