Christmas has come and gon, and with it, a ton of wrapping paper, cardboard and twist ties that hold toys in place so they look good in the box have gone away as well. I would like to meet the guy whose job it is to twist tie things to boxes. I bet he has a crushing handshake. The mere fact it takes roughly forty minutes to remove a horse figurine from a cardboard box is a true testimony to the diligence the tie twister person takes in making sure the horse figurine will not dislodge itself from the box and get his little fake face pressed up against the clear frontal area of the container, somehow making him look disfigured and not quite as shopper appealing so he spends his entire life on a store shelf until the front plastic see through thingy gets so covered in dust you cannot tell what toy is in there anymore. Then after you finally get the toy out of the box; you discover a recall, and the horse is radioactive. You have to take back the horse, get a new non-radioactive one, and untie him from the box for an hour, all so your child can throw the horse on the floor, play with the box, and said horse gets chewed by the dog. I guess the good news is, the dog chewed the non-radioactive horse so the waste products will be colorful, but won't glow in the dark.

In other holiday news, there were football games played. If you are a Cleveland Browns fan, or a Minnesota Vikings fan, Santa brought you the NFL equivalent of coal. If you are a Washington Redskins fan, a New Orleans Saints fan or a Tennessee Titans fan, you are rejoicing in the fact your team still has potential playoff-ability when they could have been eliminated.

Lets start off in the AFC with these wild card implicated games. Browns take on the Bengals in the battle of Ohio . Browns win, they are in the playoffs. Titans lose? Browns are in the playoffs. Derek Anderson ties Brian Sipe for the most touch down tosses in team history at 28, but also throws four picks, and the Browns lose to the Bengals 19-14. Seems appropriate that the Browns would not just lock up a playoff birth with a win, since Brian Sipe was a member of the Cardiac Kids way back when, the Browns honor him by making Cleveland fans sweat out the last week in grand cardiac fashion - unless of course Tennessee loses. The Titans meanwhile, take on the New York Jets, and win 10-6. For some unexplainable reason, Cleveland still holds the last spot in the AFC wild card, but can do nothing about keeping that particular spots. If Cleveland wins, and Tennessee wins, the Titans are in the playoffs. If the Titans loses and Cleveland just sits at home on the couch and forfeits, Cleveland goes to the playoffs. So Cleveland can win or lose next week and have nothing to do with getting into they playoffs. They just need Tennessee to lose. Tennessee has the control. They win they're in. They lose they're out. That simple. Titans fans rejoice. Cleveland fans think "Where have I seen this before"?

On to the NFC playoff implications. The Minnesota Vikings fans must think they have been mysteriously moved to Cleveland . They beat the Redskins, and they are in the playoffs. They lose, and they relinquish control of the destiny of the last wild card spot to Washington . Of course they lose 32-21. To add insult to injury, during the game, the Vikings were mounting a tremendous comeback. The Redskins make a catch that appeared to be out of bounds. Do the Vikings challenge? While they think about it, Washington hikes the ball and fumbles!! Vikings ball!! Out comes the challenge flag, from Washington . Joe Gibbs challenges the fact the Vikings had twelve men on the field, and sure enough they do, so the fumble recovery is negated and Washington gets the ball back. They score and the momentum swing is quashed. Yet again, the craziness of the instant replay is uncovered. You aren't allowed to review some game changing plays, yet you can throw the red flag so officials can count the number of guys on a field of play. I will never understand instant replay as long as I live. Vikings lose, Redskins control their own destiny. Skin's win? They are in. Vikes win and 'Skins lose, Vikings are in. Both teams lose and New Orleans wins, then the Saints get the last playoff spot. Amazing!!

The really strange part about New Orleans is this comes on the heels of them getting stomped by Philadelphia 38-23. You get beat like that, you should be out of the playoff picture, but they remain in the hunt even in defeat.

Another meaningful game in the NFL was the Chargers beating the Broncos 23-3 and controlling the three seed in the AFC. This would allow them to play Indy in the playoffs rather than undefeated New England . Give a kid a choice between broccoli and chocolate, kids will take chocolate every time. Give an NFL team the choice between the undefeated guys at home, or anyone else, they'll take anyone else.

The Patriots are one game away from perfection - While the Pats game had no value in the playoff implication category, it was meaningful in one way - the Patriots remained undefeated. They play the cover-your-eyes-awful Miami Dolphins and win 28-7. They are the first team in NFL history to go 15-0 in regular season play, beating the team whose predecessors are the only team to go undefeated ever, that being of course the Miami Dolphins of old. The only thing standing between the Pats and perfection are the New York Giants. Neither team is playing for a change in the playoff picture so it will be interesting to see who starts, who doesn't, and how important making or breaking the streak is to either team. The Patriots play for best team ever, the Giants just risk the possibility of injury. Who do you think is going to win?

Who do you not want to play in the playoffs? If I were an AFC division leading high seed team, the team I most don't want in the first round is the Jaguars. Those guys are on a major roll. They stomp the Raiders 49-11 and lock up the first wild card spot in the AFC, along with the number 5 seed. Take away the two losses to the Indianapolis Colts, and the Jags only have two losses total.

Steelers win the Central Division - Take a Cleveland Brown loss and combine it with a Pittsburgh Steelers win, and put a little ketchup on it, you have the recipe for Pittsburgh winning the Central and securing at least one home playoff game. On Sunday morning, a Steeler loss and a Cleveland win puts the Browns in front of that division. The talking heads on TV give the nod to Cleveland . Obviously, none of these people are from Cleveland . Heartache and mayhem always follow Cleveland teams. The Browns of 2007 are no different and prove the curse right and the talking heads wrong, giving Pittsburgh the division. The Steelers beat the Rams 41-24.

Birds of a feather play in Overtime together - The Phoenix Cardinals beat the Falcons 30-27 in overtime. This allows the Cardinals the opportunity to come out of the season a .500 ball club as they currently sit at 7-8. The Cardinals at .500 in the end of a season? I bet you would have to go back a long way to find the Cardinals at .500 at the end of a season.

And in quickie holiday wrap up fashion, rhe Seahawks beat the Ravens 27-6, the Lions knock off the Chiefs 25-20, Bears beat the Pack 35-7, and the Colts beat Texas 38-15. Typically this type of column wrap up would be considered a punt in NFL terms, and basically, that is what it is. There are toys to be put together and twist ties to be removed from boxes, so the coach from the couch requires early sign off. See you again next week after all toys are assembled, played with and broken.