So there were some great games yesterday. Veterans coming off the bench to save seasons, big plays and big players, dramatic wins and losses and playoff entries and exits. And there were the some of the useless ones that Week 17 seems to bring every year. The recap:

Saints at Falcons: Tim Hightower's only quiet week down the stretch was the one that knocked me out of the playoffs. Gotta be impressed by what the old man managed though. Typical game for Matt Ryan this year, with some good numbers and some curious mistakes and screw ups. I don't really understand exactly why people think/expect Sean Payton and Drew Brees to be gone from New Orleans. Obviously the team has underachieved lately but it seems like the defense and some personnel gaffes are the main issues.

Jets at Bills: Tough one to watch, with the Jets pulling a Jets and stumbling and bumbling their way out of the playoffs. Buffalo did some aggressive things they didn't do in any of their other games, which should maybe have the team thinking, gee, why could we get up so much to play spoiler and not do the same kinds of things in our other games? Ryan Fitzpatrick had about his worst game at the worst possible time. A shame, but I guess we all know the Steelers are a more interesting and dangerous playoff team.

Lions at Bears: Nice of Calvin Johnson to have a huge game after knocking all of his teams out of the playoffs in Week 14 and 15. Good game for Matt Forte, comical receiving situation for the Bears. Major takeaway from this game for me is that the Lions' strong finish is likely going to save Jim Caldwell's job, which means Detroit will be firing and hiring a new coach 12 months from now instead of today.

Ravens at Bengals: Big game for Jeremy Hill. Good luck figuring out which Bengals running back to start on a weekly basis. Hill is the one who either scores or does nothing at all. Bernard is one who puts up decent PPR points but doesn't score. Another nifty touchdown grab for A.J. Green. Feel bad for the Bengals, though, who have a very good, sound, well-balanced team that will probably get drummed out of the playoffs in the first round yet again.

Steelers at Browns: We're seeing something truly remarkable with Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown. It's kind of amazing really. Brown went for over 1,800 receiving yards despite a stretch in the middle of the season where Roethlisberger missed four games and he was under 50 yards in four of five. Crazy stuff. DeAngelo Williams left this one with an ankle injury and Pittsburgh may struggle to run the ball without him in the postseason, if that's how it plays out. So plenty of passing. Also remarkable in this game is that Darrius Heyward-Bey is strangely relevant all of a sudden. Martavis Bryant, injured or just undisciplined? Apparently at fault on a couple of missed connections, and didn't play much. For the Browns, uh, cleaning house again. Likely to make the wrong choices again, too.

Washington at Cowboys: Jay Gruden as much as said Washington wouldn't take chances with players in a meaningless game, but Kirk Cousins threw 3 TDs anyway and Alfred Morris was still carrying the ball in the fourth quarter with the game over. (Which might say something about how important they think Morris is.) Washington doesn't have much of a defense, which will probably be why they'll make a quick playoff exit, but certainly Green Bay isn't playing well enough to think they can be the one to send them out of the postseason. Yards but no touchdowns for Darren McFadden, who can only blame himself for that this week -- fumbled a ball while crossing the goal line, or he would have.

Jaguars at Texans: Houston's defense is very good, but just because it looks fantastic against lousy, mistake-prone teams and quarterbacks doesn't mean it's going to knock off Kansas City or anyone else who would have to come to town. Basically I'm with Rodney Harrison. This team isn't that good. Then there's Blake Bortles, who has emerged as my main dynasty quarterback. The guy has got to figure out that some passes just can't be thrown. Granted a running game would help. Denard Robinson lost another soft fumble. A major disappointment down the stretch.

Titans at Colts: Frank Gore didn't do as much as you'd have liked. The Titans offense was exactly as awful as you'd expect. The less time spent on this eyesore the better. David Cobb is not a key dynasty target, just the best of a bad lot of running backs. The Titans will almost certainly trade down. Or maybe they'll draft another quarterback, because the team is so excellent everywhere else, let's load up on quarterbacks.

