Eagles will stay home after holidays
The road to the Super Bowl in the NFC goes through Philadelphia.
Jake Elliott kicked a 48-yard field goal with 22 seconds left, and the Eagles clinched the No. 1 seed for the NFC playoffs with a sloppy 19-10 victory over the Raiders on Monday night in Philadelphia.
The Eagles (13-2) went to the Super Bowl and lost 24-21 to the Patriots the last time they had home-field advantage following the 2004 season.
They’ll need the edge after a second straight poor performance. The defense strug- gled in a 34-29 win at the Giants last week. The offense was awful against the Raiders.
“We played great team ball,” cornerback Patrick Robinson said. “The offense didn’t play as well as they have been, the defense had to step up.”
Ronald Darby intercepted Derek Carr’s pass and ran it back 52 yards with 54 seconds left, but was ruled down by contact at the spot of the pick. Nick Foles then completed four straight passes for 21 yards. After an incomplete pass, Elliott nailed his kick right down the middle.
“We have to pick up for each other,” Darby said.
Derek Barnett returned a fumble 23 yards for a touchdown after picking up a lateral on Oakland’s final play from scrimmage.
The Raiders (6-9) were a popular pick to challenge the Patriots for the AFC title. But they were eliminated from the playoff chase on Sunday.
Making his second start since MVP candidate Carson Wentz tore his left ACL, Foles had a tough time on a windy night. He was 19 of 38 for 163 yards with one TD and one interception. He had four TD passes and no picks against New York.
“I didn’t play good enough,” Foles said. “I have to play cleaner, (need) pinpoint accuracy and good decisions on third downs.”
Carr was even worse. He was 15-of-29 for 140 yards, one TD and two interceptions.
Steelers 34, Texans 6
Ben Roethlisberger threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns, and the Steelers clinched a first-round playoff bye with a win at Houston.
Roethlisberger threw passes to six players as Pittsburgh (12-3) romped over the lowly Texans (4-11) despite missing NFL leading receiver Antonio Brown, who sat out with a calf injury.
The Steelers led 20-0 at halftime.