NFL 2015 schedule and results: Vikings roll over Giants to clinch playoff berth

By dominating the Packers on Sunday, the Cardinals clinched a first-round bye in the postseason. On top of that, they still have a shot at the top seed due to the Panthers losing in the early games on Sunday.

A Broncos loss would also give the Chiefs the lead in the AFC West. A Broncos victory would give them a spot in the postseason, however.

A handful of spots in the postseason are still up for grabs and the second-to-last Sunday of the 2015 NFL regular season will help to sort those out.

One of those spots was already claimed in Week 16 on Saturday, when Washington won the NFC East by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles and New York Giants were already eliminated in the NFC Wild Card race, but still had postseason hopes alive, thanks to the lackluster records in the NFC East.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Patriots have stomped the Jets so thoroughly in recent years -- they had won three in a row and eight of the last nine meetings -- that Jets coach Todd Bowles addressed “belief” with his players before they tangled here on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Bowles told them player for player and all across the field that they matched up with the Patriots. He told them they had become a better team since their 30-23 loss on Oct. 25th at the Patriots. He told them they had been losing to the Patriots for so long that they simply lacked belief they could beat them.

But Bowles hummed a different hymn after his team toppled the Patriots 26-20 in overtime.

Todd Gurley is having one of the best seasons of any running back in the NFL this year, regardless of age. He is still very much a rookie, however, as evidenced by his spectacular hurdle against the Seahawks ... followed by a fumble.

Brush it off, Todd. We still love watching you play.

SB Nation’s Piesman Trophy only applies to big fellas who make plays at the collegiate level, but if Cory Redding of the Arizona Cardinals was in college his fumble return for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers might have been a finalist. It had it all ...

The scoop, the rumbling, the bumbling, the stumbling, the stiff arm to lay out Eddie Lacy, and finally, a goofy touchdown celebration for the ages -- a happy skip into the end zone capped by a little bit of Ric Flair.

It started out with this ... snap? I’m not clear on the physics of how this happened, but Christine Michael’s heads up play salvaged what could’ve been a turnover.

Ayers rumbled and tumbled 46 yards for the touchdown, breaking several Seahawks’ tackle attempts along the way.

Christmas may be over already but Paul Rudd is as festive as ever on Sunday after his Kansas city Chiefs defeated the Cleveland Browns. He’s so festive, he’s looking like a formal Santa Claus in the locker room.

Now that the Chiefs have clinched a playoff spot, maybe we’ll be seeing more of Rudd. After all, he did party with the Royals when the team won the World Series this year. If we’re lucky, he might even invite us all over to his house!

The Packers had David Johnson all bottled up, until they didn’t.

What should have been a short gain quickly turned into a 44-yard pickup as most of the Packers defense was left saying, “I THOUGHT YOU HAD HIM!” to each other.

Everyone is wondering what happened during the coin toss at the end of Jets vs. Patriots, but it turns out this could be a whole big kerfuffle for nothing. After the game, Bill Belichick told the media it was his decision to kick first in overtime.

This isn’t an unprecedented move from the Patriots coach. He’s done it before -- most recently in 2013. It’s a valid tactic in strong winds or when you’re dominating the game defensively, but neither applied in this situation. There’s a chance Belichick simply overthought the situation.

New England won the toss in overtime against the Jets, meaning they had the opportunity to get the ball first in an overtime featuring modified sudden death rules. That’s good. But in a confusing turn of events, Patriots special teamer Matthew Slater told the referee the Patriots wanted to kick off.

Slater seemed quite confused with referee Clete Blakeman, asking why he wasn’t allowed to choose.

If dabbing was not dead yet, dabbing is very much dead now.

It should be illegal to dab in a suit like that. We must put a stop to this. Clearly the Falcons owner was excited about his team ending the Panthers undefeated run and wanted to have a little fun at Cam Newton’s expense, but oh man.

UPDATE: The Cardinals beat up on the Packers to secure a first round bye, and the Vikings dismantled the Giants to clinch and set up an NFC North title bout against the Packer next week. Check out the complete playoff picture heading into Sunday Night Football here.

Here are the current standings entering Sunday:

Eric Decker caught an 6-yard touchdown pass in overtime to beat the New England Patriots on Sunday. In the process, he and Brandon Marshall set an NFL record for the most games with a touchdown catch by teammates in a season. Marshall caught two touchdown passes in regulation, giving the pair 24 total on the season.