Patriots at Dolphins: Bit of a shocker here. New England isn't that good right now. I'm sure they'll pull things together in their first playoff game, but maybe not. Certainly Pittsburgh or Kansas City could go into New England and win (although a Pitt win sends them to Denver first). DeVante Parker looks like the real deal, a plus for whatever inept coach Mike Tannenbaum hires this time. Why Miami has handed him the keys to the franchise is beyond me.

Eagles at Giants: This was the high-scoring affair that was expected, it's just that some of the expected stars didn't do much. Could anyone have started DeMarco Murray? Rashad Jennings, maybe. I did like Jordan Matthews and that worked out OK. Giants will be parting ways with Tom Coughlin, apparently. Team definitely needs to go back to the drawing board on defense, and might want to do away with this stupid four-man backfield. But they're not gonna call me.

Seahawks at Cardinals: Uh so yeah, we called this game wrong. Pete Carroll played everyone throughout in this meaningless game, while the Cardinals pulled people early because they got blown out. So next year when the Seahawks have a meaningless game in Week 17, we'll use this as evidence that they won't rest players, and they'll proceed to yank starters after one series. Whatever. It worked out for Seattle, but I'm going to say they're lucky Wilson didn't get hurt. Like Seattle needed to make a statement. I think we all know they're pretty great and have as much shot to go to the Super Bowl as anyone.

Buccaneers at Panthers: Carolina wins big, Cam Newton stakes his MVP claim. Shame their first playoff game will be against Seattle.

Chargers at Broncos: Fun and exciting game to watch, especially with a 10-year-old kid rooting hard for the Broncos. Peyton Manning didn't actually do much at quarterback, but no denying he gave the team a spark. I didn't think Brock Osweiler played that bad, actually, but the switch made sense and if Denver wins the Super Bowl, everyone is happy. And if they lose in the playoffs, they've got some tough offseason calls to make. Big game for Denver's ground game, but San Diego is really bad at stopping that; won't be as easy against Pittsburgh. Although I am giving the Broncos the slight edge in the AFC, given their defense and needing to win just two home games.

Raiders at Kansas City: Didn't watch much of this, because who cares. I know Spencer Ware was better than Charcandrick West, Kansas City does a good job finding running backs. And they've got a great defense and enough offense that they could win a couple of playoff games.

Rams at 49ers: I'm sure the Niners made the decision to fire Jim Tomsula a while ago (although hiring him wasn't a good decision anyway, so who knows what their thought process was). But the kicker for me would have been him calling for a PUNT, from the St. Louis 37-yard line, on fourth and 4 with 90 seconds left in a tie game. What the heck, guys. Punt went into the end zone on the fly for a gain of 17 yards and a loss of 45 minutes of everyone's life as we sat through a stupid overtime period while I waited for the Rams defense to get me the sack that would have won me some money. Oh well. Needless to say, Todd Gurley and Carlos Hyde have zero competition for backfield field snaps next year.

Vikings at Packers: Minnesota goes into Lambeau and wins, which means they get to hoist the NFC North Champions banner next year. Which they'll take as consolation when they get waxed by Seattle next week, while Green Bay goes into Washington with a much better shot to win a playoff game. Not that anyone should have tried to lose, but I do think the Packers are much better off. Although their offense is pretty sad right now, with Richard Rodgers looking like the most effective receiver. Eddie Lacy should be pretty good in the first round of the playoffs (but he should have been good lots of times this year, so...).

We'll take a look at all the playoff games later this week, but I think we've got a couple of unpredictable wildcard games and a couple of yawners. Super Bowl -- rematch of one from the last decade? Denver-Seattle? New England-Carolina? Pittsburgh-Arizona? Hey, Kansas City-Green Bay or Minnesota! Lots of fun possibilities. Hope the getting there is memorable.