David Butler II/US Presswire

The weather in New England was frightful, but Matt Cassel and the Patriots delighted their fans with a 47-7 blowout of the Cardinals. Cassel threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns as the Pats were never challenged by the reeling NFC West champions. ZOOM GALLERY: Top performances

Week 16 analysis: Safe at home?

By John Clayton, ESPN.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans clinched the top seed in the AFC with their 31-14 victory over the Steelers. The Giants earned home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs by beating the Panthers 34-28 on Sunday night.

The question is whether home-field advantage throughout the playoffs is all that it's cracked up to be. Since 1975, 50 percent of the No. 1 seeds have made the Super Bowl, but recent years indicate home-field can be a trap. Since 2002, the 2003 Patriots are the only No. 1 seed to win the Super Bowl. Five times in the past six seasons, a No. 1 seed has lost in the Super Bowl, each time to a lower seed.

Ask Titans safety Chris Hope. In 2004, he was a member of the 15-1 Steelers, and figured he was going to ride rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger into the Super Bowl. Then the Patriots came to town and upset the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. Hope never forgot the experience and will use that story to try to make sure the Titans don't get too complacent now that they are top dogs in the AFC.

"It was tough,'' Hope said. "The year we lost in the AFC Championship Game, we were 15-1 and picked to win the Super Bowl. We didn't get it done and it just goes down as a magical year without the big goal. Home-field advantage is great, but it doesn't just make you win automatically.''

Hope said the problem is the bye week. Although it's great for the healing process, the week off takes the top seed away from the speed and intensity of playoff football.

"Other teams get an advantage because they are playing and you are coming off that bye,'' he said. "The key is getting in a groove early in that first playoff game after the bye.''

Recent results indicate home teams are losing their edge. During the first eight weeks of the season, home teams won 63.8 percent of the games, the second-best percentage since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. (The best was in 1985 at 64.3.) Since then, the road team has a 63-59-1 record.

On Sunday, several big wins came from the road team. The Chargers kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the Tampa Bay Bucs 41-24 at Raymond James Stadium. The Falcons clinched a playoff berth by beating the Vikings 24-17 in the Metrodome. The Broncos could have cost themselves a playoff spot by losing to the Bills 30-23 at home. The Dolphins rallied to beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium and take over first place in the AFC East.

The Steelers will have extra incentive if they return to Tennessee for the AFC title game because Keith Bulluck and others stomped on a Terrible Towel, one of Pittsburgh's cherished fan items.

"Hopefully, if we do see them again we can right the wrong and not allow them to step on that towel,'' Steelers cornerback Deshea Townsend said. "We won't forget it.''

Five things I learned in Week 16

By John Clayton, ESPN.com

Jets owner Woody Johnson didn't spend $152.5 million in the offseason to win the Pro Bowl and not make the playoffs. Sunday's 13-3 loss to the Seahawks will have to make him wonder what general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini sold him on. Brett Favre was acquired to beat the Seahawks on the road in the snow. He didn't. In recent weeks, Favre and the Jets haven't delivered while former Jets quarterback Chad Pennington has. In fact, Favre has aged before our eyes in the past month. He's thrown six interceptions and only one touchdown in the past four games -- three of them losses. He has been sacked nine times. His quarterback rating over the past four games has been going down like the temperature -- 60.9, 60.8, 61.4 and 48.7 in Seattle. Favre leads the league with 19 interceptions, while Pennington is setting league standards for protecting the ball.

Offseason acquisitions Favre, Kris Jenkins and Alan Faneca are three of the Jets' seven Pro Bowlers. Jenkins has worn down and teams are running on the Jets. The team looks old, and Pennington could put the Jets out of their misery next Sunday in the Meadowlands and officially knock them out of the playoffs.

Sunday's loss dropped the Jets to third in the AFC East. Even if they beat the Dolphins, they would lose the division title if the Patriots beat Buffalo. The Jets probably could have reached 9-6 with Pennington at the helm. Mangini didn't help his job security by electing to punt after a delay of game penalty wiped out a 45-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. The Jets needed points, not field position.

