NFL Week 17 roundup: Giants outlast Cowboys, stay in running for NFC East

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants won. Now they wait.

Rookie Xavier McKinney intercepted Dallas’ Andy Dalton in the end zone with 1:15 remaining, giving the Giants a 23-19 victory over the Cowboys on Sunday and a chance at an unprecedented, six-win playoff berth.

New York’s postseason chances hang on the Philadelphia Eagles, who play Washington on Sunday night. Washington would claim the NFC East with a win or tie. Otherwise, the Giants will take it for the first time since 2011.

The Giants (6-10) would be the first team to qualify for the playoffs with six victories in a 16-game regular season and the first to do so after starting 1-7. Hardly how first-year coach Joe Judge planned it, but enough to spur New York’s pursuit of its first playoff appearance since 2016.

Far from .500, still full of hope.

Dallas (6-10) nearly ripped that away. Dalton rallied Dallas with a bloody left hand after being stepped on by defensive tackle Leonard Williams in the third quarter, and he had the Cowboys on the doorstep when Williams got close again.

Dalton scrambled around on a broken play, avoided being sacked by Williams for a fourth time, but ended up floating one into the middle of the end zone. McKinney caught it easily, his first career interception.

Daniel Jones was efficient and surprisingly mobile after slumping with lower-body injuries during a three-game losing streak. He was 17-of-25 passing for 229 yards and two touchdowns, ending Dallas’ seven-game winning streak in the rivalry.

Dalton was 29 of 47 for 243 yards. He was sacked six times.

New York’s Wayne Gallman Jr. appeared to fumble after picking up a game-clinching first down, but officials ruled he was down before the ball came loose.

Dalton and the Dallas offense had just 34 total yards midway through the second quarter but began moving the ball just before halftime. The group built on that after the break, driving 56 yards to set up Ezekiel Elliott’s 1-yard TD run that trimmed New York’s lead to 20-16.

Dalton’s hand was crunched on the next drive, but he still led the Cowboys to a 36-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein to make it 20-19.

Zuerlein made four field goals and has 34 for the season, tying Richie Cunningham’s franchise record from 1997.

Graham Gano made a 50-yard field goal for the Giants on the next possession. Gano passed Josh Brown for the franchise record with his 30th consecutive made field goal.

Limited to 26 points over its previous three games, the Giants’ 31st-ranked offense busted out with 239 yards and 20 points in the first half. Jones had 150 yards and TD passes of 10 yards to Sterling Shepard and 33 yards to Dante Pettis — the last at the end of a four-play, 75-yard drive just before halftime.

Shepard also scored his first career rushing TD, a 23-yard reverse on the game’s opening drive. He finished with eight catches for 112 yards.

Unforced errors stalled the Giants offense after halftime. Pro Bowl tight end Evan Engram let Jones’ pass bounce off his hands, leading to Donovan Wilson’s interception — Jones’ first pick since Week 8. The next possession, Shepard’s illegal crackback block cost New York 15 yards and killed a drive in Dallas territory.

Dalton and the Dallas offense were a mess early but got in position for a pair of second-quarter field goals by Zuerlein, including a 57-yarder on the half’s final play.

Buccaneers 44, Falcons 27

TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns Sunday, helping the playoff-bound Tampa Bay Buccaneers clinch the fifth seed in the NFC with a 44-27 regular season-ending win over the Atlanta Falcons.

The victory, which means the Bucs (11-5) will face the NFC East champion, Washington or the Giants, on the road in the club’s first postseason game in 13 years, may have come with a steep cost.

Star receiver Mike Evans was carted to the locker room with a left knee injury late in the first quarter and did not return.

Brady threw touchdown passes of 29 and 4 yards to Chris Godwin. The six-time Super Bowl champion also tossed scoring passes of 25 and 30 yards to Antonio Brown, finishing with a Tampa Bay single-season record 40 in his first season with the Bucs.

