The Washington Redskins had to play all out in their final game and the New York Giants chose to play that way. Their postseason opponents, Seattle and Tampa Bay, eased their way into the playoffs.
So the wild-card round in the NFC next weekend may be a test of whether it’s better to have momentum or be rested going into the playoffs.
In the AFC, Jacksonville will be at Pittsburgh coming off losses in which each team played less than its best. Tennessee’s 16-10 win at Indianapolis, where the Colts rested most of their stars for much of the game, sent them to San Diego as the second wild-card team instead of Cleveland.
The four top-seeded teams will be off until the second week of the playoffs: New England (16-0) and Indianapolis (13-3) in the AFC, Dallas (13-3) and Green Bay (13-3) in the NFC.
A look at wild-card games:
NFC
• Washington (9-7) at Seattle (10-6) on Saturday. The first case of momentum vs. rest.
The Seahawks, the NFC West champions, were locked into the third seed in the NFC when they went to Atlanta. So they rested offensive starters, played a bland defense and lost 44-41 to the Falcons, who had only three wins previously.
Now the Seahawks face a team that wanted a win Sunday to guarantee getting in and earned it by beating top-seeded Dallas 27-6. That momentum goes against Seattle’s late lethargy: two losses in its last three games after clinching the division three weeks ago.
• New York Giants (10-6) at Tampa Bay (9-7) on Sunday.
The Giants played one of their best games of the season Saturday night in losing 38-35 to the unbeaten Patriots. But cornerback Sam Madison, center Shaun O’Hara and linebacker Kawika Mitchell were hurt and the status of all three for this playoff game is unclear.
If the Giants have momentum, the Buccaneers, NFC South champions, are healthier. They rested a lot of starters against Carolina on Sunday and lost 31-23.
AFC
• Jacksonville (11-5) at Pittsburgh (10-6) on Saturday.
Neither team played hard in its regular-season finale.
The Jaguars beat the Steelers 29-22 in Pittsburgh on Dec. 16, part of a run of six wins in seven games that ended Sunday when they played backups and lost in Houston.
The Steelers also sat starters in Baltimore, where they lost 27-21 to the Ravens, who broke a nine-game losing streak.
• Tennessee (10-6) at San Diego (11-5) on Sunday.
The Chargers, who started 1-3, won their last five and six of their last seven as they finally took to new coach Norv Turner’s system. With LaDainian Tomlinson getting the ball more, San Diego began to look like the team that was 14-2 in the regular season last year.
One of San Diego’s late wins was a 23-17 overtime victory over the Titans in which Tennessee blew a 17-3, fourth-quarter lead. Despite that close game, this isn’t a good matchup for the Titans.
