During the early games yesterday, as I tried to keep from nodding off, I said, this is terrible. But if you could get through those three hours of boredom and crummy football, the payoff was pretty excellent. Because the late games had some of the spectacle and drama we watch football for -- fantastic finishes. Right until the final minute of the final game. So good job, NFL schedule monkeys. It worked.

Packers at Lions: So Stafford and all of his wideouts had big games, as they probably should have every game, but at least did for a bunch of games to those who had Marvin Jones. Golden Tate caught a long touchdown to go over a 1,000 yards. Brett Hundley kept turning it over, badly, though in fairness he was a little short on receivers in this one.

Texans at Colts: Frank Gore did not get his 139 yards, but he did reach 100 and the Colts got the win. Limped off the field near the goal line at one point, letting Marlon Mack get the touchdown, but it was a Gore game. Passing games did zip, except for Jack Doyle. Week 17.

Bears at Vikings: Big game for Latavius Murray, as expected. Bad game for both passing games, as also anticipated. Anybody see anything good out of Mitchell Trubisky this year? Just curious. Kid needs help and he's not getting it at present. Bears scored a touchdown on a sneaky punt return; that was kind of cool. But Vikings took care of business and got their bye.

Jets at Patriots: And that's why the Steelers didn't bother playing their starters against Cleveland. The game was close for like a quarter. And then Dion Lewis and Brandin Cooks and Bryce Petty's ineptitude took over. With 10 minutes left in the game and the Jets down three touchdowns, facing a fourth down near the goal line, the Jets kicked a field goal to pull within 18. No words. Dion Lewis looks like he should be one of the first picks in a playoff fantasy league.

Washington at Giants: Late in the game Wayne Gallman made a Herculean, tackle-breaking run to get down near the goal line, extending the ball into the end zone...and was ruled short. Giants then took a knee to run out the clock rather than letting the rookie score. Ah well. Nice game for Hunter Sharp, lousy game for Washington, Samaje Perine left early due to injury.

Cowboys at Eagles: No touchdowns in this game, which tells you all you need to know about Week 17. Ezekiel Elliott had a good yardage game. Nick Foles struggled and got hit a few times before being pulled. Eagles look about as vulnerable as a top seed could; the NFC seems wide open. A 6th seed could definitely go the distance.

Browns at Steelers: So the Browns are 0-16, and seldom has it felt more right. They blew the Packers game, they blew this one when Corey Coleman dropped a painfully easy fourth-down pass at the 10-yard line in the final minutes. Their coach is terrible, but the owner is apparently committed to him for some inexplicable reason. Steelers won with Stevan Ridley and Landry Jones carrying the day, although at least JuJu Smith-Schuster did his part too.

Panthers at Falcons: The lack of touchdowns by Matt Ryan is disappointing. Passing the ball up and down the field all day but yet again, only 1 TD. I suppose they have the talent to beat a team or two, maybe, on the NFC side, but far more likely I think that they get checked out in Week 18. Carolina and Cam Newton played poorly, but I think they're a more dangerous team. With his dual-threat ability, he can certainly do enough to pull off an upset. But they open at New Orleans, which swept them in the regular season, and I think they'll check them out next week.

Bills at Dolphins: On the one hand, I'm happy for the Bills and their long-suffering fans for getting their first playoff team in 18 years. On the other hand, I feel bad for us that we're denied superior Chargers and Ravens teams by most every measure I can think of making the playoffs in favor of this team. I know, I know, those teams blew it themselves. But not excited to see the Bills in the postseason strictly from an entertainment standpoint. LeSean McCoy injured an ankle in this game, sounds like he'll probably be able to play next week, but it's not certain. And without him they're pretty much toast.