Brady also joined Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Dan Marino as the only players with multiple seasons of at least 40 TD passes. Rodgers has done it three times, the others twice.

Evans was injured one play after a 20-yard reception made him the first player in NFL history to begin a career with seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. The 6-foot-5, 231-pound receiver was helped to his feet and tried to walk off with assistance from a trainer. Unable to put his weight on the knee, he finished the trip to the locker room on a cart and was later taken for a MRI.

Matt Ryan completed 29 of 44 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns for the Falcons (4-12), who finished a distressing season that claimed the jobs of former coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff after an 0-5 start.

Ryan scored on a 1-yard sneak and also threw scoring passes of 19 yards to Russell Gage and 1 yard to Hayden Hurst. The latter trimmed Atlanta’s deficit to 30-27 before Brady put the game away with two late drives.

Brown had his most productive day since joining the Bucs midway through the season with 11 catches for 138 yards. Godwin had five receptions for 133 yards, while Evans had three catches for 46 yards before leaving the game.

Patriots 28, Jets 14

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Cam Newton had three touchdown passes and caught another, and the New England Patriots rallied to beat the New York Jets 28-14 on Sunday.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for New England (7-9), which earned its 10th straight win over the Jets (2-14) but won’t be playing in the postseason for the first time since the 2008 season.

It marked Newton’s first game with multiple passing touchdowns this season. He finished 21 of 30 for 242 yards. He also ran 11 times for 79 yards.

New England trailed 14-7 early in the third quarter, but outscored the Jets 21-0 the rest of the way in what was likely Adam Gase’s final game as New York’s coach.

Sam Darnold, whose future with the Jets is also uncertain, was 23 of 34 for 266 yards, a touchdown and two second-half interceptions.

The Jets moved quickly on the first possession of the third quarter, taking their lead on Josh Adams’ 1-yard TD run. The score was set up by a 53-yard completion from Darnold to Breshad Perriman that got the ball inside the Patriots 15.

New England went to its bag of tricks to tie it back up.

With the ball on the Jets 19, Newton handed the ball off to Sony Michel, who flipped the ball back to receiver Jakobi Meyers on an end-around. But Meyers stopped in the backfield and tossed a pass to a wide-open Newton for the touchdown. It marked the second touchdown pass of the season for Meyers.

Darnold was intercepted by J.C. Jackson on the Jets’ ensuing drive, giving the ball back to the Patriots on the Jets 45.

The Patriots took advantage, scoring four plays later on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Newton to tight end Devin Asiasi to make it 21-14 with 13:56 left in the game.

Two series later, Newton connected with Sony Michel for a 31-yard score.

It was 7-7 at halftime as both offenses had trouble sustaining drives. The exceptions came at the beginning and end of the half.

Newton made plays with both his arm and feet on the opening series of the game to put the Patriots in front.

First, he scampered for a 49-yard run to get New England down to the 15. Four plays later, he connected with James White on a 7-yard touchdown pass to cap a seven-play, 84-yard drive.

Bills 56, Dolphins 26

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills placed an emphatic stamp on their breakout season with a 56-26 rout of Miami on Sunday in a game the Dolphins could have clinched a playoff berth with a win.

Miami’s postseason hopes now rest on whether the 1-14 Jacksonville Jaguars can upset the Indianapolis Colts later in the day. With a win or a tie, the Colts would clinch a playoff berth and eliminate Miami.

The Dolphins (10-6) didn’t get results they needed to clinch their third playoff berth in 18 years, after Cleveland beat Pittsburgh and Baltimore routed Cincinnati.

Allen threw three touchdown passes and Isaiah McKenzie scored three times, including returning a punt return 84 yards, in a game Buffalo blew the game open by scoring on four consecutive second-quarter possessions.

With the win, the Bills (13-3) clinched the AFC’s No. 2 playoff seed in completing a season in which they matched a single-season record for wins, set in both 1990 and ‘91, and won their first East Division title in 25 years.

