NFL Today, Week 17

SCOREBOARD

Saturday, Jan. 7

The wild-card round opens as Cincinnati is at Houston at 4:30 p.m, and Detroit visits New Orleans at 8 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 8

The wild-card round continues as Atlanta is at the Giants at 1 p.m., and Pittsburgh visits Denver at 4:30 p.m.

STARS

Passing

_ Matt Flynn, Packers, threw for franchise records 480 yards and six touchdowns, the final one to Jermichael Finley with 1:10 left, giving Green Bay a 45-41 victory over the Lions.

_ Matthew Stafford, Lions, threw for 520 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions in a 45-41 loss to Green Bay.

_ Drew Brees, Saints, passed for 389 yards and five touchdowns, and New Orleans set a slew of NFL and club records in a 45-17 blowout of the Carolina Panthers.

_ Tom Brady, Patriots, finished with 23 completions in 35 attempts for three touchdowns and one interception as New England rallied from 21 points down for a 49-21 victory.

_ Eli Manning, Giants, threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns in New York’s 31-17 win over the Cowboys.

_ Michael Vick, Eagles, threw for 335 yards and three touchdowns, including a 62-yarder to DeSean Jackson, in Philadelphia’s 34-10 victory over Washington.

_ Matt Hasselbeck, Titans, threw two touchdown passes and 297 yards as Tennessee earned its first winning record since 2008 with a 23-22 victory over the Texans.

Rushing

_ Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, ran for a season-high 169 yards, clinching the NFL rushing title in Jacksonville’s 19-13 victory over the Colts.

_ Chris Johnson, Titans, ran for 61 yards to go over 1,000 for the fourth consecutive season, and Tennessee beat Houston 23-22.

_ Ray Rice, Ravens, had 191 yards on 24 carries and set a club record with his 15th touchdown of the season, leading the Ravens to a 24-16 win over the Bengals.

_ Michael Turner, Falcons, ran for 172 yards and two touchdowns, including an 81-yard scoring run late in the first half, leading Atlanta to a 45-24 win over the Tampa Bay.

_ Julio Jones, Falcons, caught two touchdown passes in a span of 26 seconds and Atlanta cruised to a 45-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Receiving

_ Victor Cruz, Giants, caught six passes for 178 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown pass in New York’s 31-17 win over the Cowboys.

_ Marques Colston, Saints, caught seven passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns in New Orleans’ 45-17 victory over Carolina.

_ Jordy Nelson, Packers, had nine catches for 162 yards and three touchdowns for Green Bay in a 45-41 victory over Detroit.

_ Calvin Johnson, Lions, had 11 catches for 244 yards and a touchdown in Detroit’s 45-41 loss to Green Bay.

_ Rob Gronkowski, Patriots, gained 108 yards on eight catches with two TDs as the Patroits beat the Bills 49-21.

_ Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals, caught nine passes for 149 yards in a 23-20 overtime win against Seattle.

Special Teams

_ Rob Bironas, Titans, kicked three field goals in a 23-22 victory over Houston.

_ Richard Goodman, Chargers, returned a kickoff 105 yards for a score as San Diego ended Oakland’s playoff hopes by beating the Raiders 38-26.

Defense

_ Charles Tillman, Bears, gave Chicago the lead for good with an interception return for a TD in the second quarter of a 17-13 victory over the Vikings.

_ Jared Allen, Vikings, had 3 1/2 sacks in a 17-13 loss to Chicago. Allen finished the season with 22 sacks, behind Michael Strahan’s mark of 22 1/2 for the New York Giants in 2001.

_ Tarell Brown, 49ers, had a pair of interceptions that led to touchdowns in a 34-27 victory over the Rams.

PLAYOFF PICTURE

Denver lost to Kansas City 7-3, but the Broncos celebrated the end to their six-year playoff drought once San Diego beat Oakland 38-26 later Sunday. The Broncos won their first division title since 2005 on a tiebreaker.

RECORDS

The Saints set several NFL single-season records, including offensive yards with 7,474, team yards passing with 5,347 and first downs with 416. … Drew Brees finished with a record 468 completions this season, breaking Peyton Manning’s 2010 mark of 450. He finished the season completing 71.6 percent of his passes, breaking his own 2009 NFL record 70.6 completion percentage. Brees finished the season with 5,476 yards, a single-season record. New England’s Tom Brady finished the regular season with the second most yards, 5,235. Brees also surpassed 300 yards passing for the seventh straight game and 13th time this season, both NFL records he already held. … Darren Sproles had an NFL record 2,969 combined yards, easily breaking the previous mark of 2,690, set by Derrick Mason with Tennessee in 2000. … Minnesota dropped to 3-13 with a 17-13 loss to Chicago, matching the worst record in franchise history, set first in 1984. … Rob Bironas made a 43-yard field goal for the Titans, extending his own NFL record by kicking a field goal of 40 yards or longer for the 10th consecutive game. … New England’s Rob Gronkowski set the single-season record for tight ends with 1,327 yards receiving after gaining 108 on eight catches. That broke the mark of 1,310 set earlier Sunday by Jimmy Graham of the Saints. The previous mark of 1,290 was set in 1980 by Kellen Winslow of the San Diego Chargers. … The Raiders set single-season records for penalties and yards penalized by committing eight for 64 yards. That gave them 163 for 1,358 yards, surpassing the totals of 158 for 1,304 set by the 1998 Chiefs.

