It is December, and in the NFL December separates the men from individuals who merely have X and Y chromosome pairs. To the standings, a September W or L carries the same weight as a December W or L. But as the league turns, December results are a thousand times more important. The pressure is on. December games are played when the losers know they are losers and everyone is expecting their loserhood to deepen; when the successful teams know they are successful, but each play counts in the battle for all-important first-round byes; when the clubs poised between reaching the playoffs and dropping to loserhood are so nervous you can practically see their team buses shaking.

Whether you make the postseason bears little relationship to what you earn. Playoff bonuses are relatively small—$10,000 each to players in the first round. Huge offseason deals often go to gentlemen from crummy teams (they tend to stand out) while those who perform deep into January may find themselves cut by Valentine's Day as clubs deal with the salary cap. (Winning gentlemen tend not to stand out, since their teams play like teams.) Exactly because it's got nothing to do with money, performance in "money time" is what players respect each other, and themselves, for. And now it's money time, when we find out whose has heart and who's a pumped-up pretender.

Teams that turned in money performances over the weekend: Jersey/A, New Orleans, Oakland, St. Louis. Teams that looked nervous as cats: Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami. Teams that looked like Frankenstein had more heart: the Chesapeake Watershed Region Indigenous Persons. Teams that crashed and burned: Buffalo and Pittsburgh. The Steelers were so shaky they lined up for a field-goal attempt when trailing 20-3 in the third and knowing a loss eliminated them; the football gods were offended and brushed the ball aside well before it reached the goal posts. Miami looked so nervous it punted in opposition territory with three minutes left even though it was behind. The Persons looked like they were auditioning for the Cincinnati Bengals taxi squad. Redeeming virtue of the Persons wheeze-out: It proves that money can't buy happiness.

Come next Sunday, most if not all playoff slots will be decided but maneuvering for byes and seeding will continue. Getting into the postseason makes a team's season a success, but seeding is the key to the Super Bowl since the four bye teams win nearly 80 percent of second-round games.

Best Plays of the Week: Best No. 1. Tampa Bay led Miami 16-13 with 2:09 to go and was backed up on its 5. Quarterback Shaun King threw an ill-advised screen to Warrick Dunn, who was surrounded in the end zone. It looked like a sure safety, but Dunn spun out of a tackle and managed to get back onto the field. This 1-yard loss was the consensus play of the day.

Best No. 2. Oakland's third-and-long innovation of lining up five DBs across the field at the first-down marker, rushing just 3 and forcing the offense to throw under, has now been named the "stick" formation because the DBs form their barricade at that yellow stick. The Jets faced third and 11 from their own 2, the Raiders came out in the stick, and Jersey/B was forced to throw under. Punt, Raiders touchdown on ensuing drive. Why aren't other teams imitating this set?

Best No. 3. For years San Francisco has been making a living on "motion-out," in which a WR, usually Jerry Rice, comes across the formation in motion, then makes a quick lateral turn-out for a short gain that's nearly impossible to stop. The play drives defenders to distraction because they know it's coming, yet all you can do is choke up on the WR and be there when the ball arrives. Sunday against New Orleans, Terrell Owens trotted across for the motion-out. When the DB came up, Jeff Garcia pump-faked, and Owens double-moved to a go route for a 69-yard TD.

Best No. 4. Trailing the Niners 27-24 on the road, the Saints faced fourth and 4 at their own 37 with three minutes left. Yes—they're going for it! Novice QB Aaron Brooks scrambled for the first on a wild broken play, and New Orleans went on to win in the closing seconds. Compare this to Miami which, playing at home and trailing by the same margin with the same amount of time remaining, faced fourth and 6 at the Buccaneer 47. No—it's a punt! Buck-buck-buck-brawck. Tampa players jogged up the tunnel victorious.

Worst Plays of the Week: Worst No. 1. With the score tied at zero in the second quarter, Detroit faced third and goal at the Green Bay 6. QB Charlie Batch had a pass-rusher directly in his face and instead of taking the sack, heave-hoed into double coverage—or, to be precise, into coverage he couldn't see because there was a rusher directly in his face. Result: INT returned to the Packers' 40, Green Bay scores on its drive. Take the sack! Sometimes the best plays a QB makes are incompletions and sacks if they avoid crazy passes that get picked off.

Worst No. 2. Trailing 13-0, the Steelers faced third and 2 on the Giants' 12 with a minute remaining in the second. QB Kordell Stewart faked a pitch right and handed off to Jerome Bettis running left. But when Stewart faked right—there was no one to his right. This phantom fake had no effect on the G-Man defense, which stuffed Bettis for a loss, forcing the Steelers to settle for a field goal.