Falcons, Steelers make playoffs with Colts, Eagles near

The New Orleans Saints had to go the distance to match the Indianapolis Colts with a perfect record by beating the Atlanta Falcons 26-23 Sunday and run their win streak to 13 games.Drew Brees tossed three touchdown passes and Jonathan Vilma helped shut down the Falcons offence as the Saints joined the Colts as one of just seven teams in NFL history to reach 13-0.Brees completed 31-for-40 passes for 296 yards, while Reggie Bush had two touchdown catches for the Saints, who clinched a first-round bye with the win and a franchise record for wins in a season.

It's tough for west coast teams to travel to the east coast and play in the early time slot when players' bodies still feel like it is morning. And the curious decision by the NFL to schedule the Seattle-Atlanta game in Sunday's early time slot may have impacted the play of the Seahawks.

NFL teams that are going to make a deep run in the playoffs need to fill voids and eliminate weaknesses. That's where the supporting cast comes in.

Joe Flacco threw two touchdowns and passed for 265 yards as Baltimore forced five turnovers en route to a 30-7 win over Kansas City in the opening round of the NFL playoffs Sunday.Ray Rice, Anquan Boldin and Willis McGahee all scored touchdowns for Baltimore which went on a 27-point unanswered run at one point in the AFC wild card game.The Ravens broke open a tight game in the third quarter with two field goals off three turnovers to set up a second round playoff contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers next Saturday.

Indianapolis marched to a National Football League-record 21st regular-season victory on Sunday while New Orleans struggled into over-time before finally keeping an unbeaten pace with the Colts at 12-0.Peyton Manning completed 24-of-37 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown to power host Indianapolis past Tennessee 27-17, the Colts tying the 2006-2008 New England Patriots for the longest in-season victory runs in league history.

Here. We. Go. The penultimate weekend of this football season has two pretty good games. They're not as good as last week's, but they're pretty exciting.

It took until the final game of the final week of the season, but the NFC playoffs are finally set. Here are the seeds: