AFC

Jacksonville (11-5) at Pittsburgh (10-6)

(Saturday, 7:30 p.m.)

Neither team played hard in its finale.

The Jaguars are the side the higher-seeded teams don’t want to play. They beat the Steelers 29-22 in Pittsburgh on Dec. 16, part of a run of six wins in seven games that ended Sunday when they played backups and lost in Houston. Backup QB Quinn Gray threw four TD passes as David Garrard sat and six starters were inactive, including running back Fred Taylor

“Bottom line is our approach today was to be smart,” coach Jack Del Rio said. “We earned that right. We earned the ability to be able to do that. We hope to be as fresh as possible going forward next week.”

The Steelers also sat starters, notably injured QB Ben Roethlisberger in Baltimore, where they lost 27-21 to the Ravens, who broke a nine-game losing streak. They lost their star running back, Willie Parker, with a broken leg suffered against St. Louis on Dec. 20.

Tennessee (10-6) at San Diego (11-5)

(Sunday, 3:30 p.m.)

The Chargers, who started 1-3, won their last five and six of their last seven as they finally took to new coach Norv Turner’s system. With LaDainian Tomlinson getting the ball more often, San Diego finally began to look like the team that was 14-2 in the regular season last year.

One of the Chargers’ late wins was a 23-17 overtime victory over the Titans in Nashville in which Tennessee blew a 17-3 fourth-quarter lead. The Chargers’ comeback was helped by a fourth-down catch by Chris Chambers that wasn’t overturned although replay angles unavailable at the game seemed to show that the ball hit the ground.

NFC

Washington (9-7) at Seattle (10-6)

(Saturday, 3:30 p.m.)

The Seahawks, the NFC West champions, were already locked into the third seed in the NFC when they went to Atlanta. So they rested offensive starters, played a bland defense and lost 44-41 to the Falcons, who had only three wins previously.

Now the Seahawks face a team that wanted a win Sunday to guarantee getting in and earned it by beating top-seeded Dallas 27-6.

Washington now has won four straight and seems inspired since the shooting death of safety Sean Taylor. One surprise has been the play of 36-year-old quarterback Todd Collins, who took over when Jason Campbell was hurt against Chicago and led the team to four wins after sitting for most of the past 10 seasons.

New York Giants (10-6) at Tampa Bay (9-7)

(Sunday, noon)

The Giants played one of their best games of the season Saturday night in losing 38-35 to the unbeaten Patriots. But cornerback Sam Madison, center Shaun O’Hara and linebacker Kawika Mitchell were hurt.

Coach Tom Coughlin said Sunday he wouldn’t have done it any other way, even though the Giants already had clinched a spot and knew they were going to Tampa before they tried their hardest to prevent New England from becoming the first 16-0 team.

“I don’t know that you can move toward the playoffs in a better way than to play against the No. 1 team in the league, a team that is 16-0, and hold your own,” Coughlin said.

If the Giants have momentum, the Bucs, NFC South champions, are healthier.