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The Colts' season-ending loss to the Jaguars in Week 18 has cast a shadow on Indy's season. Around the NFL. Grant Gordon NFL. All three games will be divisional tilts with playoff implications. Saturday, Jan. Kansas City at Denver, p. Pittsburgh at Baltimore, 1 p. CBS Cincinnati at Cleveland, 1 p. FOX Tennessee at Houston, 1 p. CBS Indianapolis at Jacksonville, 1 p.

CBS Chicago at Minnesota, 1 p. FOX Seattle at Arizona, p. Rams, p. Plus, Dallas dominated Philadelphia. Here's what we learned from the division-winners' victories. Though Ben Roethlisberger and Baker Mayfield commanded the spotlight, it was a hard-hitting, defensive affair in which the T. With steady work from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and a whole lot from wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, the Dolphins were able to get a hard-fought win as Miami shut down New Orleans for a victory on "Monday Night Football.

The Colts and Packers took home some impressive gifts in the form of huge victories. Here's what we learned from Saturday's Christmas Day doubleheader. Having looked overmatched through the first 30 minutes, the Titans, led by Ryan Tannehill and A. Brown, came roaring back in the second half and came away with a dramatic win over the 49ers. The Raiders began Monday with a nail-biting win over the Browns, while the Vikings concluded a double dip with a victory over the rival Bears.

What We Learned Presented By. Around the NFL Staff nfl. What we learned: Saturday Sunday. Las Vegas Raiders. Los Angeles Chargers. Carr silences critics amid classic. The NFL's regular season didn't end until Monday on the East Coast when the Steelers finally learned they'd be going to the playoffs -- right along with the Raiders. There was infinite chaos, clutch performances and head-scratching moments. Despite all the grandeur of this instant classic, most will focus on the Chargers calling a timeout deep in overtime.

Were the Raiders actually playing for the tie and running out the clock? Overshadowed by all the talk of ties and timeouts is that Derek Carr has led the Raiders to the playoffs. While Sunday night was a classic, this season has been a nightmare more often than not for the Raiders. And yet Carr is set to play in his first playoff game. It's a long time coming and he had to deal with a ridiculous amount of scrutiny on the way.

It's the second time in his eight-season Raiders tenure that the franchise has gone to the playoffs, and though his play was a crucial factor in the squad advancing to the dance, he was unable to enjoy it because he sustained a broken leg in Week 16 of that season.

This time around, Carr has willed his squad along in a season overflowing with calamity and chaos. He wasn't outstanding on Sunday night, but he and his team got the result they needed. He finished with yards and two touchdowns in Sunday's triumph, which somewhat symbolized the utter disarray the Raiders have emerged from.

He ended the regular season with a franchise-record 4, yards, sitting atop a list of Silver and Black legends. For so long, Carr has produced numbers that have gone under the radar, often overlooked because the end results was that the Raiders were at home in January. Now, they're heading to Cincinnati and Carr is leading the way.

The Herbert hype is real. There are myriad reasons Sunday night's game was ridiculously entertaining and dramatic.

Justin Herbert led the way. No, the Chargers aren't going to the playoffs, but Herbert is every bit the all-star sensation regardless. Herbert threw a freaking laser beam to Mike Williams for a yard touchdown to send the game into overtime and conclude a jaw-dropping drive in which L. Herbert finished the night with yards and three touchdowns, giving him franchise records of 5, yards and 38 TDs.

The stats are stupendous, but the throws and ability to bounce back from bad plays and shrug off mistakes are truly sensational. No, the Chargers' woes continued on Sunday with another ending of devastation that's grown to be a franchise hallmark.

But there is hope with Herbert that he will shrug this off, because he has the talent and the mindset. The Chargers were down in the fourth quarter.

You would've been reading this a whole heckuva lot earlier if there was no Herbert. It would've been a blowout.

He was the catalyst for a comeback that almost was. He is the reason hope must overshadow the disappointment in this Chargers offseason. Pass rush to the Maxx. Much ado has rightfully been made about a string of Raiders draft picks who have not panned out.

Crosby was a wreaker of havoc on Sunday night, piling up six tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, three passes defended, four QB hits and a career-high 11 QB pressures, per Next Gen Stats.

Bound for his first Pro Bowl, Crosby has become a preeminent pass rusher. The Raiders have been looking for a bona fide rusher on the edge for a long time and have been shut out of the postseason for a long time, as well. It's no coincidence both have come to fruition at the same time.

Back to top. San Francisco 49ers. Los Angeles Rams. The wild NFC West will be well represented in the playoffs. The division was a popular preseason pick to produce three playoff teams, and it delivered.

It only took one of the most improbable comebacks to make it happen. The 49ers came into Sunday knowing they likely needed a win in L. The Niners' point comeback was the largest in the Kyle Shanahan era. The Rams' point blown lead was the largest in the Sean McVay era, and it snapped his game winning streak after leading at halftime the second longest run in NFL history, per Next Gen Stats.

