I honestly thought the Giants would step up in what was likely Tom Coughlin's final game and blow out an Eagles team that had mailed it in weeks ago. But it turns out the Eagles hated Chip Kelly more than the Giants loved Coughlin.

Maybe that's not entirely fair as the Eagles defense didn't show up, either, and the Giants offense would have scored more than 30 were it not for their three turnovers. "Three?" you ask. Didn't the Giants have only one turnover, the Eli Manning fumble that was deflected to Walter Thurmond and run back for a touchdown? It's true the Giants had only one involuntary turnover, but they also had two intentional ones, a punt on 4th-and-3 from the Eagles' 39-yard line and another on 4th-and-7 from the Eagles' 38. After all, what's the difference between an interception on third down 25 yards down the field and a punt with 25 yards of net except for the team's intent?

It was a fitting end to a season derailed more by strategic failures than lack of execution or quality of competition. Even on the team's final drive, which ended on downs, the Giants gave away 25-percent of their chances by spiking the ball on first and 10. Once you've made it to the line, why not run a play?

If Coughlin is in fact cut loose, I hope the team brings in a 21st-century coach who grasps the basic probabilities involved in down-and-distance and clock management decisions. While Eli Manning is an adequate quarterback with only a few competent years left, Odell Beckham is a generational talent in his prime around whom a championship can be won.

• Speaking of which, it's disgraceful Beckham saw only seven targets, fewer than Shane Vereen and Will Tye, and the same number as Rueben Randle. I hope offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo is part of the purge.

• It's puzzling it took the Giants 13 weeks to settle on Rashad Jennings as their starting running back. Jennings ran roughshod over a terrible Eagles run defense, but all year, he was the only back capable of breaking tackles and making big plays. And unlike Andre Williams, Jennings can catch passes out of the backfield.

• Jordan Matthews had two TDs, but he also dropped a would-be huge play early in the game when the Eagles were backed up. I've never been a Sam Bradford fan, but he was dealt a tough hand this year and didn't play that badly overall.

• Zach Ertz and Rueben Randle have gone off in Weeks 16-17 the last two years. Actually this year, both went off for the season's final four weeks. Maybe in 2016, they'll be useful for the final eight and in 2017 the whole year.

• Peyton Manning makes the Broncos more intriguing heading into the playoffs, but it's unclear if he makes them better. Denver beat the Chargers at home by seven, and it took a fourth-quarter interception return and a couple big runs by C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman. That said, Manning's arm strength did look better, and he even overthrew a couple receivers down the field.

• Just as last week Bill Belichick's choice to kick off in overtime inspired some "third-level thinking" justifications, so did the Patriots loss to the Miami Doormats. The theory goes that by landing the No. 2 rather than No. 1 seed, the Patriots are set up to play the winner of the Texans-Chiefs game if the Steelers beat the Bengals. If the Bengals beat the Steelers, the Patriots draw them. Essentially, there's no chance for the Patriots to play the Steelers before the AFC Championship game, and that game would be in New England. Personally, I don't think that's a fair trade-off for having to play the Broncos in Denver rather than New England should both teams win in two weeks, so I assume the Patriots were trying to win in Miami, but couldn't get it done.

• I've been harping on how over the last 30 years rematches between division rivals usually (55%) go under, and this week, with 16 such games, was a good test of that theory. As I type this unders are 10-5, and the Sunday night game (44) is 6-3 at half time.

• The Cardinals, it turned out, had nothing for which to play, as the Panthers rolled, but it's hard not to take a dimmer view of their prospects after Seattle throttled them at home.

• At least I don't have the indignity of the Jets making the playoffs.

• The Packers offense would be so much better if the crowd didn't encourage Mike McCarthy to give John Kuhn carries.

• It's amazing, but I'm starting to think 31-year old James Jones, let go by the Raiders and cut by the Giants, is the Packers' No. 1 WR right now.

• Kellen Moore probably had the quietest 435-yard game in NFL history. Not only did no one use him, no one used his receivers, his team didn't win, the game didn't mean anything and he has no chance of a starting job next year.

• Nice of the Lions to get Calvin Johnson 15 targets in Week 17.

• It's awfully hard to pick a favorite to win the Super Bowl at this point. You'd think the No. 1-seeded 15-1 Panthers would be it, but they could conceivably have to beat both the Seahawks and Cardinals to get to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks might be the league's best team, but they'll be on the road next week, have to win four games instead of three and have to get by the Panthers and/or Cardinals. The Patriots no longer have home-field advantage and have looked shaky the last few weeks, the Broncos are back to Manning, who has yet to prove he's the player from early 2014, and even if he is, peak Manning has not been good in cold weather or postseason games. If I had to pick a team it would be the Patriots because they'll presumably get Julian Edelman back, have two weeks to fix their issues, have the best coach, play in the weaker conference and will probably find a way to cheat.