Well, the Patriots did it — they beat the Giants (needing a rally to do so) and finished the regular season undefeated.

Their accomplishment — and it is quite an accomplishment in this era of the NFL — will mean less, however, if they don’t win their next three games, culminating in a Super Bowl title. The pressure is really on New England now, to avoid becoming the team that went 16-0 then choked in the playoffs.

Can the Colts, Jaguars or Steelers knock the Patriots off in the playoffs? Can the Cowboys, Packers or Seahawks take them out in the Super Bowl? Here’s what we saw last night — New England trailed to a good team, composed itself and won the game. Somebody will have to find a way to beat the Pats all four quarters, because it’s obvious that if you dominate the first three, they can still pull it out in the fourth.

Here’s my hunch: No one is going to beat them, though the Colts might get close. The only question then is whether they can repeat next season.

Though I’ll make playoff picks, they won’t go toward the overall record. For the last weeK:

WEEK 17
New England over N.Y. GIANTS
Seattle over ATLANTA
CLEVELAND over San Francisco
GREEN BAY over Detroit
INDIANAPOLIS over Tennessee
MIAMI over Cincinnati
PHILADELPHIA over Buffalo
Carolina over TAMPA BAY
WASHINGTON over Dallas
Pittsburgh over BALTIMORE
Jacksonville over HOUSTON
ARIZONA over St. Louis
San Diego over OAKLAND
Minnesota over DENVER
N.Y. JETS over Kansas City
Last week: 10-6 Season: 154-101

My apologies for the hiatus — the holiday got a little nuttier than expected and my day job suddenly got busy. By this time of the season, the moves up and down are too small to stand out. One week left …

1. Patriots (15-0)
2. Colts (13-2)
3. Cowboys (13-2)
4. Packers (12-3)
5. Jaguars (11-4)
6. Chargers (10-5)
7. Seahawks (10-5)
8. Steelers (10-5)
9. Giants (10-5)
10. Buccaneers (9-6)
11. Browns (9-6)
12. Titans (9-6)
13. Redskins (8-7)
14. Vikings (8-7)
15. Eagles (7-8)
16. Texans (7-8)
17. Saints (7-8)
18. Cardinals (7-8)
19. Bills (7-8)
20. Panthers (6-9)
21. Lions (7-8)
22. Bears (6-9)
23. Bengals (6-9)
24. Broncos (6-9)
25. 49ers (5-10)
26. Chiefs (4-11)
27. Raiders (4-11)
28. Ravens (4-11)
29. Rams (3-12)
30. Jets (3-12)
31. Falcons (3-12)
32. Dolphins (1-14)

Never dismiss rivalry games this late in the season, even if one team is hopefully out of playoff contention, and that team is at home.

Exhibit A: The Bengals defeated the Browns 19-14 and hurt Cleveland’s playoff chances. It’s been a rough season for Cincinnati, yet not so rough that it couldn’t bring it against an in-state rival.

Exhibit B: The Bears demolished the Packers 35-7. Green Bay has lost three games this season, two to Chicago. This is such a huge rivalry, that when Bears fans look back on the disappointing 2007, they can a least say they beat the Packers twice.

Going against this theory is the Dolphins unable to come up with an upset against the Patriots. But at least they covered the spread.

How many teams jockeying for playoff position or even a playoff berth went down in flames Sunday? In Week 16, when teams are supposed to start peaking for the playoffs, many went in the opposite direction:

– The Browns needed just a victory to clinch a playoff berth, but Derek Anderson threw four interceptions and Cleveland lost 19-14. The loss means the Steelers clinch the division, and the Browns must win next week and hope the Titans lose to get the last wild card in the AFC. Cleveland hosts San Francisco while Tennessee plays at Indianapolis, but the Colts are locked into the No. 2 seed — how hard will they play the Titans when it means essentially nothing? Tennessee didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard against the Jets on Sunday, either, so the Browns might have the advantage anyway, but they could have made it much easier by simply beating the Bengals.

– As I type, the Redskins are up 22-0 on the Vikings. Provided the Skins win, it’s bad news for the Vikes, who will likely need to win next week at Denver and hope Washington loses to a Dallas team that has secured the No. 1 seed. If both teams lose, and the Saints and Eagles win next week, and there’s a four-way 8-8 tie (yikes, the Lions and Cardinals could go 8-8 too) … OK, my head is spinning at this scenario. Go Redskins or Vikings in Week 17!

– The Packers were simply pummeled by the Bears 35-7. Green Bay locks up the No. 2 seed in the NFC with no chance to catch Dallas — too bad, the frozen tundra would have been a better environment for the Pack in the NFC championship than Texas Stadium. Much better. On the bright side, at least the Packers have two weeks to take it moderately easy, this might have been a minor blessing. Still, it was a brutal, troubling loss this late in the season.

– Buffalo is done after losing to the Giants 38-21. New York clinches the first NFC wild card and locks in the No. 5 seed, and it will be interesting to see how hard they play the Patriots next week with 16-0 on the line.

– Tampa Bay lost to the suddenly resurgent 49ers. The Seahawks locked up the No. 3 seed by beating the Ravens, meaning the Bucs will host the Giants instead of a lesser team to open the playoffs.

– San Diego must not stumble Monday night, because the last thing the Chargers want is the AFC No. 4 seed and a game against the impressive Jaguars.

Bill Parcells is back in football — you knew his retirement wouldn’t last long — as the new vice president of football operations of the hapless Miami Dolphins.

It’s a new challenge for Parcells, to build a winner without actually coaching it. He has a lot of work ahead of him — the Fins are lucky to be 1-13 this season. I wonder if Parcells will keep coach Cam Cameron, who inherited many of the team’s problems, too. The Dolphins need a personnel overhaul on the field, I doubt Nick Saban would have done much better with this team if he hadn’t bolted for Alabama.

