NFL Week 16 superlatives

It was Haden’s second pass interference foul on fourth down, and neither was an obvious penalty.

Sometimes, that’s just the way it goes. Good teams overcome questionable officiating, and the Steelers weren’t able to Sunday.

The fourth-down conversion will be felt around the league. For now, it helped push the Steelers out of playoff positioning, the Ravens into the AFC North lead and the Colts in as a wild card. In the NFC, it gave the Saints home-field advantage.

Worst Celebration - Roosevelt Nix, Pittsburgh Steelers 

Another turning point of the Steelers-Saints matchup came when Pittsburgh elected to run a fullback dive as a fake punt. On 4th-and-5 with 4:11 left in regulation, Mike Tomlin called Roosevelt Nix’s number. While he fought valiantly for the first down, he clearly came up a yard short.

Still, that didn’t stop Nix from celebrating.

How embarrassing. Though 4th-and-5 is a bit long to call a fullback dive, I didn’t hate the play call. Still, Nix’s celebration epitomizes the Steelers' blindness for certain details. Coming up short on this play and two second-half fumbles may end up costing Pittsburgh the playoffs.

That’s despite 185 receiving yards from Brown and 380 passing yards from “Big Ben” in New Orleans.

Best Catch - Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks

There are so many great wide receivers in the league today, but Baldwin has to be mentioned with the best. He was spectacular Sunday night, posting seven catches for 126 yards and a touchdown.

His score was terrific, but his best catch of the night was a one-handed grab for 29 yards to the K.C. one-yard line. Seattle scored on the next play to extend its lead, and the Seahawks won, 38-31.

Russell Wilson was spectacular as well, throwing for an average of 9.3 yards per attempt and three touchdowns in the victory.

Most Ridiculous Touchdown Pass - Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

The 23-year-old does something jaw-dropping every week. This Sunday, it was a rifle throw across his body for a 25-yard touchdown to Charcandrick West.

Mahomes came up short in another primetime game, but that was no fault of his. He threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns. The Chiefs again scored more than 30 points, but the Kansas City defense can’t stop anyone. The Chiefs allowed 210 rushing yards and 24 second-half points.

Even with the loss, Kansas City will likely earn home-field advantage, but the Chiefs don’t scare anyone with such a weak defense.

Best Comeback - Indianapolis Colts over the New York Giants

Sunday’s game epitomized the Colts’ season. Indianapolis fell behind by 14 points early and then trailed by 10 late in the third quarter.

The Colts’ first lead didn’t come until the final minute of the game, but a win is a win, and after the 28-27 victory against the Giants, Indianapolis will make the postseason with a win next week.

Andrew Luck threw for 357 yards and two touchdowns in the victory.

Craziest Play - Minnesota Vikings Hail Mary

What is it with the Detroit Lions and defending a Hail Mary?

Kirk Cousins completed a 17-yard pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph to move the Vikings within Hail-Mary distance, and Rudolph went down just in time to call a timeout with two seconds left in the first half. Then, magic happened.

Cousins again found Rudolph, on this occasion in the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown. The Vikings beat the Lions, 27-9.

Best Meaningless Game - Green Bay Packers vs. New York Jets

It’s not likely many were watching or cared, but the Packers and Jets played a highly entertaining game Sunday. Surprise, surprise, it was Aaron Rodgers leading Green Bay back for the victory.

The Jets led by 15 points heading into the fourth quarter, but the Packers scored a pair of touchdowns, converted a two-point try and kicked a field goal to take a three-point lead. Credit to the Jets, though, who didn’t quit. Sam Darnold led New York down the field in the two-minute drill, and kicker Jason Myers sent the game into overtime with a field goal.

But Darnold didn’t get another chance. Green Bay won the overtime toss, and Rodgers found Davante Adams for the game-winning 16-yard score.

Rodgers led the league with 442 passing yards in Week 16 and threw two touchdowns in the 44-38 victory.

Best Special Teams TD - Andre Roberts, New York Jets

Darnold averaged 9.7 yards per attempt with 341 passing yards and three touchdowns, but the Jets starred on special teams too. Roberts registered a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown in the first half to help the Jets build their lead.

It was Roberts’ second touchdown of the season.

Best History - Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals 

Future Hall of Fame wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has caught 115 touchdowns in his career. He now has a passing score too.

About midway through the second quarter, Fitzgerald found running back David Johnson for a 32-yard touchdown to pull the Cardinals within five. However, the Rams got back on track and routed Arizona, 31-9.

