RG3 and the Washington Redskins are heading to the playoffs as NFC East champions.
By winning their seventh consecutive game, the Redskins rolled to their first division title in 13 years with a 28-18 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. Next up for Robert Griffin III & Co.: a home playoff matchup next Sunday with the Seattle Seahawks — the third straight postseason game for Washington against Seattle.
“It’s just a mindset change,” the rookie quarterback said. “When you have all these guys coming to work every day, putting it on the line, we knew we couldn’t afford to lose one game, we made sure we didn’t.”
Thanks to Houston’s late-season slump, Denver and New England will have byes when the AFC playoffs begin next weekend.
The Texans fell from first to third in the conference Sunday when they dropped a 28-16 decision at Indianapolis, which welcomed back coach Chuck Pagano after nearly three months of treatments for leukemia.
AFC West champion Denver won its 11th straight game, a 38-3 win over Kansas City, to secure the top seed. New England blanked Miami, 28-0, for the second spot.
Minnesota edged Green Bay, 37-34, to grab the final NFC wild card, sinking the Packers to the third seed. Those teams will meet again Saturday night at Lambeau Field.
The other NFC matchup will have Seattle (11-5), a 20-13 winner over St. Louis, at Washington at 1:30 p.m. (PST) Sunday.
Cincinnati (10-6) will be at Houston at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and Indianapolis (11-5) goes to Baltimore (10-6) at 10 a.m. Sunday in the AFC wild-card round.
The divisional playoffs will be hosted by Denver at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, followed by San Francisco (11-4-1) at 5 p.m.
On Sunday, Jan. 13, Atlanta (13-3) will host the early game at 10 a.m., followed by New England (12-4) at 1:30 p.m.
Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns as Denver (13-3) routed the Chiefs. New England got the second seed despite having the same record as Houston because it beat the Texans, who lost three of their final four games.
Adrian Peterson gained 199 yards against the Packers, finishing with 2,097 — just short of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing mark of 2,105. But it was rookie kicker Blair Walsh who won it with a 29-yard field goal as time expired.
“Ultimately we got the ‘W,’ ” Peterson said. “I told myself to come into this game focused on one thing, and that’s winning.”
Green Bay would have been seeded second in the NFC by beating Minnesota.
“The road got a little tougher having to play on opening weekend, but we’ve got a home game and that’s why you win the division,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “We get to go back home, and the game will be different. They won’t have home-crowd advantage, and hopefully that will make a difference.”
Baltimore Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed is looking forward to a reunion with Pagano. He wishes it would come a little later in the postseason.
“Chuck’s like a dad to me,” Reed said “He means a lot to me. I would have much rather seen them in the AFC Championship game than the first game.”
But Reed will see him next week at Baltimore.
The Ravens had a chance to take the AFC’s third seed. But Baltimore lost at Cincinnati as both teams played reserves.
Pagano coached the Ravens’ secondary for three seasons and was promoted to coordinator last year. Players and coaches in Baltimore have kept in touch, offering encouragement as he fought through the cancer treatments.
“Going back to Baltimore, obviously there’s some familiarity there,” Pagano said. “We had four great years there as a family. It’s a top-notch organization, you know, really good football club. It’s a great challenge and they have a great team and they have great players all over the place.”
The Colts were 2-14 last season and chose quarterback Andrew Luck with the top selection in the draft. Luck and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who stepped in as interim coach with Pagano sidelined, led the turnaround.
Next week, Pagano goes up against former boss John Harbaugh.
“I love his family, and he’s one of my closest personal friends in coaching,” Harbaugh said. “What he’s been through is phenomenal, but we’re all competitors so that gets set aside.”
Houston beat Cincinnati in the opening round of last season’s playoffs.
“I think it will be good,” said Bengals QB Andy Dalton. “We played there last year and know the atmosphere and what it’s going to be like. The experience last year will definitely help us.”
The defending Super Bowl champion Giants (9-7) were eliminated when Chicago beat Detroit, 26-24.
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