Saints clinch home-field advantage

Eagles stay alive

PHILADELPHIA, Dec 24, (AP): Jake Elliott kicked a 35-yard field goal as time expired and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Houston Texans 32-30 Sunday to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The defending Super Bowl champions Eagles (8-7) need a win at Washington (7-8) next week and for Minnesota (8-6-1) to lose at home to Chicago (11-4) to get a wild-card berth.

The Texans (10-5) missed an opportunity to clinch the AFC South and also allowed New England (105) to take control of the No. 2 seed. But when Pittsburgh lost to New Orleans, Houston earned at least a wild-card berth.

The Texans would secure the division title with a victory against Jacksonville next week. They’d get a first-round bye with a win and if the Patriots lose or tie.

Filling in for the injured Carson Wentz for the second straight week, Nick Foles again played like the Super Bowl MVP who led Philadelphia to a victory over New England. Foles threw for a franchise-record 471 yards and four touchdowns.

Deshaun Watson had two TD passes and ran for two scores for Houston. Watson threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Vyncint Smith with 2:04 remaining as Houston rallied from a 13-point deficit.

But Foles brought Philadelphia back into position for the win.

Foles was injured on a late hit by Jadeveon Clowney while completing a 19-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery to the Texans 30 on third-and-10. Nate Sudfeld came in and threw an incomplete pass, but Foles returned on the next play. His 20-yard pass to Zach Ertz on third-and-10 put Philadelphia at the Houston 35. The Eagles ran the clock down and Elliott made the kick to make up for missing an extra point in the quarter.

Elliott

In New Orleans, Drew Brees capped a 326-yard passing performance with a 2-yard touchdown to Michael Thomas with 1:25 left, and the Saints clinched the top seed in the NFC playoffs.

Alvin Kamara gained 105 yards from scrimmage and ran for two touchdowns for New Orleans (132), which rallied for the lead after two defensive stops in the fourth quarter. New Orleans ended one Steelers drive when Kurt Coleman forced Stevan Ridley’s fumble, and ended another by narrowly thwarting a fake punt.

Ben Roethlisberger passed for 380 yards and three touchdowns for the Steelers (8-6-1), connecting 14 times with Antonio Brown for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Pittsburgh fell into second in the AFC North behind Baltimore and out of playoff position.

Pittsburgh drove into field-goal range on its final drive, but JuJu Schuster fumbled when he was stripped by defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins as the receiver landed on top of his tackler. Linebacker Demario Davis recovered.

In Foxborough, Mass, the Patriots earned their 10th straight AFC East title with Sony Michel running for 116 yards and a touchdown.

With the Eagles win over the Texans, the Patriots are back in the No. 2 spot in the AFC. A Patriots win over the Jets next week would give New England a first-round bye in the playoffs.

New England (10-5) improved to 7-0 at home this season and became the first franchise in NFL history to earn playoff berths in 10 straight seasons. It also marked the Patriots’ fifth straight win over the Bills and their 26th series sweep of Buffalo (5-10).

Brady went 13 of 24 for 126 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions – his lowest output since he passed for 123 yards in a 2003 loss

Philadelphia Eagles’ Dallas Goedert (88) pulls in a pass against Houston Texans’ Justin Reid (20) during the second half of an NFL football game on Dec 23 in Philadelphia. (AP) Seattle Seahawks running back J.D. McKissic (top left), leaps over Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Charvarius Ward (35) during the first half of an NFL

football game on Dec 23 in Seattle. (AP)

to the Bills. But with the touchdown he joined Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers with at least 10 seasons of 4,000-plus passing yards. Manning has 14 such seasons, Brees entered the day with 12 and Rivers has 10.

It was Michel’s fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season.

In Arlington, Texas, the Cowboys wrapped up the NFC East title when Dak Prescott accounted for two touchdowns and Jaylon Smith returned a fumble 69 yards for a score.

Smith’s long return came after a scrambling Jameis Winston lost the ball on a blind-side sack by Randy Gregory, who also recovered a fumble to set up a touchdown for a 14-point lead late in the third quarter.

The Cowboys (9-6) clinched the division title and their second trip to the playoffs in three years with Prescott and star running back Ezekiel Elliott a week after failing in their first chance with their first shutout loss in 15 years, 23-0 at Indianapolis.