Let the playoff games begin. The 49ers' flaws weren't fatal. There were two glaring concerns coming into the season: quarterback and cornerback. Both areas were badly exposed in different parts of the season, and even in the biggest game of the season. They were also the two biggest reasons San Francisco beat the Rams and clinched a postseason bid. Jimmy Garoppolo , playing through a busted thumb, overcame two turnovers and a ghastly first half by leading three TD drives and setting up a chip-shot field goal in overtime.

Additionally, the Niners' secondary rebounded from the roughest of starts Sunday to intercept Stafford twice and help hold the Rams to yards over their last eight possessions, with rookie corner Ambry Thomas recording the game-sealing pick in OT.

San Francisco needed all of it to claim the conference's final playoff spot. Aaron Rodgers is the heavy favorite to win MVP. He wouldn't be the wrong choice given his sustained excellence and the disproportionate impact a QB has compared to all other positions. But it's hard to say anyone played their position better in than Kupp did wide receiver.

He was a machine all season, and Sunday was no different. Kupp was virtually unguardable in the first half, helping Stafford complete 15 of his first 16 passes. With the Rams QB faltering after halftime and the offense backed up in its own territory, Kupp ran for an yard gain, hauled in a yard jump-ball to convert a third down, and pirouetted in the corner of the end zone while catching the go-ahead TD -- all on the same drive late in the fourth.

The unassuming receiver couldn't have contributed more, in the regular-season finale or the season he won the receiving triple crown , and his receptions and 1, receiving yards are the second-highest totals in league history. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Carolina Panthers. READ: Brady becomes second player with multiple 5,yard seasons. No matter the odds, Tom Brady will always give his team a good chance of victory. Tampa Bay got off to a sluggish start Sunday, falling behind and entering the second quarter trailing the Panthers.

No matter for Brady, who erased Carolina's lead before half by capitalizing on the Panthers' repeated defensive mistakes in coverage.

Brady picked apart the Panthers' Cover 2 look by firing ropes to Rob Gronkowski in the open space over the middle, racking up chunk plays on two separate touchdown drives to turn a Carolina lead into a Buccaneers advantage.

From there, it was full speed ahead, with Brady shortening his time to throw and lighting up the scoreboard, completing 29 of 37 passes for yards and three touchdowns before exiting with the game in hand. That firepower will be dangerous in the postseason, no matter the opponent.

If the Sam Darnold experience is nearing the end, at least he went out on a somewhat positive note. Darnold posted a respectable passing line, completing 29 of 42 passes for yards and two touchdowns. As is typical with Darnold, ball security was somewhat of an issue, with the QB fumbling away possession, but his interception came late in what was already a lost game. Darnold didn't appear nearly as lost as he had during a rough stretch that saw him land on injured reserve with an injury, but it also likely wasn't enough of a four-quarter example to inspire much confidence in him going forward.

The experiment failed, and it will be interesting to see how Carolina proceeds from here. Tampa Bay is deeper than you think. Gronkowski caught seven of his 10 targets for yards, Evans caught six passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns, and Brady connected with a total of eight different targets on the day. Scott Miller even got into the end zone on a yard run.

Buffalo Bills. New York Jets. Buffalo's defense flexed a lot of muscle entering the playoffs. The Buffalo defense, among the league's best in most every pertinent category, clamped down on the Jets in a way that made the outcome clear almost from the outset.

The Jets' offense didn't even cross the yard line until five minutes remained in the first half, couldn't sustain a possession longer than six plays the entire game, and finished with just 53 net yards. The pass rush was downright ferocious with nine sacks, giving Zach Wilson precious little time to find targets that usually weren't open, anyway. It didn't help that the Jets' wide receiving corps, which is nothing special to begin with, was playing short-handed. It was a mismatch, to be sure, and the Bills left no doubt about that.

The Bills overcame some ugly punting woes to knock off the Jets. Punter Matt Haack will need to clean up his form before the postseason or risk costing his team in a higher-stakes setting.

He shanked first-half punts of 21 and 23 yards to give the Jets ideal field position, one of which got New York's first touchdown drive off to a favorable start.

In the second half, he mishandled a snap and scrambled to squib a seven-yard punt on the run. He did have a beautiful yarder that pinned the Jets on their 2-yard line, but overall, it was one to forget for Haack. The Buffalo weather didn't help, but that can't be an excuse for a Bills punter in January. The Jets defense finished the season with an inspired performance. With nothing to play for but pride, credit is due to New York's stop unit for holding Buffalo to 13 points for most of the game.

The Jets D finally broke as Buffalo scored two late touchdowns, but with the Jets offense offering zero help from a time-of-possession standpoint, the Bills' late points shouldn't mar the Jets' defensive grade. As usual, LB C. Mosley was all over the field. He made 13 tackles -- 12 of them solos -- to close the season with his sixth consecutive game with double-digit stops. Kansas City is on the money line in the game, which will be played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

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