Decker and Marshall have both caught touchdowns in eight games this year after Sunday’s game, which eclipses the previous mark set by Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter and Randy Moss. Those are two of the most prolific receivers in NFL history, while Decker has been regarded as a very solid player and Marshall regarded as one of the best over the years in the league.

After tying the game and sending it to overtime, the Patriots won the coin toss and inexplicably elected to kick off. The Jets immediately drove the field with two long pass plays and won the game with a touchdown pass to Eric Decker. But the coin toss snafu may overshadow the truly impressive performance put together by the Jets defense.

It wasn’t until the final offensive possession for the Patriots that Brady was finally able to lead the team down the field for a touchdown, finding James White for a 9-yard touchdown that tied the game, 20-20. That drive was extended by two fourth-down conversions to Gronkowski, including a 26-yard reception that set up the White touchdown.

The Falcons could have put it away sooner, but two penalties with just under two minutes remaining left enough time on the clock for the Panthers to get the ball one more time. On first down, Falcons rookie Vic Beasley sacked Cam Newton and forced a fumble that Adrian Clayborn recovered for Atlanta, wrapping up the win.

The Panthers caught a break shortly after that when the Falcons fumbled in Carolina territory, and the Panthers managed to convert the ensuing possession into a field goal, making it a one-point game. But the Falcons held on tight for the remainder of the fourth and got the win.

Rob Gronkowski continues to be absurd.

Needing 9 yards on fourth down, the Patriots threw deep over the middle to Gronkowski for 26 yards. Obviously. The catch kept their drive alive, and the Patriots would eventually score a game-tying touchdown.

This is the best catch of the day and it’s not even close. Jarvis Landry needed to lay out to have a chance at this one and he went above and beyond. It’s one thing to make a catch like this, it’s another to do it in traffic. Simply incredible.

Case in point:

As Manziel scrambled out of pressure from the left to the right, he must have seen an orange helmet out of the corner of his eye and he shoveled it off to him just as he was about to get hit by a couple Chiefs’ pass rushers.

J.J. Watt has never met a camera he didn’t like, but God help you if you take a picture of yourself.

Over a year ago, Zach Mettenberger posted a selfie because he was excited about starting in an NFL football game. J.J. Watt got his feelings hurt because, I don’t know, I guess because he believes he’s the only person on the planet worthy of attention. Watt sacked Mettenberger in that game and celebrated by miming a selfie.

Hey Cam! What do you think when people complain about you dabbing?

Hey Cam! What do you think when people complain about you dabbing?

It’s going to take extraordinary things for the Falcons to get past the Panthers, but they’re getting the incredible out of Julio Jones. This catch is by far the best of Jones’ day, but it’s far from the only catch he’s made.

The Falcons are attacking the Panthers with a series of short slant plays that are mitigating Josh Norman’s effectiveness in a way teams haven’t done this season. This deep throw was a departure that caught Carolina off guard and forced Kuechly to be isolated on one of the NFL’s best receivers.

The Jets had a 17-6 lead and all the momentum against the Patriots when a fumble by Ryan Fitzpatrick was scooped up by Jamie Collins and returned for a New England touchdown. Replays showed that the ball came out of Fitzpatrick’s hand just before his arm started going forward.

After reviewing the play, officials confirmed the ruling on the field that Fitzpatrick’s hand didn’t start moving forward with the ball until after he lost control.

Colts linebacker Erik Walden can probably expect a little surprise from the NFL later this week. Tangled up with a blocker in the third quarter on a third-and-14 play, Walden kicked his leg out to the side and nailed Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill right in above his left knee.

It sure looks like a leg whip, but obviously it’s hard to judge the intent here. Leg whips are banned in the NFL, for reasons you can imagine from the GIF above. Walden was not flagged on the play. That doesn’t mean he won’t get fined. The NFL reviews stuff like this.

Za’Darius Smith has some pretty long hair, but that does not mean he is willing to show mercy to other NFL players with long hair.

OWOWOWOWOWOWOOWOWWWWWW OW OW OW OW MAKE IT STOP NO OW.

The adventures of the Arizona quarterbacks’ weekly accuracy competition have been well documented, with Matt Barkley and Drew Stanton both having to dress ridiculously this season.

Well, that’s a pretty terrible birthday present, but Carson definitely pulls it off.