Of Note (AFC-NFC Wild Card Playoffs)

Every Tuesday, we’ll recap the previous week with a few things of note. Sometimes the obvious is the most interesting, while we’ll try and mix in a surprise or two along the way…

It was an interesting first weekend to the playoffs, where all 8 teams were limited to 24 or fewer points; the first time that has happened in the Wild Card Round dating back to the current postseason format beginning in 1990. And for those looking for consistency, the 4 games totaled (not in order of appearance) 32, 33, 34 and 38 points…

With the exception of the Seahawks rallying from 14 points down to beat the Redskins in Washington, home-field advantage was a big factor in the Wild Card Playoffs for the second straight postseason. Since 2011, home teams are now 7-1 in the first round of the NFL playoffs. From 2007-10, those far too gracious host clubs were just 7-9 in the Wild Card Round…

All told, there were 5 quarterbacks (Houston’s Matt Schaub, Minnesota’s Joe Webb, Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck, Seattle’s Russell Wilson and Washington’s Robert Griffin III) who made their first career postseason starts last weekend. This Saturday and Sunday, San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick will make his playoff first NFL playoff start. The last time as many as 6 quarterbacks made their initial postseasons starts the same year was 2003…

For the second straight season, the Cincinnati Bengals fell to the Houston Texans, 19-13, in the Wild Card Playoffs. The Bengals have now lost 5 straight playoff games dating back to the 1990 AFC Divisional Playoffs (the NFL record for consecutive playoff losses is 7 straight, actively owned by both the Lions and Chiefs). The Bengals’ last postseason victory continues to be a 41-14 triumph over the then-Houston Oilers in the 1990 AFC Wild Card Playoffs, meaning Cincinnati has still gone the longest in the league since its last playoff win…

So the Top 2 seeds in each conference, the Broncos and Patriots in the AFC and the Falcons and 49ers in the NFC, host the Divisional Playoffs this weekend with the No. 3 Texans (AFC) and Packers (NFC), the No. 4 Ravens (AFC) and the No. 5 Seahawks (NFC). We’ll see how it all shakes out but we do know that in the previous 6 seasons, all numbers of seeds have won the Super Bowl as in the ’06 Colts (AFC-3), ’07 Giants (NFC-5), ’08 Steelers (AFC-2), ’09 Saints (NFC-1), ’10 Packers (NFC-6) and ’11 Giants (NFC-4). As usual, stay tuned…