The Rams, Vikings, Jets and Broncos squeezed into the NFL playoffs and found familiar opponents waiting for them.

St. Louis got in Sunday by beating the New York Jets 32-29 in overtime and will face NFC West rival Seattle in the wild-card round next Saturday. The Seahawks edged Atlanta 28-26 to win the division.

The Jets advanced despite their loss when Buffalo fell at home to Pittsburgh, 29-24 - even though the Steelers played mostly backups. A trip to San Diego on Saturday night is in store for the Jets, who beat the Chargers in Week 2.

Minnesota lost at Washington 21-18, then got lucky when the Rams won on Jeff Wilkins' 31-yard field goal. That qualified the Vikings and knocked out New Orleans, even though the Saints won their fourth straight, 21-18 at Carolina.

Next up for the Vikings is NFC North neighbor Green Bay. The division-champion Packers beat Chicago 31-14 and host Minnesota in the late game next Sunday.

Denver will be at Indianapolis in the other Sunday game, one week after the Broncos beat the Colts - again mostly using subs. When Denver won 33-14, it eliminated Jacksonville and Baltimore, both of whom were winners in their season finales. The Jaguars defeated Oakland 13-6, and the Ravens took Miami 30-23.

New England, which like Pittsburgh has an AFC bye next weekend, beat San Francisco 21-7. Philadelphia, owning NFC home-field advantage for the playoffs, again used backups and was beaten 38-10 by Cincinnati. San Diego beat Kansas City 24-17.

At St. Louis, Marc Bulger threw for 450 yards and three touchdowns. The Rams (8-8) won their last two games to qualify."We've just had a million things go wrong, and goofy things happen all year," offensive guard Adam Timmerman said. "We kept fighting and fighting, and to get in the playoffs is one of those really sweet things."New York (10-6) made the playoffs for the third time in four seasons under coach Herman Edwards. They have gone 5-6 in their final 11 games following a 5-0 start, and lost three of their last four."I hate to lose getting in," coach Herman Edwards said. "But we'll take it. Now, all we have to do is get in the playoffs and win."Curtis Martin had 153 yards on 28 carries and moved into fourth place on the NFL career rushing list. He also won the NFL rushing title for the first time.

At Seattle, Matt Hasselbeck threw two touchdown passes and got another TD on a sneak, then the Seahawks (9-7) barely avoided another late meltdown. Warrick Dunn was stopped on a 2-point conversion attempt that would have forced overtime after reserve quarterback Matt Schaub threw a 3-yard TD pass to Brian Finneran as time expired."We had some major adversity through the season and we kept our eyes focused on that goal and accomplished it," Hasselbeck said. "We didn't do it the easy way."Seattle's Shaun Alexander ran for 80 yards, finishing a yard behind Martin (1,697) for the rushing title.Atlanta (11-5) lost its final two after securing the NFC's No. 2 seed in the playoffs. Dunn finished with 132 yards and posted his third 1,000-yard rushing season.

At San Diego, having clinched the AFC West two weeks earlier and the AFC's No. 4 seed a week ago, the Chargers rested Pro Bowlers Drew Brees, LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates, as well as defensive tackle Jamal Williams.Host San Diego (12-4) was still too much for Kansas City (7-9), which had its four-game winning streak snapped.Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez set the NFL single-season record for tight ends with 102 catches. He broke the record of 96 set by Ben Coates in 1994. Gonzalez's 14 catches, for 144 yards, were a Chiefs single-game record, breaking Ed Podolak's mark of 12 set in 1973.Trent Green was intercepted four times.

The Vikings (8-8) lost seven of their last 10 games after a 5-1 start. Last year, they fell from 6-0 to 9-7 and were eliminated by a touchdown pass on the last play of the season at Arizona. They were more fortunate this year despite a worse record.The Redskins (6-10) gave a spirited finish to Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs' disappointing comeback season, his worst in 13 years with the Redskins. Ladell Butts rushed for a career-high 118 yards subbing for injured Clinton Portis.

