Dee Alford’s red-zone interception stopped a potential go-ahead drive by New Orleans, and the Atlanta Falcons beat the Saints 19-17 on Sunday to give the NFC South title to the Carolina Panthers.
By closing the season with four consecutive wins, the Falcons (8-9) finished in a three-way tie with Carolina and Tampa Bay for first place in the NFC South. The Panthers won the tiebreaker with the best record within the division.
The Falcons completed a season sweep of the Saints (6-11), who had their four-game winning streak end.
Trailing 16-10, the Saints drove from their 25 to the Atlanta 20 before Alford returned his interception of Tyler Shough’s pass intended for Dante Pettis 59 yards to the Saints 27 with 3:14 remaining. The play set up Zane Gonzalez’s fourth field goal, a 38-yarder, to extend Atlanta’s lead to nine points.
Shough answered with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ronnie Bell with 1:11 remaining, but Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts recovered an onside kick.
Cleveland Browns 20-18 Cincinnati Bengals
Myles Garrett set the NFL’s single-season record with his 23rd sack and Shedeur Sanders led a late scoring drive that was capped by Andre Szmyt’s 49-yard field goal as time expired to help the Cleveland Browns rally for a 20-18 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the season finale Sunday.
Garrett sacked Joe Burrow with 4:09 remaining in the fourth quarter for the record-setting sack, surpassing the 22 and a half by Michael Strahan and TJ Watt. Burrow was in the shotgun formation on first-and-10 at the Browns 45-yard line.
After Ja’Marr Chase’s four-yard touchdown catch gave the Bengals (6-11) an 18-17 advantage with 1:29 remaining, Sanders directed a 10-play, 40-yard drive to give the Browns (5-12) two straight victories for the first time in two years.
Sanders was 3 of 6 passing for 33 yards on the final drive, including an 11-yard completion to Jerry Jeudy with 31 seconds left to get the Browns in Szmyt’s range. Dylan Sampson had two carries for seven yards to get it closer for Szmyt.
Sanders finished 11 of 22 for 111 yards. He also had a fumble in the first quarter that led to Cincinnati’s first touchdown.
Dallas Cowboys 17-34 New York Giants
Jaxson Dart threw the 14th and 15th touchdown passes of his rookie year and the New York Giants ended their lost season on a two-game winning streak by beating the Dallas Cowboys 34-17 on Sunday.
That and other results around the NFL took the Giants (4-13) out of the running for a top-two pick and clinched No 1 for Las Vegas. New York routed the Raiders last week to end a nine-game skid.
Dart has said he cares more about winning than draft position and played like it in his 12th professional start. He was 22 of 32 for 231 yards with TD passes to Daniel Bellinger – on a shovel pass-and-run – and Tyrone Tracy.
While the Giants were shorthanded because of injuries and illnesses, they treated this like any other game with their starters going the distance. Dallas (7-9-1) took it more like an exhibition game, including Dak Prescott exiting after halftime.
Prescott completed seven of 11 passes for 70 yards and lost a fumble off a botched snap before being replaced at quarterback by Joe Milton to begin the third quarter. Prescott finished the season with 4,552 yards passing, the second most of his decade-long career behind only 4,902 in 2019.
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett celebrates after setting the NFL single-season sacks record. Photograph: Jeff Dean/AP
Green Bay Packers 3-16 Minnesota Vikings
JJ McCarthy had a productive first half before he was injured again, fullback CJ Ham rushed for a short touchdown, and the Minnesota Vikings finished a frustrating season by beating the resting Green Bay Packers 16-3 on Sunday.
Green Bay (9-7-1) were locked into the No 7 seed in the NFC playoffs and had nothing to play for.
McCarthy, who went 14 for 23 for 182 yards passing, pulled himself out after his first throw of the third quarter so the athletic training staff could examine his right hand and did not return. Backup Max Brosmer took it from there, helping Justin Jefferson reach the 100-yard mark for the first time in 12 games as the Vikings (9-8) coasted to their fifth consecutive victory.
Jefferson had already secured his sixth straight 1,000-yard season, only the third receiver in NFL history to accomplish that feat.
With Jordan Love safely watching on the sideline and Malik Willis recovering from injuries, the Packers gave Clayton Tune his second career start at quarterback and netted minus-7 passing yards. Dallas Turner had two of Minnesota’s four sacks that racked up 41 lost yards for Green Bay.
Tennessee Titans 7-41 Jacksonville Jaguars
Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes, breaking the franchise’s single-season record for total scores, and the Jacksonville Jaguars won the AFC South and earned a home playoff game with a 41-10 drubbing of Tennessee on Sunday.
It was most lopsided outcome in series history.
The Jaguars (13-4) clinched their third division title in nine years, swept the Titans (3-14) for the third time in four seasons and topped a dozen wins for just the second time in the team’s 31-year history.
Jacksonville, though, will have to wait several hours to learn its postseason seeding and opponent. The Jaguars could land the AFC’s No 1 seed but more likely will end up as the third and host Buffalo, Houston or the Los Angeles Chargers next week.
No one should want to play the Jaguars, who have won eight in a row and nine of 10 since their bye. And Lawrence has been the hottest quarterback in the league during the streak.