Winston threw for 336 yards in another prolific passing game for the Buccaneers (5-10), who outgained the Cowboys 383-232 but hurt themselves with turnovers and holding penalties. Tampa Bay’s third straight loss clinched the franchise’s fifth season of at least 10 losses in the past six years, a week after the Bucs were eliminated from postseason contention.

In Seattle, Russell Wilson threw a 2-yard pass to Ed Dickson with 7:31 left for his third touchdown strike, Chris Carson rushed for two scores, and Seattle beat Kansas City to clinch an NFC wild-card berth.

Wilson got the better of Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and helped lead Seattle back to the postseason after missing the playoffs a year ago. Seattle’s has made the playoffs in seven of the nine seasons with Pete Carroll in charge, and six of seven with Wilson at quarterback.

The Seahawks (9-6) can wrap up the No. 5 seed and a matchup with Dallas by beating Arizona in Week 17.

Wilson was 18 of 29 for 271 yards, and the No. 1 running team in the NFL put the game on the arm of its quarterback in the fourth quarter.

Carson rushed for 116 yards, while Baldwin had seven catches for 126 yards and an acrobatic 27-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.

Mahomes was 23 of 40 for 273 and three TDs. He had a few of his own magical moments that will enhance his MVP candidacy. But for the second straight week the Chiefs (11-4) were unable to come through with a victory that would have wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the AFC and will go into Week 17 with the chance of being division champs for find themselves on the road for the opening weekend of the postseason.

In Glendale, Ariz, C.J. Anderson, playing five days after he was signed by Los Angeles, rushed for 167 yards – one shy of his career high.

Anderson, playing in place of the injured Todd Gurley, had a 4-yard touchdown run and other runs of 46 and 27 yards as the Rams (12-3) rushed for 269 yards, most allowed by Arizona on the ground this season.

With the victory, Los Angeles held on to the second-best record in the NFC with one game to go.

Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald, in perhaps his final home game, threw the first touchdown pass of his career, a 32-yard toss to David Johnson.

But it was the only trip to the end zone for the Cardinals (3-12), who at 1-7 had the worst record home since they moved to Arizona in 1988. A loss in their season finale at Seattle would leave them 3-13, matching the worst record since that move from St Louis.

All this leads to speculation that Steve Wilks’ rookie season in Arizona as head coach might be his last.

In Indianapolis, Andrew Luck hooked up with Chester Rogers for a 1-yard TD pass with 55 seconds left to give the Colts their only lead of the game.

Indy (9-6) has won eight of nine to keep itself in the playoff hunt heading into the regular-season finale at Tennessee. The Colts, who won their last six home games after starting 0-2, would win the AFC South with a victory over the Titans and a loss by the Houston Texans. Indianapolis would also earn a wild card if it beats Tennessee and Baltimore loses.

The Giants (5-10) lost their second straight – on a day they committed too many late miscues.

After driving to the Colts’ 7-yard line early in the fourth quarter, New York wound up settling for a 27yard field goal that kept it a onepossession game at 27-21.

Green Bay Packers running back Jamaal Williams (right), is tackled by New York Jets linebacker Neville Hewitt during the second half of an NFL football game on Dec 23 in

East Rutherford, NJ. (AP)

On the final drive, linebacker Tae Davis was called for pass interference on third-and-3 and cornerback B.W. Webb was called for it in the end zone. Eventually, Luck made the Giants pay with the easy score to Rogers.

In Detroit, Kirk Cousins threw a 44-yard Hail Mary to Kyle Rudolph as time expired in the first half to put the Vikings ahead, moving a step closer to playing in the postseason.

The Vikings could have clinched a spot in the playoffs with a win and losses by Washington and Philadelphia this weekend. The Redskins lost to Tennessee on Saturday, and shortly after Minnesota walked into its locker room at Ford Field, the Eagles beat Houston on a game-ending field goal.

Minnesota (8-6-1) can still earn a spot in the postseason by closing the regular season with a win against NFC North winner Chicago at home, or by having wild-card hopefuls lose in Week 17.

The Vikings overcame an awful start offensively, scoring two touchdowns on Cousins’ passes over the last 1:32 of the second quarter, and relied on their defense all afternoon against Detroit (5-10).

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