The first weekend of the new millennium provided football fans with many thrilling moments that were pivotal in sorting out the playoff races.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers wrapped up their first NFC Central championship since 1981 with a 20-6 win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Much had been made of the Bucs' aversion to playing in cold weather, so imagine the delight of Tony Dungy and the organization when they woke up in the Windy City on Sunday morning to find a delightful partly sunny 54-degree day in January greeting them.
The race in the NFC was so tight among four teams that it looked likely that net conference points would prove to be the deciding tiebreaker. With both teams cruising toward easy wins on the final Sunday of the season, Green Bay and Carolina engaged in a pass-happy shootout to improve their standing in net conference points, despite the fact that they were playing different opponents in stadiums 747 miles apart. The back-and-forth battle between the Packers and Panthers was thrilling to watch, especially when you saw the reactions of players on each team every time they scored to move back ahead in the tiebreaking scenario.
The theatrics that these two teams provided ended up being meaningless when the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants 26-18 to clinch the final playoff spot in the NFC.
The Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs staged a great down-to-the-wire battle in Arrowhead Stadium, with the Raiders coming back from a 17-0 deficit to break the hearts of their archrivals and keep them out of the AFC playoffs as well.
| Week 17 NFL Recap |
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| Packers 49 (8-8), Cardinals 24 (6-10)
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| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
56: Combined first downs by the Cardinals (30) and Packers (26) who also totalled 939 yards of total offense.
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| Player of the Game |
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Dorsey Levens, RB, Green Bay: Ran for a career-high four touchdowns, and finished with 146 yards on 24 carries. |
| Breakdown |
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The Packers picked a good time to post their season high in points, since they were essentially in a scoring contest with the Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon. But the New York Giants made all of that moot by falling to the Dallas Cowboys 26-18 in a late-afternoon game at Texas Stadium. Green Bay will be home for the playoffs for the first time since 1992, which was Mike Holmgren's first season as head coach of the Packers. Brett Favre completed 21-of-34 for 311 yards and two touchdowns, but he finished the season with 22 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.
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| Buccaneers 20 (11-5),
Bears 6 (6-10)
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| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
36:44: Time of possession by the Buccaneers, who more than doubled the Bears' rushing output, finishing with 143 yards on the ground to 71 for Chicago.
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| Player of the Game |
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Jacquez Green, WR, Tampa Bay: Caught a career-high 10 passes for 113 yards. |
| Breakdown |
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Tampa Bay clinched its first division title since 1981 with another solid defensive effort. The Buccaneers held Chicago to 257 yards of total offense, and didn't allow the Bears to convert any third-down situations, stopping them on all 12 third-down tries. Jacquez Green led Tampa Bay's offensive charge by reeling in 10 of Shaun King's 18 completions on the afternoon. Warrick Dunn ran for 80 yards on 16 carries, his second-highest rushing total of the season. The Buccaneers will have a bye in the first round of the playoffs next week, which will give them a chance to rest up after a tough end-of-the-season push for the division crown. |
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| Vikings 24 (10-6), Lions 17 (8-8) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
16: Yards rushing by the Lions on 14 carries. |
| Player of the Game |
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Randy Moss, WR, Minnesota: Caught five passes for 155 yards and a touchdown, to finish the season with 80 catches for 1,413 yards and 11 touchdowns.
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| Breakdown |
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Minnesota handed Detroit its fourth straight loss with a great defensive effort that knocked Charlie Batch out of the game in the second quarter. The Vikings recorded seven quarterback sacks, and forced two turnovers while keeping the Lions to 302 total yards. The Vikings will be the fourth seed in the NFC playoffs as the top wild-card qualifier, and the Cowboys will travel to the Metrodome to face Minnesota in the early game on Sunday afternoon.
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| Raiders 41 (8-8), Chiefs 38 (9-7) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
150: Combined points scored the Raiders and Chiefs in their two meetings this season. |
| Player of the Game |
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Joe Nedney, K, Oakland: Kicked a clutch 38-yard field goal with under a minute to play, and then hit the game winner in overtime to spoil the Chiefs' playoff dreams.
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| Breakdown |
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Kansas City's playoff hopes were dashed by a scenario that was surprisingly reminicent of the matchup between the two teams six weeks ago in Oakland on Nov. 28. Michael Husted of the Raiders missed the potential game winner, and Pete Stoyanovich came back to win it for the Chiefs on the final play of the game. On Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, Joe Nedney of the Raiders tied the game in the final minute, but Stoyanovich missed what would've been the game-winning kick at the final gun, allowing Nedney to boot the winner from 33 yards out in overtime.