So how will Parcells do? Playoffs in 2010 is my prediction. It will take that long to rebuild. I’m curious to see if he gets so antsy that he simply takes over as coach. The Dolphins could do much worse.

Last Thursday game of the year this week, thank god, these odd weeks have been throwing me off …

WEEK 16
Pittsburgh over ST. LOUIS
Dallas over CAROLINA
BUFFALO over N.Y. Giants
Green Bay over CHICAGO
Cleveland over CINCINNATI
DETROIT over Kansas City
INDIANAPOLIS over Houston
MINNESOTA over Washington
NEW ENGLAND over Miami
NEW ORLEANS over Philadelphia
JACKSONVILLE over Oakland
ARIZONA over Atlanta
TENNESSEE over N.Y. Jets
SEATTLE over Baltimore
Tampa Bay over SAN FRANCISCO
SAN DIEGO over Denver
Last week: 10-6 Season: 144-95

Let’s hear it for the top fantasy performer of Week 15: the weather! The only good thing that may come about from global warming is not worrying that your top receiver will have a bad game because there is three inches of snow on the field. Never mind the Meadowlands, Gillette Stadium and all of Florida will be underwater …

STARS
– Fred Taylor, RB, Jaguars. Taylor is going to end up as one of the top five fantasy running backs this season — who would have thunk it? He delivered another solid performance with 147 rushing yards and a touchdown.

– Drew Brees, QB, Saints. New Orleans might not be able to catch a wild-card spot, but Brees is getting them close, especially after a 26-for-30, 315-yard, two-TD game.

– Steven Jackson, RB, Rams. It’s been a rough fantasy season for Jackson, but when healthy, he’s still a top-five pick, as evidenced by his 143-yard, one-TD rushing day against the Packers (as well as four receptions for 27 yards).

SURPRISES
– David Garrard, QB, Jaguars. Garrard did throw an interception, but still posted a decent game in the elements with 197 yards passing and three touchdowns.

– Aaron Stecker, RB, Saints. Reggie who? Deuce what? Stecker stepped up with 95 yards and two TDs.

– Laurence Maroney, RB, Patriots. Maroney has become the forgotten man in the Pats’ offense, but he was a top-10 fantasy pick back in August. He turned in his best game in a long while, rushing for 104 yards and a touchdown.

SLOTHS
– Tom Brady, QB, Patriots. For fantasy owners in the playoffs, ones who have been carried by their quarterback’s incredible 2007, Brady’s performance must have hurt at the worst time — 14 yards passing, no touchdowns.

– Tony Romo, QB, Cowboys. I can’t even think of one Jessica Simpson song to tie into Romo’s bad game. (Actually, that might be a good thing.) Romo was 13-for-36 for 214 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions against the visiting Eagles.

– Derek Anderson, QB, Browns. Blame it on the snow (speaking of bad songs, didn’t Milli Vanilli sing that?) but Anderson put up atrocious fantasy numbers, going 9-for-24 for 137 yards and zero TDs.

Poor Tony Romo — one bad game and all the blame falls on your girlfriend. OK, it was one really bad game, and his horrendous play has the Cowboys needing to win out to guarantee home-field advantage. Romo is still a relatively inexperienced QB, he’s going to have bad games once in a while. But if he truly was spooked by having Jessica Simpson in the stadium, he must not let her see a game live again. In the immortal paraphrasing of Crash Davis, respect the streak. One other thought — do you if think someone told Jessica that Romo was running a bootleg and she replied that he wasn’t even wearing boots?

– Kyle Orton couldn’t lead the Bears to victory, and now they are officially not returning to the playoffs. They better get another QB for next season, as well as help at running back. Without Devin Hester, this team might be 2-12.

– I wonder if Rod Marinelli’s job is in trouble in Detroit. After the Lions’ 6-2 start, they have lost six straight and are staying home in January. It was a impressive turnaround, but when a team turns back around to miserable, something is wrong.

– I’ve already seen a mock fantasy draft for 2008, and surprise, Tom Brady is No. 1. What was a little surprising, there were still a lot of RBs in the first round, even after this year’s carnage. I guess some draft strategies die hard.

– Finally, I have this odd feeling the Chargers might put up a fight in the AFC playoffs. Even if they win a first-round game, they’d go up against the Patriots or Colts in the second round, but it won’t be a gimme for either team. It will be interesting to see if San Diego rebounds to their 2006 form in 2008.

Looking at the rankings, or more specifically, the records this week, it strikes me that there already are a lot of 10-loss teams. That middle pack is sliding farther back as the season winds down. The Panthers make the week’s biggest jump, mostly because their one victory stood out amidst the losing teams they were ranked around. The Giants drop the most, from No. 7 to No. 12.

1. Patriots (14-0)
2. Colts (12-2)
3. Packers (12-2)
4. Cowboys (12-2)
5. Jaguars (10-4)
6. Chargers (9-5)
7. Buccaneers (9-5)
8. Browns (9-5)
9. Seahawks (9-5)
10. Steelers (9-5)
11. Vikings (8-6)
12. Giants (9-5)
13. Titans (8-6)
14. Texans (7-7)
15. Redskins (7-7)
16. Saints (7-7)
17. Eagles (6-8)
18. Bills (7-7)
19. Cardinals (6-8)
20. Panthers (5-9)
21. Lions (6-8)
22. Broncos (6-8)
23. Bears (5-9)
24. Chiefs (4-10)
25. Bengals (5-9)
26. Raiders (4-10)
27. 49ers (4-10)
28. Ravens (4-10)
29. Rams (3-11)
30. Jets (3-11)
31. Falcons (3-11)
32. Dolphins (1-13)