Pats surge past Dolphins to grab playoff bye

Tom Brady's New England Patriots clinched a playoff bye by rallying for a 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins in one of 13 Christmas Eve day games in the NFL. New England scored on its first five possessions of the third quarter after falling behind 17-0 at the half. Brady completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards in the second half for New England (12-3) who won its seventh consecutive game. After the Houston Texans lost to the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday, New England needed a win or a tie to lock up one of the top two spots in the AFC. Brady finished the game going 27 of 46 for 304 passing yards. He completed just seven of 19 passes for 87 yards and was sacked three times in the first half. But Brady opened the second half in style, completing a 22-yard pass to Rob Gronkowski on the first play. Miami who began the season with seven straight losses now have five wins and 10 losses heading into the final weekend of the season. They are 1-1 since Todd Bowles took over as head coach from Tony Sparano. "They just came out and they wanted it more in the second half than we did," said Dolphins interim head coach Bowles. Miami running back Reggie Bush had another outstanding game with his fourth straight rushing performance of at least 100 yards. He finished with a career-high 203 yards. Cam Newton, the No. 1 pick in the NFL entry draft, broke Peyton Manning's rookie record for yards passing as the Carolina Panthers handed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers their ninth consecutive loss 48-16. Newton passed for 171 yards and three touchdowns and scored on a brilliant 49-yard run up the middle. The Panthers (6-9) compiled 397 yards in three quarters and scored on eight of their first nine possessions in the rout. Newton entered the game needing 18 yards passing to break Manning's record of 3,739. "It's tremendous, but if you ask the young man he'll tell you the most important thing is we won the game," Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. "There's a lot of good things ahead for us." The Panthers led 20-10 at halftime but seized command in the third quarter as Newton threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to put Carolina ahead 34-10. The Detroit Lions made the playoffs for the first time since 1999 as Matthew Stafford tossed three touchdown passes in the opening half to beat the San Diego Chargers 38-10. Detroit has won three consecutive games after a seven-game slump to earn a wild-card spot in the playoffs. Detroit held the Chargers scoreless until midway through the third quarter, when Philip Rivers threw an 11-yard pass to Malcom Floyd to make it 24-7. San Francisco kicker David Akers also set the NFL record for most field goals in one season with his 41st in the 49ers 19-17 win over Seattle. In other games it was Oakland 16 Kansas City 13; Tennessee 23 Jacksonville 17; Pittsburgh 27 St. Louis 0; Buffalo 40 Denver 14; Minnesota 33 Washington 26; Baltimore 20 Cleveland 14; New York Giants 29 New York Jets 14; Cincinnati 23 Arizona 16; and Philadelphia 20 Dallas 7.