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| Patriots 20 (8-8), Ravens 3 (8-8) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
162: Yards by which the Ravens (313) outgained the Patriots (151). |
| Player of the Game |
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Lawyer Milloy, SS, New England: Had 11 total tackles, picked off a pass, recorded a sack and defended two other passes in the game.
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| Breakdown |
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The Patriots played their best game in what was a very disappointing second half of their season. New England finished with seven quarterback sacks and forced four turnovers, including a 23-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Chad Eaton in the third quarter that provided the final margin. Drew Bledsoe threw for only 105 yards and one touchdown, but the offense wasn't needed on a day where the defense was so opportunistic in turning Baltimore mistakes into points.
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| Eagles 38 (5-11), Rams 31 (13-3) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
2,429: Single-season record yards from scrimmage by Marshall Faulk this season, breaking Barry Sanders' record of 2,358 set in 1997. |
| Player of the Game |
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Mike Mamula, DE, Philadelphia: Led the strong defensive effort by the Eagles with five total tackles, one sack, and an interception that he returned 41 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
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| Breakdown |
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St. Louis didn't really have much to play for except for individual offensive records, having wrapped up home-field advantage for the NFC playoffs a few weeks ago. Kurt Warner became only the second quarterback ever to throw for more than 40 touchdown passes in a season, as his two touchdown passes gave him 41 for the season. Torry Holt caught five passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns to finish his impressive rookie season with 52 grabs for 788 yards and six touchdowns. St. Louis will be off next week for the first round of the playoffs, and they will await the lowest-remaining seed in the NFC at the TWA Dome on Sunday, January 16.
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| Jets 19 (8-8), Seahawks 9 (9-7) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
6,550: Rushing total for Curtis Martin in his first five seasons in the NFL. |
| Player of the Game |
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Curtis Martin, RB, New York: Carried 34 times for 158 yards and a touchdown.
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| Breakdown |
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The Jets have played arguably the best football in the league since getting off to a 1-6 start, and they closed out their season by nearly spoiling the playoff hopes of yet another AFC foe. The Seahawks ended up winning the division when the Chiefs blew a 17-point lead against the Raiders, but the Jets did their part to try to keep Seattle out of the playoffs. Jon Kitna struggled at quarterback for Seattle, throwing two interceptions and completing only 21-of-45 passes for 237 yards. Ray Lucas threw two interceptions, but the running game picked up the slack for his struggles throwing the football.
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| Bills 31 (11-5), Colts 6 (13-3) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
1,553: League-leading rushing total by Colts rookie running back Edgerrin James this season. |
| Player of the Game |
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Rob Johnson, QB, Buffalo: High-priced backup played well in his first start of the season, throwing for 287 yards and two touchdowns, while completing 75 percent of his passes.
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| Breakdown |
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Indianapolis looked very sluggish in dropping its first game since a 34-31 loss to Miami on Oct. 10. Buffalo rolled up 419 yards of total offense against the Colts, and held Indianapolis' talented young offense to 226 yards and a season-low six points. Indianapolis has a week off before hosting the highest-remaining seed of the two wild-card winners at the RCA Dome on Sunday, Jan. 16. The Bills travel to Nashville to face the 13-3 Titans in the early game on Saturday afternoon, in what should be an intriguing matchup between two wild-card teams who combined for 24 wins.
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| Jaguars 24 (14-2), Bengals 7 (4-12) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
2,527: Combined receiving yards by Jaguars wideouts Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell this season. |
| Player of the Game |
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Jay Fiedler, QB, Jacksonville: Threw for 317 yards and one touchdown in his first career start, while completing 71.8 percent of his passes.
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| Breakdown |
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Jacksonville clinched home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with the win, and will have a first-round bye next weekend, before hosting the lowest-remaining seed between the two wild-card winners at Alltel Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 15. Jimmy Smith caught 14 passes for 165 yards to give him a league-high 116 catches for 1,636 yards for the season. Fred Taylor got the job done for the Jaguars on the ground too, carrying 22 times for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
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| Panthers 45 (8-8), Saints 13 (3-13) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
12: Touchdown catches by Carolina's Wesley Walls, tying an NFL single-season record for touchdowns by a tight end. |
| Player of the Game |
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Steve Beuerlein, QB, Carolina: Completed only 21-of-42 passes for 322 yards and five touchdowns, finishing his career-best season with 4,436 yards and 36 touchdown passes.
