NFL Football- Week 17 Review

The regular 2009 NFL season is now official and it's on to the playoffs.
The final week of the season saw the final two spots in the AFC playoff picture settled as the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets won their games to get the last spots and will be in action next weekend.
The Ravens topped the Oakland Raiders 21-13 to secure the sixth spot and will play the New England Patriots. The Jets crushed the Cincinnati Bengals, 37-0 in the Meadowlands and will play at Cincinnati next weekend in the wild card round of the playoffs.
In the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys shut out the Philadelphia Eagles 24-0 to clinch the East division with a 11-5 record. Dallas will play Philadelphia once again next week in Dallas in the opening round.
The Minnesota Vikings pounded the New York Giants, 44-7 to secure the number-two seed and a first round bye in the NFC playoffs. Quarterback Brett Favre threw for 316 yards and four touchdowns in the rout.
The Green Bay Packers (11-5) finished the regular season on a high note with a 33-7 thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals, whom they will face once again next weekend in the desert.
The top seed in the NFC, the New Orleans Saints, lost their third straight game as the Carolina Panthers won 23-10 to finish their season at 8-8. New Orleans is 13-3 and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The top seed in the AFC, the Indianapolis Colts finished the year 14-2 after being pounded by the Buffalo Bills 30-7 in a blizzard at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo.
The Colts once again rested many regulars as the Bills enjoyed their biggest win of then season in what really amounted to being like a pre-season game considering the way the Colts treated it.
The New England Patriots probably wish they had taken that approach as they lost at Houston 34-27 and lost the NFL's leading wide receiver, Wes Welker, for the playoffs to a knee injury in the first quarter.
The Patriots host Baltimore next week in the wild card round.
The AFC's number-two seed, the San Diego Chargers, finished the season 13-3 and head to the playoffs riding an 11-game winning streak. The Chargers played most of the game with the backups in the game and beat the Washington Redskins, 23-20 as QB Billy Volek hit Mike Tolbert with a two-yard scoring pass with 35 seconds left in regulation.
The Redskins (4-12) fired Head Coach Jim Zorn following the final game.

OTHER GAMES ...

The Chicago Bears smashed Detroit 37-23 as QB Jay Cutler finished 2009 on a high note with four TD passes to lead the way for the Bears, who finished the season at 7-9.

Pittsburgh will not have a chance to defend it's Super Bowl crown despite beating the Miami Dolphins, 30-24 to finish the regular season at 9-7. It was the second time in four years the Steelers failed to make the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl the previous year.

Tennessee's Chris Johnson (pictured top left) set a new NFL record for total yards from scrimmage for a single season in the Titans 17-13 win at Seattle. In addition to that, Johnson also finished the 2009 season with 2,006 yards rushing to lead the league. He is only the sixth running back in NFL history to top 2,000 yards in a season.

Kansas City eliminated the Denver Broncos, who were at one time 6-0, from playoff contention with a 44-24 thumping in Denver. The Chiefs were led by Jamaal Charles, who rushed for 259 yards in the game and scored two TDs while the KC defense also scored twice on interceptions.
The Broncos finished the season at 8-8 for the second consecutive season and Head Coach Josh McDaniels can forget about Coach of the Year honors this season after seeing his team's season go up in flames once the calendar turned to November.

The Atlanta Falcons (9-7) put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history as they handled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-10 behind two TD passes from QB Matt Ryan.

The Cleveland Browns finished the 2009 season with a four-game winning streak as they won at home against Jacksonville, 23-17 to finish at 5-11. Jerome Harrison led the way once again for the Browns with 127 yards rushing and scored a touchdown to put the game away in the third quarter.

The San Francisco 49ers, led by running back Frank Gore's 107 yards rushing and two touchdowns, wound up the season at 8-8 as they pasted the St. Louis Rams, 28-6 in St. Louis. The Rams, which had the worst record in the NFL at 1-15, will have the first draft pick in April.

Now, it's on to the playoffs!