NFL Football

Motivated to the extreme by the garden-variety guarantee of victory issued by second-year Steelers safety Anthony Smith at mid-week, the Patriots made beating the Steelers seem like the most urgent, most desperate task ever put before them. Guarantees, though, had a rough day Sunday when the New England Patriots stayed unbeaten with a 34-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes, Randy Moss caught two and Steelers safety Smith, who guaranteed his team would win, was burned on two long scoring throws. The lopsided victory followed a two-game struggle in which the Patriots (13-0) needed late comebacks to beat teams with losing records, Philadelphia and Baltimore. They had a short week to prepare for the Steelers (9-4) after beating the Ravens on Monday night on a touchdown catch by Gaffney with 44 seconds left.

Tony Romo and Jason Witten put mistakes behind them well enough to connect on a game-winning touchdown that gave the Dallas Cowboys the NFC East title. Romo threw a 16-yard pass to Witten with 18 seconds left, lifting Dallas to a 28-27 win over deflated Detroit on Sunday. The quarterback fumbled near midfield on the drive and the bouncing football was recovered by a teammate after going through a linebacker's hands. The tight end lost the football on the previous possession, less than 1 yard from a go-ahead score. Dallas (12-1) clinched the NFC East for the first time since 1998 and moved a step closer to earning home-field advantage in the conference playoffs.

The Green Bay Packers are going back to the playoffs. And maybe they're bringing a running game with them. Green Bay didn't need Brett Favre to throw the ball all over the field to clinch the NFC North on Sunday, relying on the rushing of Ryan Grant and a pair of special teams touchdowns from Will Blackmon in a 38-7 victory over the Oakland Raiders. The Packers (11-2) assured an end to their two-year absence from the postseason with three games left.

Matt Hasselbeck threw four touchdown passes - the most of his soaring season - and Seattle clinched its fourth consecutive NFC West title with an emphatic 42-21 victory over Arizona on Sunday, ending the Cardinals' quest for their first division title since 1975. The Seahawks (9-4) stormed to a 24-0 lead midway through the second quarter, intercepted Kurt Warner five times and sacked him five times while cruising to their fifth consecutive victory. It's their longest streak since a team-record 11-game run two seasons ago that helped them reach their first Super Bowl. This current streak has come since coach Mike Holmgren declared he was ditching most of a stalled running game and relying on Hasselbeck's passing.

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