NFC playoffs update.

For the third time this season, the Cowboys and Giants will tangle, as New York’s 24-14 win at Tampa Bay means that Dallas will be hosting their NFC East rivals in the divisional round next Sunday afternoon.

The Giants have been one of the league’s best road teams this season, and that was the case again today. Eli Manning was efficient, going 20 of 27 for 185 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions, and the Giants forced three turnovers in erasing some bad memories against Jeff Garcia, who previously beat New York in the postseason with the 49ers and Eagles.

The last time Eli and Co. came to Dallas was in the first week of the season, when he and Tony Romo had an aerial tit-for-tat, as both threw for more than 300 yards and four touchdowns, but it was the Cowboys that came out on top in the highest-scoring game in the two teams’ rivalry, a 45-35 Dallas victory.

Here’s hoping that the third time isn’t the charm for the G-Men, and that the Cowboys can bookend the Giants’ season with defeats at Texas Stadium.

In the other NFC divisional round game, it’ll be Seattle going to Green Bay, after the Seahawks ended the Redskins’ ride with a 35-14 victory. It was quite a fight for Washington though, as they battled back from a 13-0 deficit to take a 14-13 lead with 12:38 to go.

It looked like destiny was going to shine on the ‘Skins again, when they recovered the ensuing kickoff at the Seahawks 14. But, former Cowboy Shaun Suisham missed a 30-yard field goal. Still, things looked good after Matt Hasselbeck was picked off on the next drive.

However, a short punt gave the Seahawks great field position, and they would take the lead with six minutes to go.

From there, it quickly unraveled for Washington, as an illegal block nullified a long kick return, and on the next play, Todd Collins was picked off, and Marcus Trufant returned it 78 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-14.

The game was sealed when Jordan Babineaux (remember him?) returned a second Collins pick 57 yards for a score with a half a minute to go.

Even though the Redskins went down, you’ve got to give them a lot of credit for how they fought this season, especially after all the ups and downs.

And, as for Seattle, or more specifically for Matt Hasselbeck - 1) Please don’t grow that hideous sorta-stache back, even if it may seem to be lucky, and 2) if this one goes to overtime, let someone else handle the coin toss, and if you do, don’t guarantee a win, because the last time you did it at Lambeau, Al Harris picked you off and sent you home.

Postseason Preview: Wild-Card Weekend.

Now that the playoff matchups are set, here’s a quick preview of next weekend’s wild-card action.

On Saturday, the Redskins (9-7) will take on the NFC West champion Seahawks (10-6) in Seattle, and the AFC North champion Steelers (10-6) will host the Jaguars (11-5). On Sunday, the NFC South champion Buccaneers (9-7) will host the Giants (10-6), with the AFC West champion Chargers (11-5) and the Titans (9-7) rounding out the quartet of first-round games.

NFC

Washington at Seattle: Both of these teams bumbled along for a part of the season before getting their heads on at just the right time.

As for the Seahawks, they had the habit of looking good one week and bad the next, as they started the season 4-4. Then, after a 33-30 loss to Cleveland in Week 9, the Seahawks won five in a row to make themselves look pretty formidable heading into the home stretch, in which they lost two of their last three, at Carolina (13-10) and Atlanta (44-41).

What to make of this Seattle team? Matt Hasselbeck has had a career year, but Shaun Alexander is a shell of his former self. Given their schedule, they should have done better, considering they played only three teams with winning records (lost to Pittsburgh and Cleveland, beat Tampa Bay).

Thankfully, they’re playing at home, so we should see their best on Saturday (7-1 at home). And they’re going to need it against a Washington team that’s going into the playoffs with a ton of momentum.

The Redskins started 5-3, but lost four in a row, including a 17-16 loss to Buffalo in their first game after star safety Sean Taylor was murdered.

But, something clicked, and the ‘Skins won their last four, beating the Bears, Giants, Vikings, and Cowboys to get into the postseason.

Todd Collins has done a great job guiding the Redskins down the stretch, and it looks like it’ll be up to him and Hasselbeck to lead their teams, since both teams have pretty respectable run defenses.

New York at Tampa Bay: Which Eli Manning will show up? If it’s mistake-prone Eli, the Giants are going to be undone against one of the best pass defenses in the league.

But, if it’s good Eli, the one that threw four touchdowns against the Cowboys and Patriots, then the Giants have a good chance to move on to face Dallas in the divisional round.

Playing away from home might be just down the Giants’ alley, as they went 7-1 away from home in the regular season and only 3-5 at home.

Tampa Bay scored 24 points or more only five times during the season, with all of those coming against Atlanta, St. Louis, and New Orleans, none of whom are formidable defensively (and aided Tampa by making mistakes). So, if it becomes a high-scoring game, the Bucs might not be able to keep it up, especially considering that the Giants have played their best defense on the road (besides the Dallas game), allowing 21 points or more on the road only twice (45 vs. Dallas in Week 1, 21 vs. Buffalo in Week 16).

But, the Bucs have an experienced QB in Jeff Garcia, a great defense, and home-field advantage, which have all been big factors in their success this season.

AFC

Tennessee at San Diego: Hooray for recycled matchups!

Fortunately, this one could actually be entertaining, given that their first meeting, in Week 14 in Nashville, was decided in overtime.

In that one, Tennessee led 17-3 in the fourth quarter, but the Chargers forced overtime on a touchdown run by LaDainian Tomlinson and a game-tying two-yard touchdown catch by Antonio Gates with nine seconds left in regulation.

In OT, the two teams traded punts, with Tennessee’s punt giving San Diego the ball at the Titans’ 48. L.T. and Philip Rivers made them pay, driving 48 yards in six plays, with L.T. going 16 yards for the game-winning score in a 23-17 Chargers win.

