PLAYOFF PICTURE Crazy year finally gets sorted out

The Jets and Colts will meet for the first time in the postseason since Super Bowl III.
By DAVE GOLDBERG
AP FOOTBALL WRITER
Entering this weekend, the AFC playoff possibilities seemed to confuse almost everyone.
Except, apparently, Herman Edwards and Tony Dungy.
"I was talking to Herm Edwards on Friday and we talked about the possibilities," Dungy said after his Indianapolis Colts beat Jacksonville 20-13 Sunday. "I said, 'We'll go win, you guys go win, and we'll see you next week.' And that's the way it turned out."
Indeed, the Colts and the Jets will open the first round of the playoffs Saturday in East Rutherford, N.J.
Although the two were longtime AFC East rivals until realignment this season, this is their first postseason meeting since the 1969 Super Bowl, when Joe Namath and the Jets stunned the team that was then based in Baltimore. The Colts (10-6) actually made it in before they played, qualifying when Kansas City lost Saturday in Oakland.
The Jets (9-7) got in by beating Green Bay 42-17 after New England had come from behind for a 27-24 overtime victory over Miami to set up a three-way tie for first in the AFC East.
New York won the division because of a superior division record to Miami and a better record against common opponents than New England.
AFC
When New York won, it knocked out both the defending champion Patriots and the Dolphins. Denver, another 9-7 team, was eliminated after the early AFC games.
Oakland (11-5) earned home-field advantage in the AFC on Saturday, and Tennessee (11-5) got a first-round bye by beating Houston 13-3 on Sunday. In the other AFC first-round matchup, Cleveland (9-7) will be at Pittsburgh (10-5-1) on Sunday.
NFC
In the NFC, Philadelphia (12-4) got the top seeding when the Packers lost. Tampa Bay (12-4) is seeded second and has the other first-round bye.
Atlanta (9-6-1) will be at Green Bay (12-4) on Saturday night, a frostbite game the NFL apparently has decided it likes after New England's win over Oakland in the snow last season.
On Sunday the New York Giants (10-6) will be at San Francisco (10-5 going into tonight's game in St. Louis.)
The Colts-Jets game is the only one next week that isn't a reprise of a regular-season game or games.
The 49ers beat the Giants 16-13 on the Thursday night opener at Giants Stadium and that Sunday, the Packers beat the Falcons 37-34 in overtime at Lambeau, albeit in much more pleasant weather than the teams are likely to encounter Saturday night.
The Steelers beat the Browns by three points in both meetings -- 16-13 at Cleveland on Sept. 29 and 23-20 at home on Nov. 3.
Two of the playoff teams played Sunday, with Cleveland beating Atlanta 24-16. But the Falcons got in anyway when New Orleans lost its third straight game, 10-6 to Carolina.