Saints at Bucs: I watched the Bucs get up off the carpet and drive the field for the winning touchdown. It foreshadowed what would happen in Bengals-Ravens, when another team playing for nothing but spoiler rights would do the same thing. Impressive. Sounds like the Bucs are going to bring back Dirk Koetter. I guess it's true that when Jameis Winston was healthy and on his game, the Bucs were a pretty good offensive team. Some big plays made down the stretch by Winston, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin. Tampa needs to go back to the drawing board on defense and at running back, clearly, but there are some pieces there. For the Saints, another awesome game by Alvin Kamara, runaway offensive rookie MVP, including a kick return score. With Carson Wentz out, I expect the Saints to beat Carolina this week and win in Philadelphia next week. They could be the NFC's Super Bowl team (probably making for a better opponent for New England/Pittsburgh? than maybe any other candidate).

Jaguars at Titans: Jacksonville isn't exactly entering the playoffs with much in the way of momentum. Played their starters and (thanks to a defensive touchdown) had things close at the end, but their offense did almost nothing. But Tennessee is a bad team and a bad playoff representative, and they'll get checked out by Kansas City toot sweet. Derrick Henry carried 28 times for 51 yards, which looks like a misprint.

Kansas City at Broncos: The less said the better. Kansas City didn't care and still won. A credible enough outing by Paxton Lynch, with a late flurry, that I guess he'll be on the roster next year. But I doubt the team will be fooled into thinking he's the answer. Akeem Hunt got hurt in this one, which is why Anthony Sherman was the team's best running back.

Raiders at Chargers: Nice game, Philip Rivers, but man I could have used that in any one of the last three or four weeks. Just saying. Raiders have fired Jack Del Rio and are apparently going to hand Jon Gruden the keys to the franchise. But what does this mean for the Gruden Grinders segment on ESPN's Monday night show? Blowing up the Raiders is the way to go though, there's not much to cling to with this team. At least Amari Cooper finished strong and we know Derek Carr can play well. But really tough to believe Gruden, after being out of the game for a decade, can come in and fix what ails this team. Huge game for Keenan Allen and I guess Melvin Gordon wasn't too hurt after all. AFC is lucky Chargers aren't in the playoffs, this is a good team.

49ers at Rams: Rams didn't care and didn't play anybody of note. Feel a little bad for the fans who paid for it, I guess, but at least they'll have Goff and Gurley from the opening snap next week. Nice game for Carlos Hyde, which I also could have used in recent weeks when I had to use Hyde. Oh well.

Cardinals at Seahawks: Pretty awesome Doug Baldwin touchdown at the end of this one. Very fitting that Seattle missed out on a win (which would have been meaningless anyway) by Blair Walsh missing a field goal in the final minute, since he'd been missing them all during the second half of the season, and that's what you get. The NFC is poorer for not having Wilson and Baldwin in the playoffs. Final and fitting postscript to Thomas Rawls' lousy season: He had a 12-yard reception to pick up a first down, one of his few positive on-field plays all season, and then stood up and taunted the defender, drawing a 15-yard penalty. What can you say? For Rawls to be taunting any defender ever is just plain sad.

Bengals at Ravens: Things really worked out amazingly well for the NFL. Terribly for the Ravens, of course, who blew a playoff spot on a pretty miraculous fourth-and-long touchdown. One of the plays of the day was turned in by Alex Collins (cut by Seattle in favor of Rawls-Lacy, nice work guys). With Baltimore down 2 TDs and facing a 4th and 3 in the red zone, they went for it on a pitch to Collins left. There was nothing there, he was caught in the backfield, and he reversed field, eluded the entire defense, and not only picked up the first but got in the end zone. It was a Wow play, the kind of play they'd be talking about all week had the Ravens (who used that play and another drive to ultimately take the lead) not blown the lead and lost. But I'll remember it next year when I have Collins on all my teams.

But the Ravens are done, and so is the NFL regular season. It ended well, at least with drama, if not excellence by some teams who needed wins to get in. Thanks for reading these recaps. Time to look ahead to the playoffs, not back. Happy New Year; let's all do our part to make it a great one.