Needing to beat the Panthers to stay in playoff contention, the Saints (8-8) forced three turnovers and had six sacks. Aaron Brooks passed for 216 yards and threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Joe Horn.The defending NFC champion Panthers (7-9) started the season 1-7 and lost 14 players to injury before rallying behind a patchwork group of replacements. A desperation 60-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation was blocked by Tony Bryant.

At Chicago, Brett Favre and the Packers (10-6) beat the Bears (5-11) for the 21st time in the last 26 meetings - including 11 straight on the road. Favre played the first quarter and one series in the second, going 9-of-13 for 196 yards and two touchdowns. Favre also went over 4,000 yards passing in a season for the fourth time in his career and reached 30 TD passes for an eighth time.Led by Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila's three sacks, Green Bay trapped Chad Hutchinson nine times.

At Denver, Jake Plummer threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns against the Colts' second-stringers. The Broncos (10-6) start the postseason in a familiar place - at Indianapolis (12-4), where they lost 41-10 in last year's first round.Peyton Manning played just one series, throwing two passes and finishing the regular season with the same NFL-record 49 touchdowns he entered the week with. By going 1-for-2, Manning finished the year with a 121.1 passer rating, easily breaking Steve Young's record.

At Oakland, in the mud, the Jaguars (9-7) concluded their first winning season in five years. Greg Jones scored on a 1-yard run for the game's only touchdown that broke a third-quarter tie. The Raiders (5-11) had a chance to send the game into overtime in the final seconds, but Kerry Collins fumbled the snap on fourth-and-goal at the 2, picked it up and was tackled for a loss.

At Baltimore, downtrodden Miami (4-12) started third-string quarterback Sage Rosenfels, but made a game of it.Jamal Lewis scored a touchdown and ran for 167 yards, giving him 1,006 for the season for the Ravens (9-7). Jarret Johnson returned an interception for a score, and teammate Ed Reed got his ninth interception and returned it 41 yards to get an NFL record for return yardage in a season (358).

Host New England, a franchise-best 14-2 for the second straight season, got Tom Brady's two TD passes after he threw an interception and lost a fumble. Corey Dillon ran for 116 yards and one touchdown, but also lost a fumble.The Patriots' regular-season record of scoring first in 20 straight games ended on Ken Dorsey's 4-yard pass to third-string tight end Steve Bush late in the first quarter.San Francisco matched its franchise-worst 2-14 record and clinched the top pick in this year's draft.

At Philadelphia, with Donovan McNabb and several other starters sitting out, the Eagles' backups were dominated. Rudi Johnson ran for three touchdowns and 99 yards, and the Bengals finished 8-8 for the second year in a row.The Eagles (13-3) had five turnovers in their worst performance since a 38-0 loss to Seattle in the 1998 season opener.Only the 1967 Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl after losing the final two regular-season games.

The Titans (5-11) snapped a five-game skid. They were without 14 players from their opening day roster because of injuries, but had more than enough to handle visiting Detroit (6-10).

At Houston, Cleveland (4-12) ended a nine-game losing streak, denying Houston (7-9) its first non-losing season. Lee Suggs had his third straight 100-yard rushing day with 131 yards, and Phil Dawson kicked five field goals, giving Browns interim coach Terry Robiskie his only win in five games since replacing Butch Davis.

Neil Rackers kicked four field goals, and the host Cardinals (6-10) stifled Tampa Bay (5-11), handing the Buccaneers their worst record since going 5-11 in 1993.

Tiki Barber became the Giants' career leading rusher and scored the winning points on a 3-yard run with 11 seconds to play. Eli Manning also threw three touchdown passes for his first NFL victory as the Giants (6-10) snapped an eight-game losing streak.Visiting Dallas (6-10) went ahead on Julius Jones' 1-yard run and a 2-point conversion pass with 1:49 to play. But the Cowboys (6-10) couldn't hold on.Barber set the Giants' single-season and career rushing records in the game, surpassing marks held by Rodney Hampton and Joe Morris, respectively. He also wound up leading the league in all-purpose yards this season with 2,096.