Coach Brad Childress' infatuation with QB Tarvaris Jackson once again bit the Vikings, although the wound isn't fatal. Jackson proved he's not ready for prime time in Minnesota's 24-17 loss to the Falcons. Although Jackson was 22-of-36 for 233 yards with no interceptions, he had three fumbles and lost two. That doesn't count the shotgun snap that Matt Birk sailed over his head for what turned out to be a 22-yard loss. Jackson might be the quarterback of the future, but he's jeopardizing the Vikings' current playoff push. If the Vikings lose to the Giants in Week 17 and the Bears win their last two games, Minnesota will be 9-7 and watching highlights of Jackson throwing rollout screens to Visanthe Shiancoe instead of going to the playoffs.

Childress seems to cling to the fact that Jackson was 8-4 as a starter last year. With MVP candidate Adrian Peterson in the backfield, any quarterback with a pulse can excel. Gus Frerotte was contemplating retirement before joining the Vikings as a backup. He was 8-3 as a starter before back problems forced him out of the lineup. Jackson is mobile, but he's not consistently accurate enough to beat playoff-caliber teams.

Because QB Ben Roethlisberger is strong in the pocket and able to make plays, the Steelers have gotten away from their power running game. Willie Parker mentioned that a couple of weeks ago and was called out by coach Mike Tomlin for being critical. But he was right. In cold weather, the Steelers have to show they can run the ball. The Titans rushed for 117 yards on 31 carries in Sunday's 31-14 victory over the Steelers. Although those numbers might be modest, they were significant. Tennessee's running attack wore down the Steelers' defense enough for the Titans to become the first team to put up more than 300 yards of offense on Pittsburgh this season.

"Obviously, the Steelers are a great run defense,'' Titans quarterback Kerry Collins said. "It's always important for us. We are always striving to be able to run the ball and run the ball effectively. I felt like we had the belief that we could run the ball under any circumstance.''

The Steelers rushed for only 71 yards on 24 carries against a Titans defensive line that didn't have Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch. Over the past three weeks, no Steelers running back has gained more than 47 yards in a game. Those games were against Dallas, Baltimore and Tennessee, but the Steelers need to be like the Titans, who try to run under any circumstance.

The NFL has to live with the fact that the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals are currently No. 4 playoff seeds only because the league mandates somebody has to represent the league's two West divisions.

Denver's 30-23 home loss to the Bills may be a savior of sorts. The resurgent Chargers could eliminate the Broncos in Week 17. At least the Chargers looked good in beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 41-24 in Tampa. The Broncos blew a 13-3 lead to a Bills offense that had been missing in action for months. Because the Broncos lack a running game, they can't protect their defense. The Broncos give up 26.4 points a game. They've started as many as five rookies on defense. From the second quarter to the fourth quarter Sunday, the Broncos' defense gave up three touchdowns and two field goals in five consecutive possessions.

When they have the lead, the Broncos can't eat up the clock or wear down a defense. They had 181 rushing yards against Buffalo, but wide receiver Eddie Royal and quarterback Jay Cutler combined for 101 of those yards. Coach Mike Shanahan has gone through a half-dozen running backs this season, and will have to wait until next year to restock.

As for the NFC West champion Cardinals, there is no hope they will go away until the first round of the playoffs. Their 47-7 loss to the Patriots was just another embarrassment. The Cards have fallen behind by 21 points in the first quarter in three of the past four games. Their defense has given up 26.6 points a game. Kurt Warner's 30-yard performance in Foxborough might have cost him the MVP to Peyton Manning or Adrian Peterson.

How 'bout them Cowboys? As much as you might like to eliminate the Cowboys from the playoff race, they're still alive because of the Bucs' loss to the Chargers and the Eagles' 10-3 loss to the Redskins. What the Eagles and Bucs have in common are failures in the red zone. The Bucs came into Sunday's game with only 18 touchdowns in 51 trips into the red zone.

The Eagles' failures in goal-line and short-yardage situations have hurt them all season. It has ownership weighing the decision to keep quarterback Donovan McNabb or make a change. With the Falcons now in the playoffs, the scramble for the last wild-card spot in the NFC is now controlled by the Cowboys. The Eagles still have a chance if they can beat the Cowboys in Week 17 and few other things happen. How those things unfold will determine the fate of Dallas coach Wade Phillips and others fighting for that last spot.