A season ago, the NFL Wild Card Playoffs were far from competitive for the most part. This year, the games have featured plenty of thrills.
A 27-point comeback. A 98-yard fumble return. A franchise’s first postseason victory in over a decade.
One season ago, in the second year of the NFL’s expanded playoff format, the first round of the postseason saw four of its six games decided by at least 16 points. The Patriots were embarrassed at Buffalo, 47-17, and the Eagles were stifled at Tampa, 31-15. The Steelers were humbled at Kansas City, 42-21, and the Cardinals looked lifeless against the Rams, 34-11.
That was hardly the case in this year’s opening round of the NFL playoffs, although there were two exceptions. The Seahawks actually led the 49ers at halftime, 17-16, before losing by 18 points. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked all the part of an 8-9 team in an embarrassing 31-14 loss to the visiting Dallas Cowboys.
In between, there was a lot of excitement. The Jaguars came up with their first playoff win since 2017 after rallying from a 27-0 second-quarter deficit to stun the Chargers, 31-30. It’s the third-biggest postseason comeback in NFL annals.
Mike McDaniel’s Dolphins gave it their all at Orchard Park but the Bills came away with a 34-31 win. The Giants surprised the Vikings, 31-24, the team’s first postseason victory since Super Bowl XLVI. Finally, the Bengals got a big defensive play from defensive end Sam Hubbard (a postseason-record 98-yard fumble return) to edge the rival Ravens, 24-17.
What’s really interesting is that this first round of the NFL postseason has arguably picked up where the playoffs left off a year ago once they got past the first round. Starting with the divisional round, six of the final seven contests were decided by exactly three points. The lone exception was the Bills/Chiefs clash in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, with Kansas City coming up with a 42-36 overtime victory.
It’s also worth noting that there are plenty of fireworks in terms of scoring. Seven of the 12 teams that played in this reached the 40-point mark.
Will the remainder of this postseason be just as competitive and explosive as the wild card round? The answers are coming soon.