Aaron Rodgers on Steelers-Lions: 'Chaos' -- plus more Week 16 quotes - ESPN

The holiday season means more for NFL fans — it also signals the playoff picture coming into focus. And throughout Week 16, contenders continued to separate from pretenders.

Before the completion of «Sunday Night Football» between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens, six of the day's other 11 games were decided by one score, and five matchups turned into blowouts.

The mix of close finishes and lopsided results provided plenty of fuel for trash talk and sharp sound bites, as some of the week's best moments came before and after the whistle. Players and coaches carried their momentum from the field to the podium, delivering standout lines in their postgame sessions.

From bold declarations to perfectly timed one-liners, here are the best quotes from around the NFL in Week 16.

The Steelers' 29-24 victory over the Detroit Lions delivered one of the wildest finishes of Week 16 — and possibly of the entire season.

Pittsburgh led 29-17 with five minutes left in regulation, a margin that has long signaled safety under head coach Mike Tomlin. Entering Sunday, the Steelers were 103-0-1 when leading by at least 12 points entering the fourth quarter.

That streak nearly ended as Detroit surged back, and the outcome hung on the final snap.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff 's last-play touchdown was wiped out by an offensive pass-interference penalty on Amon-Ra St. Brown, who pushed off cornerback Jalen Ramsey before making a catch and then lateraling the ball to Goff inside the 10 where Goff ran the ball into the end zone. The ruling came after an extended on-field huddle by the officials, drawing boos from the Ford Field crowd.

The win kept Pittsburgh alone atop the AFC North and pushed its division title odds to 78% regardless