The New England Patriots, the Houston Texans and the Denver Broncos all won on Sunday to book their spots in the playoffs with four weeks to spare.
The Atlanta Falcons also advanced to the postseason, leaving eight places up for grabs, when they clinched the NFC South Division after they won on Thursday and Tampa Bay lost on Sunday.
The Baltimore Ravens (9-3) missed their first chance to qualify when they were beaten 23-20 by their AFC North rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5).
The San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears both lost in overtime, defeats that could come back to hurt when seedings for the playoffs are decided, but the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts were celebrating after recording victories that left them on the verge of making the postseason.
The Patriots (9-3), last season's beaten Super Bowl finalists, clinched the AFC East with a 23-16 win over the Miami Dolphins (5-7) in Florida.
It was the sixth win in a row for the Patriots and the ninth time in the past 10 years they have won their division.
"It's good to get another division win. We accomplished one of our goals this year, to be in the postseason," said New England head coach Bill Belichick.
"That's good, but more importantly we just have to keep working to get better. We still got a lot of football left to play."
The Texans (11-1) also chalked up their sixth straight victory after they defeated the Tennessee Titans (4-8) 24-10 to secure their spot in the playoffs, although they have still not clinched the AFC South.
Reuters
(China Daily 12/04/2012 page23)
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