Allen finished 18 of 25 for 224 yards passing in playing just the first half before being replaced by Matt Barkley to start the third quarter. Allen upped his total to 4,544 yards passing, to eclipse the team’s single-season record of 4,359 set by Drew Bledsoe in 2002.

Buffalo’s 56 points were the second most in team history, and two shy of the record set in a 58-24 win over Miami on Sept. 18, 1966, when the two were members of the American Football League. The Bills also finished the season with 501 points, a franchise best in topping the record of 445 set in 1991.

Nothing went right for the Dolphins in what proved to be an utter collapse in all three phases.

Rookie Tua Tagovailoa finished 35 of 58 for 361 and three interceptions, the first of which Josh Norman returned 16 yards for a touchdown to put Buffalo up 35-13 midway through the third quarter. He was also intercepted twice by Dean Marlowe.

The Dolphins’ rookie closed the season with a 6-3 record, and didn’t have Ryan Fitzpatrick to bail him out as the veteran backup did in rallying Miami to a last-second 26-25 win at Las Vegas last weekend. Fitzpatrick didn’t travel with the team after testing positive for covid-19 on Thursday.

After Myles Gaskin capped the Dolphins’ opening drive of the third quarter with a 1-yard run to cut Buffalo’s lead to 28-13, Miami’s next four drives ended with Tagovailoa throwing three interceptions — one more than his season total — and turning the ball over on downs.

The Dolphins’ usually stout defense, which entered the game leading the NFL in allowing just 18.8 points per game, instead allowed the fourth-most points in franchise history, including the playoffs.

Miami opened the scoring with Jason Sanders’ 49-yard field goal, which came after Byron Jones intercepted Allen’s pass at the Buffalo 41.

The Bills went ahead on Allen’s 7-yard TD pass to McKenzie with 12:09 remaining in the second quarter, sparking a stretch in which they scored three times in a span of 6:47. Allen then completed the first half with a perfectly placed 32-yard pass to John Brown, who returned after missing five games.

Rookie running back Antonio Williams scored two TDs rushing in his NFL debut, a day after being called up from Buffalo’s practice squad.

Barkley went 6 of 13 for 164 yards, including a 56-yard TD pass to Gabriel Davis, and an interception.

Vikings 37, Lions 35

DETROIT — Kirk Cousins threw for 405 yards and three touchdowns, lifting the Minnesota Vikings to a 37-35 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday in a matchup of teams finishing disappointing seasons.

The Vikings (7-9) failed for the fourth time in a decade to make two straight trips to the playoffs. They won five of six midway through the season to return to the postseason race, but dashed hopes by losing three straight before closing with a win at Detroit.

The Lions (5-11) lost their last four games eight of 10 after going into November with a .500 record under former coach Matt Patricia.

Detroit’s defense broke franchise records by allowing 519 points and 6,716 yards, breaking marks set by its winless team in 2008 and ranking among the worst in NFL history.

In a matchup without postseason implications, the Vikings and Lions combined to play a closely contested game with a lot of highlights and lowlights.

Alexander Mattison ran for 16 yards to convert a fourth-and-1 from the Lions 25 with 2:28 left, allowing the Vikings to run out the clock to seal the win. The second-year running back ran for 95 yards and a third-quarter touchdown and turned a short pass on fourth down into a 28-yard score in the first quarter.

Mattison filled in for running back Dalvin Cook, who missed the game following the death of his father.

Cousins was 28 of 40 and didn’t throw an interception, finishing with his highest total of yards passing since Sept. 27, 2018.

Justin Jefferson had nine receptions for 133 yards, breaking the NFL rookie record for yards receiving set by Anquan Boldin in 2003.

Detroit’s Matthew Stafford — playing with ankle, rib and thumb injuries — was 20 of 31 for 293 yards with three touchdowns. In possibly his last game with the Lions, he threw an interception that led to Dan Bailey’s field goal that put the Vikings ahead 31-23 in the third quarter.

Marvin Jones had eight receptions for 180 yards and two touchdowns for the the Lions.