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| Breakdown |
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Carolina did its best to hang in the playoff race despite slim possibilities. The Panthers needed to rout New Orleans and have the Giants tie the Cowboys, but New York didn't follow through on its half of the bargain, knocking the Panthers out of the playoffs despite their heroic last-ditch offensive outburst. Patrick Jeffers caught seven passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns to finish the season with 63 catches for 1,082 yards and 12 touchdowns. Kevin Greene had two more sacks to finish with 12 for the season, marking the eighth time in his 15-year career that he has finished with 12 or more sacks in a season.
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| Chargers 12 (8-8), Broncos 6 (6-10) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
5.7: Average yards per carry by the Chargers. |
| Player of the Game |
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Jermaine Fazande, WR, San Diego: More than doubled his previous career rushing total, as he gained 183 yards and one touchdown on 30 carries on Sunday.
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| Breakdown |
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San Diego had a strong finish to its season, winning four of its last five games, after dropping six straight during the middle part of the season. The lone bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season for Denver was the play of rookie running back Olandis Gary. His 38 yards on Sunday pushed him past Bobby Humphrey's 1988 mark into first place on the Broncos' all-time single-season rookie rushing list.
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| Cowboys 26 (8-8), Giants 18 (7-9) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
1,397: Season rushing yards for Emmitt Smith, upping his career total to 13,963 yards. |
| Player of the Game |
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Troy Aikman, QB, Dallas: Completed 23-of-32 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.
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| Breakdown |
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Dallas played its way into the playoffs by jumping out to a 16-0 halftime lead on the Giants, and the hanging on late as New York tried to mount a comeback. Jason Tucker continued to emerge as a deep threat for Dallas, catching four balls for 122 yards, including a 90-yard touchdown from Troy Aikman in the third quarter. The Cowboys face a tough test in the playoffs, as they are matched up against the 10-6 Vikings at the Metrodome in the early game on Sunday. Minnesota beat Dallas 27-17 on Nov. 8 in Minneapolis, thanks to two touchdown catches from Randy Moss and one from Cris Carter.
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| Redskins 21 (10-6), Dolphins 10 (9-7) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
61,361: Career passing yards by Dan Marino, whose career will be extended by at least one week with the Dolphins now in the playoffs as the AFC's sixth seed. |
| Player of the Game |
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Rodney Peete, QB, Washington: Completed 6-of-9 passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns.
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| Breakdown |
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Washington pulled most of its starters in the first half, letting the backups get some work against a Dolphins team that played uninspired football. Miami knew prior to kickoff that it had made the playoffs already, so the Dolphins had little to play for as well. The Redskins host the 8-8 Lions in the late afternoon wild-card game on Saturday. Miami travels to Seattle in the late afternoon game on Sunday, to face a Seattle team that has been struggling just as much as the Dolphins have been. Miami has now lost six of its last eight games, while Seattle has dropped five of its last six.
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| Titans 47 (13-3), Steelers 36 (6-10) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
139: Points scored by the Titans during their four-game winning streak. |
| Player of the Game |
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Frank Wycheck, TE, Tennessee: Caught five passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns.
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| Breakdown |
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Tennessee blew the game open with 24 points in the second quarter, and then rested its starters for most of the second half. Rodney Thomas ran for 95 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries after replacing Eddie George. Steve McNair tuned up for the postseason by completing 9-of-11 passes for 107 yards and a score before taking a seat in favor of Neil O'Donnell. The Titans host the 11-5 Buffalo Bills in the early wild-card game on Saturday in what should be an intriguing matchup. The Titans have the most wins ever for a wild-card team, and Nashville should be crazy as the city hosts its first ever NFL playoff game.
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| Falcons 34 (5-11), 49ers 29 (4-12) |
| Review |
Key Stat |
Game Summary and
Game Recap |
163: Difference in total yards gained between the 49ers (506) and the Falcons (343). |
| Player of the Game |
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Jerry Rice, WR, San Francisco. Dominated his favorite career opponent by catching six passes for 143 yards, raising his lifetime totals against Atlanta to 166 catches for 2,641 yards and 25 touchdowns in 27 career games.
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| Breakdown |
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The 49ers and Falcons played an exciting game for two teams that could've just shown up to play out the final game on the regular-season schedule. Tim Dwight was superb in all aspects of the game for Atlanta, catching seven passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns, and also running back a punt for 70 yards for a score. But Dwight was upstaged on Monday night by Rice, who showed the 49ers that he can still have the occassional big game, despite his 15 years in the league. J.J. Stokes caught five passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, giving him season highs in both of those categories in the final game of the year.
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