Wild Week Six leaves play-off race wide open

QB Matt Ryan has led the Falcons to a 6-0 start

We may be just a few hours a way from the start of Week 7 in the NFL, but I've been very busy this week so I've had to leave it late to take a look back at a wild Week 6 and analyse how an interesting spate of results have affected the race for the play-offs.

AFC

The Patriots' loss in Seattle has left every team in the AFC East locked at 3-3, and Bill Belichick's men will be hoping to improve their consistency down the stretch to ensure that they are primed for another run at what would be a fourth superbowl title.

Denver's epic comeback win over the Chargers has put them atop the AFC West. The Broncos share a 3-3 record with San Diego and with Kansas City and Oakland both struggling after posting just one win each, the two teams who have dominated the division appear set to battle it out for a place in the play-offs yet again.

Baltimore's victory over Dallas has put them two games ahead at the top of the AFC North, although their triumph came at a cost, as they lost both cornerback Lardarius Webb and linebacker Ray Lewis to injury. The Ravens look comfortable at the summit of the division, but it will be interesting to see how they cope without two of their key defensive cogs if rivals Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are able to put any kind of winning run together.

In the AFC South it is that Houston remain set for a division title despite losing their undefeated record. The Texans are already three games ahead of Indianapolis and Tennessee and it would take a major drop in form from Gary Kubiak's men to let that lead slip away in what is one of the weaker divisions in the NFL.

NFC

The Atlanta Falcons remain the premier team in the NFC, Atlanta are 6-0 following their win over the Raiders and their four game lead in the South looks to be insurmountable even at this early stage.

Meanwhile in the NFC North things are much more difficult to predict, the Chicago Bears head the division thanks to Minnesota's loss in Washington, but with Green Bay and Detroit showing improvements, the division looks like one that could be decided in the final weeks of the campaign.

The same can be said of both the NFC East and the NFC West. The New York Giants win over San Francisco put them atop of the East, but their one game lead is certainly a slender one, add in the fact that Big Blue have already lost to division rivals Philadelphia and Dallas respectively, and their superiority can certainly be considered minimal despite their impressive display against the 49ers.

The 49ers are not currently enjoying the dominance in the West that they did during the last campaign. Jim Harbaugh's men are tied with both the Seahawks and the Cardinals at 4-2, with the Rams a game behind at 3-3. San Francisco will undoubtedly be expected to win the division, but the Niners' divisional clashes with the Seattle and Arizona could prove vital if they are to secure a comfortable passage to the play-offs.

The race for the post-season is hotting up already, and with a number of divisional match-ups set for this weekend, Week 7 could prove to be another defining week in the race for the post-season.  It all gets going in a few hours as the 49ers