NFL schedule and results: Complete coverage of Week 17

In his letter to Suh, NFL Vice President of Football Operations Merton Hanks wrote, “You did not respond in the manner of someone who had lost his balance and accidentally contacted another player who was lying on the ground. This illegal contact, specifically the second step and push off with your left foot, clearly could have been avoided.” Hanks added “you unnecessarily stepped on your opponent’s unprotected leg as he lay on the ground unable to protect himself.”

Suh is expected to appeal the suspension on Tuesday.

LANDOVER, MD -- It has taken Jerry Jones 26 NFL seasons to reach a conclusion he believes might fit all 12 teams that have earned postseason entry. The way Jones sees it, sometimes when you “zig,” you should have “zagged.”

Sometimes when you think you are good, you are not good at all.

Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis eventually came over and separated the two.

“You have to ask him about that,” Tomlin said. “He was talking about some he-said, she-said type of a deal. I don’t know what he was talking about.

By Eric Sollenberger

The stupidity of Garrett’s decision to leave starters in, aside, it speaks to the mentality that this Cowboys team has carried with them. Picked by many to bring up the rear in the NFC East, they have played incredibly physical football, most visibly in their dominance at the line of scrimmage. The game on Sunday game was no different. The Cowboys’ O-line bullied their way to a 6.7 yards per carry average while giving up only one sack.

“He’s done numerous things for me, not only as a quarterback, but as a person,” Kaepernick said. “I think he’s not only a great coach, but a great person and that’s what he preaches to the team. Go out, give everything you have to your team, but make sure you’re taking care of your family and you’re taking care of your teammates and those are the things that are important.”

“I think it was huge,” Kaepernick said. “A lot of us have been with coach Harbaugh since he’s been here. And the players that were here before him saw how he turned things around and turned this organization back into a winning one. It’s tough to let that go, but at the same time, we have to keep moving forward as players because our careers keep going on.”

The Baltimore Ravens are going back to the playoffs. Joe Flacco and Co. scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Cleveland Browns. Their win, along with a San Diego Chargers’ loss to the Chiefs, clinched the sixth and final spot in the AFC playoff seeding for the Ravens.

Elsewhere, the Dallas Cowboys pulled off a big win over Washington. Dallas’ already had a playoff berth locked up, but the win gives them a perfect 8-0 record on the road this season. Two of the last three teams to do that (2007 Patriots and the 1989 49ers) the made it all the way to Super Bowl.

Seattle’s win means the road to the Super Bowl once again goes through the Emerald City. The Seahawks secured the top seed in the NFC and home-field throughout the playoffs. The Packers are returning to the playoffs after missing out last year, with the second seed.

Below is the final AFC and NFC seeding order.

1. The Steelers’ OL could be the key to playoff success.

2. Which Andy Dalton will show up in the playoffs?

The NFL has announced the full schedule for the wild card and divisional round of the 2015 NFL Playoffs, following a packed Week 17 to conclude the regular season.

Here’s a look at the schedule and bracket:

Green walked off the field under his own power. He is questionable to return after going to the locker room to be examined for a head injury.

Punters are people too, they’re just not quarterbacks.

The Steelers running back has struggled to stay healthy during his first two seasons in the NFL. He missed what should have been the first three games of his 2013 rookie season with a Lisfranc injury.

Bell suffered the injury after taking a hit to his knee in the third quarter.

His departure has sparked a wide range of emotions. Players shared positive feelings about their former head coach, but 49ers fans were more bittersweet. Below is a sampling of some of those thoughts. There are sure to be many more in the coming hours and days.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick:

“I can still play this game,” Gore said, “and I want to be back here.”

After Sunday’s game, Harbaugh announced that he and the 49ers would “mutually part ways.” Gore spent four seasons with Harbaugh, who made the running back a focal point of his offense. Gore finished among the top 10 players in the NFL in rushing every season of the Harbaugh era. A late-season surged this year propelled him to No. 8 in the league in rushing.

Ball So Hard University has an excellent Scoreboard Watching department.

For the Patriots, a trip to the Super Bowl would be the sixth since 2002 and second appearance in the past four seasons, while the Seahawks will look to become the first back-to-back NFL champions since the Patriots earned victories in Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX in 2004-05.

Buddy Ron is the perfect symbol for winning the NFC South and cementing his place in the storied lore of great happy thumbs up. Ron now joins such luminaries as:

And ...

Rodgers had left Sunday’s game near the end of the first half with a calf injury, only to return.

Wait ... is Earl Thomas actually Chuck Norris? This is pretty irrefutable evidence. Or maybe this is more Daniel-san, which would make Pete Carroll Mr. Miyagi, which is perfect.

How the heck did this happen? You can watch this 1,000 times and still struggle to discern how the tight end had the ball right in his hands and it somehow materialized to a waiting Bruce Irvin. This is some next-level Harry Houdini stuff.

Here it is from another angle.

Tre Boston ran back a 84-yard pick six, the Panthers’ second of the day vs. Matt Ryan, and Josh Norman wanted in on the party in the end zone. Unfortunately, Boston moved at the last second:

Norman might’ve just been jumping for fun, but it sure looks like he was hoping for a catch and timed this all wrong.

There are three good reasons pulling this beard is important to Aaron Rodgers.

- It’s a beard that brings him luck.

The Chiefs threw 18 touchdown passes this season. Not a single one was caught by a wide receiver.

Given that Kansas City operates a conservative passing game geared toward getting the ball to running backs and tight ends, it’s not shocking that the wide receiver corps didn’t post big numbers -- only two of the team’s top six receivers were wideouts. But zero touchdowns?

McCoy left the game after rushing for 99 yards on 17 carries. The effort was the biggest part of a collective Eagles pounding on the ground. The Eagles racked up 163 yards rushing up to the two-minute warning against the Giants. As a unit, the Eagles’ offense has 425 yards of total offense on the day.

McCoy went over 1,300 yards rushing on the season Sunday. He has five careers seasons with at least 1,080 yards rushing.