Fitzgerald has as many touchdown passes as Josh Rosen does in the last five games.

Most Terrific Fantasy Performance - Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans

Here come our fantasy superlatives, and we have a few with Week 16 being the fantasy championship. There were so many fantastic performances, especially from quarterbacks on Sunday, but Watson stuck out the most.

He led the Texans back from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit, completing 29-of-40 passes for two touchdowns. Watson also led Houston with 49 rushing yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.

That added up to 38.46 fantasy points in standard leagues. Rodgers was the only quarterback who outscored Watson with 42.88 fantasy points.

But in real life, Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles answered Watson's final touchdown drive with a last-second field goal to win, 32-30. Philadelphia stayed alive in the playoff race with the win, and Houston fell back to the No. 3 seed.

Best Fantasy Defense - Jacksonville Jaguars 

The Jacksonville defense showed up in Week 16, and anyone gutsy enough to start the Jaguars probably won their fantasy championship because of it.

Jacksonville held the Miami Dolphins to 183 total yards and 4.3 yards per play. The defense had to because the Jaguars offense posted only 3.9 yards per play.

Telvin Smith recorded the defining play, returning an interception 33 yards for a touchdown.

Most Disappointing Fantasy Player - Tarik Cohen, Chicago Bears 

Saturday was a different story (ahem, Philip Rivers), but fantasy studs performed well Sunday. Anyone hoping for Chicago players to fuel a fantasy comeback, though, were probably disappointed.

The Bears offense wasn’t sharp against the San Francisco 49ers, and a large part of why was Cohen couldn’t get going. He rushed for 12 yards on six carries and caught just one pass for seven yards.

Cohen posted 1.9 fantasy points in standard leagues. Still, the Bears didn’t need him, as they defeated the 49ers, 14-9.

And don’t think for a second Cohen cares about anyone’s fantasy team.

Biggest ‘Who’s that?’ Moment - Brian Hill running for 60 yards for Falcons 

Fans who knew of Hill before Week 16 looked awfully smart at their Christmas parties Sunday. Hill, who started the season on the practice squad and came into Sunday with one carry, outshined Tevin Coleman against the Panthers and helped Atlanta win in Carolina, 24-10.

Hill recorded 115 rushing yards on just eight carries, including one attempt that went 60 yards.

Best Tackle - Matt Bosher, Atlanta Falcons 

For those who don’t know, Bosher is a punter. Seeing anyone at that position make any sort of tackle is commendable.

However, Bosher had a hit on Kenjon Barner that would have made Dick Butkus proud.

Best Troll Job - Antwaun Woods, Dallas Cowboys 

It’s been 13 months since Jameis Winston tried to motivate his team by eating a W. Well, finally someone trolled him for that awful pregame speech.

Cowboys defensive lineman Antwaun Woods got right in front of Winston’s face Sunday and “ate a W.” All of Dallas did, beating the Buccaneers, 27-20, to capture the NFC East title.

For those who didn’t catch Winston’s embarrassing pregame speech in 2017, watch here.

Worst Christmas Spirit - Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns 

Look, when it comes down to Mayfield versus Hue Jackson, I’m definitely siding with Mayfield. He’s a franchise quarterback in the making, and Jackson was just an absolute joke of a head coach in Cleveland.

Jackson once said he would never repeat a 1-15 season and fulfilled his promise by posting an 0-16 record the following year.

Having said that, Mayfield’s dislike for Jackson is strange. Mayfield doesn’t seem to understand that Jackson was fired. He didn’t leave him for a better job.

Regardless, Mayfield staring down Jackson on the sideline is still absolutely fun. The first overall pick definitely won’t be sending his former coach a Christmas card anytime soon.

Oldest-Looking Quarterback - Tom Brady, New England Patriots 

This is dangerous to say, but the dynasty may finally be ending. Brady hasn’t looked himself lately, and at home on Sunday, he went 13-of-24 for 126 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. For the first time since 2013, Brady reached doubled-digit interceptions in a season.

Of course, a win is a win, and the Patriots’ 24-12 victory over the Bills, coupled with a Texans loss, means New England is back in position for a first-round bye and will host a playoff game on division weekend if the Pats beat the Jets at home next week.

The Patriots are 7-0 in Foxboro this season, so hosting a second-round playoff game might get New England to its eighth straight AFC Championship Game. That hardly sounds like a dynasty ending, but against a good team, Brady needs to play much better to win even at home.