AIR IT OUT

Detroit’s Matthew Stafford threw for 520 yards and five TDs and his opponent, Green Bay backup Matt Flynn, passed for 480 yards with six touchdowns in the Packers’ 45-41 victory over the Lions, becoming the first pair of opposing quarterbacks to throw from more than 400-plus yards and five-plus touchdowns in an NFL game, according to STATS LLC.

MILESTONES

Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew ran for a season-high 169 yards, clinching the NFL rushing title and breaking Fred Taylor’s single-season franchise record. … Tennessee’s Chris Johnson ran for 61 yards to go over 1,000 for the fourth consecutive season. … New Orleans receiver Marques Colston broke the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth time in his six pro seasons. … Patriots coach Bill Belichick became the only coach in NFL history with at least 13 regular-season wins in five different seasons. … 49ers new coach Jim Harbaugh is just the fourth rookie head coach to win 13 games and third by the 49ers, topped by George Seifert’s 14-2 showing in 1989. … Roddy White passed Terance Mathis for the most yards receiving with the Falcons. Mathis had 7,349 yards from 1994-2001. White began Sunday 44 yards behind Mathis and set the mark in the third quarter. He finished with 69 yards Sunday. … Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward had five catches and became the eighth player in NFL history to reach 1,000 career catches. Ward and Hall of Famer Jerry Rice are the only players with 1,000 receptions and more than one Super Bowl win.

WELCOME BACK

The 36-year-old Jake Delhomme, signed by the Texans Nov. 29 in the wake of season-ending injuries to starter Matt Schaub and backup Matt Leinart, saw his first NFL action since December 2010. He completed 18 of 28 passes for 211 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown pass for Houston in a 23-22 loss to Tennessee.

TOP PICK

With a 19-13 loss to Jacksonville, the Indianapolis Colts (2-14) locked up the top pick in April’s NFL draft, setting the stage to select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. … The Rams (2-14) will have the second pick because of tiebreaker based on opponents’ strength of schedule. … By losing to Chicago, the Minnesota Vikings (3-13) ensured themselves the third slot in the first round of the draft.

STATS

The Jets gave up six third-down conversions during the Miami’s 21-play, 94-yard drive for their only touchdown in a 19-17 loss to the Dolphins. … The Jets gave up 126 points off turnovers this year, the most in the NFL. … The Eagles set a franchise record for total yards with 6,386 but missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007. … Philadelphia’s Michael Vick threw for 335 yards, becoming the second player to have consecutive seasons with 3,000 yards passing and 500 yards rushing. … The Saints had a franchise record 617 yards of total offense in a 45-17 victory over the Panthers. … The New England Patroits set the NFL record for most yards passing allowed, 4,727. The previous mark of 4,541 was set by the Atlanta Falcons in 1995.

STREAKS

The Patriots (13-3) rallied to beat Buffalo 49-21, and finished the season with eight straight wins. … Houston will head into its first postseason on a three-game losing streak. … Arizona (8-8) finished the season 7-2 after a six-game losing streak left it 1-6.

SIDELINED

Rashard Mendenhall was hurt on the final play of the first quarter, when he went down after a 5-yard gain and immediately grabbed his right knee. Mendenhall walked slowly to the sideline, slapping hands with some teammates on his way to the bench. He didn’t return. After the game, Mendenhall left the stadium on crutches. … Denver lost two offensive starters in the first half of its 7-3 loss to Kansas City when right guard Chris Kuper broke his left leg and fullback Spencer Larsen hurt a knee.

SAY GOODBYE

NFL active sacks leader Jason Taylor, played his final game after 15 seasons. His Dolphins teammates carried him off the field after their 19-17 win over the Jets.

SPEAKING

“It’s obviously a little bittersweet right now. We would have loved to have won that game to have a little momentum going into the playoffs. But I think it’s still a special thing what we accomplished, to come back and win the AFC West is very special.” _ Tim Tebow said after the Broncos made the playoffs despite losing to Kansas City 7-3.