That loss put a dent into Tennessee’s playoff hopes, but they won three in a row to finish out the season and edge Cleveland out for the #6 seed in the AFC.

But, in order to knock off the Chargers, they’re going to have to stop one of the league’s hottest teams, as San Diego will enter the playoffs on a six-game win streak and having won 10 of their last 12 after starting 1-3.

San Diego was 7-1 at home in the regular season, with their only home loss coming in Week 4 to Kansas City, so you’ve got to favor them, especially with the way that their offense (more than 30 points per game in their six-game win streak) and defense (12.5 points per game in the streak) have been playing.

But, the Titans were a good road team (5-3), and if they can slow down the Bolts’ offense, and produce a little something of their own on O, they’ll have a chance.

Jaguars at Steelers: We've got another repeat matchup in the other AFC wild-card game, as these two teams met up in Week 15. Given the way that the Jaguars handled the Steelers in their own house then, Pittsburgh might be wishing that they could have gotten the #3 seed, but alas, that wasn’t to be the case, as they lost three of their last four games to finish a game behind San Diego for the #3.

In Week 15, Jacksonville ran for 224 yards in a 29-22 victory in Pittsburgh, in the snow, wind, and cold, nonetheless.

Pittsburgh will be going into the playoffs with a banged up Ben Roethlisberger, with Willie Parker already out for the rest of the season due to a broken leg suffered in Week 16 against St. Louis. Najeh Davenport is going to have to get something going against a tough run defense, and he could, given that Parker went for 100 on only 14 carries against them in the first meeting.

As for Roethlisberger, he doesn’t necessarily need to throw for 300 yards and three scores, but has to be efficient as he has most of the season, and from there, the defense is going to have to step up in order to lighten the load on the offense.

It’s not easy to go into someone’s backyard and beat them twice, so it’ll be up to the Steelers to prove that the Week 15 loss was just an aberration and that it‘s them that‘s the cold-weather team and not the Jaguars.

I won’t make any set predictions just yet, but I’m sure at least one of the higher seeds will fall, with the likeliest possibility being in the #4 vs. #5 games, but it won‘t be a surprise if Washington goes into Seattle and wins.

Well, that's that - Redskins 27, Cowboys 6.

First off, congratulations to the Redskins. They’ve been through quite a lot this season, and for them to turn it around like they have and wind up in the playoffs is something to give them a great deal of credit and kudos for.

Secondly, while this game does not matter to the Cowboys, and it means everything to the Redskins, this isn’t exactly the performance that you’d like to see from your team heading into the playoffs, especially on offense, which hasn’t been as much of a strength lately as it was for the better part of the season.

But, every team is allowed their subpar performances, so it’s nothing to panic about, especially with so many guys sitting, some sloppy conditions, and the motivation level not as high as it should be in two weeks.

I will say this much - as much of a high as the Redskins are on right now, the Seahawks better come to play next weekend, because I think I’d much rather face Tampa Bay or New York than Washington in the first round.

Inspiration and heart can take you a long way, and that definitely won out today. So, congrats to the ‘Skins, see you (and hopefully beat you) in the playoffs.

Yay! It's Week 17!

After 16 weeks, we’ve finally reached the end of the regular season. It couldn’t get here soon enough, and honestly, it can’t be over soon enough either, with the playoffs in plain view now.

Most of the playoff spots are secured, and we know who’s going to have the #1 draft pick, but there’s still plenty to play for - for some - in Week 17.

The biggest storyline for this weekend is whether or not the Patriots will beat the Giants at the Meadowlands to finish a perfect regular season.

With both teams having locked up their playoff positions, it’s unknown how much the starters will play a role, or if they should, but Tom Coughlin has said he plans to play his starters, and play to win.

As for the Patriots, we’ll see, literally, because there’s no way around it. The game will be simulcast on both CBS and NBC, and you can bet ESPN will be providing score updates on a regular basis.

Hopefully it’ll be worth all the hype that it’s getting. New England doesn’t really stand to gain much from winning, outside of remaining unbeaten. The same goes for New York, who’ll just have the satisfaction of ending New England’s chances at history.

There’s certainly a lot that could be lost though, so we’ll see how long Coughlin will keep his word, and if Bill Belichick bothers to keep Brady in for more than a quarter, or turns the glorious pursuit of history over to Matt Cassel and the rest of his second-teamers with plenty of time left on the clock.

There are only two playoff spots to be decided, and both are the #6 seeds in each conference.

In the AFC, Cleveland hosts San Francisco and Tennessee goes to Indianapolis, with the Browns and Titans both at 9-6.

If Tennessee wins, they’re in, and there’s a good chance that they could do it, considering the Colts have zero to play for, and won’t play Peyton Manning for more than a half, at most.

First up, though, is the Browns’ matchup with the 49ers. Cleveland must beat the hapless ‘Niners, who will be on starting QB #4, with Chris Weinke getting duties under center on Sunday afternoon, in order to have a chance at a playoff spot going into the evening. Then it’ll be up to the Titans to make or break their destiny.

In the NFC, the #6 seed comes down to Washington and Minnesota, both at 8-7.

If Washington beats Dallas, then they’re into the postseason at 9-7. The Cowboys are in much the same boat as the Colts (and for that matter, the Patriots and Giants too) are - they don’t need the win, and won’t really gain anything from keeping their starters in for longer than they need to.

Minnesota will hope that the Cowboys somehow do get the W, so that they’ll still have a chance at the postseason heading into their late afternoon clash with the Broncos in Denver. The Broncos don’t really have anything to play for besides pride, as they’ve had a disappointing year, but won’t hand a victory to the Vikings.

There’s sure to be some drama in the next 30-odd hours, but then again, with several teams with something to play for going up against teams with little or nothing to play for, then things could very well be just a little anti-climactic.