EAST OF EDEN
Eagles beat down Dallas to gain control of division
THE Giants’ season finale Sunday against the Eagles will help determine the winner of the NFC East. Philadelphia (8-7) seized the inside track on that postseason berth with a tight 17-9 home victory over fading Dallas, giving the Eagles a chance to clinch their second division title in three seasons in Week 17 at MetLife Stadium.
“We are built for this moment,” Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz said. “Play with so much confidence, so much swagger, that everyone in the stadium can feel you. That playoff atmosphere, you can’t beat it.”
Beleaguered coach Jason Garrett and the Cowboys (7-8) have dropped four of their last five games following a 6-4 start. They must defeat Washington in their regular-season finale, and hope the Eagles lose to the Giants, to take the East with a .500 record.
“We all expected to leave here as NFC East champions. We’re not,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
“We all have to own it,” Garrett added. “Unfortunately, we don’t control our destiny anymore. But we control our opportunity next week at Washington.”
Wentz completed 31 of 40 for 319 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dallas Goedert in the first quarter.
Dak Prescott, playing with a sore shoulder and damaged finger on his throwing hand, finished 25-for-44 for 265 yards. But his fourth-downwn pass intended for Michael Gallup was brokenen up by Eagles cornerback Sidney Jones in thehe final minute.
“I had an opportunity,” Prescott said. “I justst didn’t make the play.”
STILL HOT IN CLEVELAND
The Ravens clinched home-field advantagee throughout the AFC playoffs with their 11thh consecutive victory, a 31-15 win over Cleveland.d.
Lamar Jackson threw three touchdown passes, giving him 36 for the season to break
Vinny Testaverde’s franchise record. Thee MVP front-runner also ran for 103 yards too extend his NFL rushing record for quarter-backs (1,206).
“It feels good. The players deserve a tremendous amount of credit for it,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said after his team improved to 13-2. “It’s hard to win any game in the NFL. When you put together this kind of season, it’s quite an accomplishment.”
Another “Hot in Cleveland” reference continues to be the Browns’ sideline, where former Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. became the latest Cleveland player to get into a heated exchange with coach Freddie
Kitchens.
After the Browns (6-9) were eliminated from the playoffs for a 17th consecutive season, both OBJ and Kitchens insisted that the jawing was about the officiating and not directed at each other.
“We were just talking,” said Beckham, who flung his helmet at the Cleveland bench as he came off the field. “[It was] the refs making calls.
“Basically, they were warning me that if I had one more personal foul, then I would be out of the game, which I thought was pretty stupid. I got a personal foul for a celebration I’ve done all year. It’s not like a player was in front of me or anybody was. It was very unintentional. It is what it is.”
AFC PLAYOFF PICTURE
Despite a 38-28 home loss to New Orleans, the Steelers’ loss to the Jets means Tennessee (8-7) still can clinch the second wild-card berth in the AFC with a win Sunday at Houston. Pittsburgh (8-7) would secure that spot with a win over the Ravens — who could be resting players with their seeding locked in — and a Tennessee loss.
The Raiders still remain barely alive for a wild-card berth following their 24-17 victory over the Chargers, although Oakland (7-8) still needs plenty of help to qualify.
In addition to defeating the Broncos on the road, the Raiders also obviously would need both Pittsburgh and Ten
nessee to lose againg — pplus the
Colts to defeat Jacksonville and Cleveland to down Cincinnati to clinch amid a four-way tiebreaker scenario at 8-8. New England (12-3) can clinch the No. 2 seed in the AFC with a Week 17 win against Miami or a loss by the Chiefs in their last game against the Chargers after Kansas City (11-4) took care of Chicago, 26-3, Sunday night.
NFC PLAYOFF PICTURE
The league has flexed the 49ers-Seahawks clash in Week 17 to Sunday night, and the game will determine the winner of the NFC West, with the loser slipping to the No. 5 or No. 6 seed for the postseason. Seattle’s costly 27-13 loss to Arizona dropped Pete Carroll’s team (11-4) one game behind San Francisco — and likely cost the Seahawks a shot at the NFC’s top seed — but a victory over the Niners still would give them the division title. The Cardinals led 20-7 early in the third quarter, before Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray left with a hamstring injury.
THE NEW STANDARD
Michael Thomas eclipsed Marvin Harrison’s record for receptions in one season as New Orleans also moved to 12-3 with its win at Tennessee. Thomas hauled in 12 catches for 136 yards and a late 2-yard touchdown to give him 145 receptions with one week remaining, two more than Harrison amassed for the Colts in 2002. “We’re trying to play and go to a championship right now,” Thomas said. “At the end of the season, we’ll look up and see all the things we accomplished. But right now, we’re focused on one common goal, and that’s a championship.” The NFC South champs still have a shot at the No. 1 seed with a Week 17 win at Carolina, a loss by San Francisco to Seattle and one loss by Green Bay (11-3) either Monday night against Minnesota (10-4) or Sunday against Detroit.
TANKS FOR NOTHING
Cincinnati overcame a 35-12 deficit in the fourth quarter with two
Andy Dalton touchdown passes and two-point conversions in the final minute of regulation, before Miami pulled out a 38-35 win on Jason
Sanders’ 37-yard field goal as time expired in overtime. Dalton finished with 396 passing yards and four touchdown passes — two to Tyler Boyd — but the Bengals fell to 1-14 and clinched the first overall pick in the draft. Ryan Fitzpatrick also had four TD throws, including one to defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, with 419 passing yards for the Dolphins (4-11).
THE HURT LOCKER
Ravens running back Mark Ingram left Sunday’s game with a calf injury and will undergo an MRI exam Monday. Reporters in Cleveland noted the former Heisman Trophy winner was seen wearing a protective boot after the game. Another former Heisman winner, Titans running back Derrick Henry was inactive against the Saints with a hamstring injury. Panthers wide receiver D.J. Moore and Colts guard
Quenton Nelson suffered concussions. Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins (ankle) and Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph (shoulder) were injured against the Giants and Jets, respectively.
POST PATTERNS
Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey joined Thomas in setting a single-season receiving record, eclipsing the mark he set last season for running backs. His 15 catches for 119 yards in Carolina’s 38-6 loss to Indianapolis boosted his season total to 109, two more than his 2018 total. McCaffrey needs 67 receiving yards next week against New Orleans to join Roger Craig (1985) and Marshall Faulk (1999) as the only backs in NFL history with at least 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in one season. … Panthers quarterback Will Grier, Carolina’s third-round draft pick out of West Virginia, took over for benched Kyle Allen and threw three interceptions in his NFL debut. … Colts running back Nyheim Hines had punt returns of 84 yards and 71 yards for touchdowns for Indianapolis (7-8). … Saints running back Alvin Kamara scored his first two touchdowns since Week 3. … Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 384 yards and running back Devonta Freeman scored twice as Atlanta improved to 6-9 with a 24-12 win over Jacksonville (5-10). … Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay ran for 109 yards and one touchdown in Denver’s 27-17 win over Detroit (3-11-1). … Raiders quarterback Derek Carr completed 26 of 30 passes for 291 yards and a touchdown pass to wide receiver Hunter Renfrow in Oakland’s win over the Chargers.