NFL: Saints, Rams, Chiefs, Panthers clinch playoff spots

Drew Brees reached an NFL milestone to power the New Orleans Saints into the NFL playoffs.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees in action against Atlanta Falcons in New Orleans. Picture: Getty Images

Drew Brees reached an NFL milestone and threw a touchdown after a bizarre interception to power the New Orleans Saints into the NFL playoffs by beating Atlanta 23-13.

Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers also won to clinch post-season berths on the penultimate weekend of the 2017 NFL campaign. New England, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Jacksonville had already secured playoff berths, which leaves three wildcard spots up for grabs next Sunday before the playoffs begin in January.

Brees, 39 next month, completed 21-of-28 passes for 239 yards to spark the Saints, becoming the fastest quarterback in NFL history to surpass 70,000 career passing yards in the process.

Brees joined retired stars Peyton Manning and Brett Favre in reaching the milestone with a 12-yard screen pass to Mark Ingram during the first quarter, reaching the mark in 248 games to 258 for Manning and 293 for Favre.

With 70,200 career passing yards, Brees could crack Manning’s all-time passing yardage mark of 71,940 next season.

But the play of the game belonged to Saints rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore, who found a unique way to pickoff an interception while face down on the field, a move dubbed the “butt pick”.

Matt Ryan’s throw popped into the air before falling onto the rear of the prone Lattimore. After the ball landed on his backside, Lattimore reached back with his hands, brought his legs up to his rear to keep the ball from falling onto the field and rolled over to complete his fifth interception of the season. Brees threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jnr three plays later.

“That was a huge swing, for them to be in position to get points before the half, and then we got the big play,” Saints coach Sean Payton said.

The Saints (11-4) snapped a three-season playoff drought but remained deadlocked at the top of the NFC South division with Carolina after the Panthers edged Tampa Bay 22-19.

Atlanta (9-6) can clinch the last NFC playoff spot by beating Carolina but a loss would open the door for the Seattle Seahawks (9-6), who eliminated Dallas 21-12 to stay in contention.

The Seahawks were the first team since the 1966 Philadelphia Eagles to win a game with more penalty yards than total yardage.

Rams rusher Todd Gurley became the first player since Herschel Walker of Dallas in 1986 to run for more than 100 yards and have more than 150 receiving yards in a game, scoring two touchdowns as Los Angeles clinched the NFC West title by beating Tennessee 27-23.

Gurley ran 21 times for 115 yards while catching 10 passes for 158 yards and touchdowns of three and 80 yards.

Rams quarterback Jared Goff completed 22 of 38 passes for 301 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winning 14-yarder to Cooper Kupp with 11:51 to play. The Rams (11-4) took their first division title since 2003 and first playoff berth since 2004, both when the team was based in St. Louis. They last won a division title in Los Angeles in 1985.

Quarterback Alex Smith completed 25 of 39 passes for 304 yards and a touchdown to power Kansas City over Miami 29-13 to secure the AFC West crown.

AFP