After a wild 2023-24 NFL season that saw many teams lose key players to season-ending injuries and thoroughly shake up the league, the 2024 playoffs have begun.
The postseason kicked off with its usual “Super Wild Card Weekend.” There were plenty of storylines coming into the weekend for fans to watch out for, and the league made sure to get the word out.
The Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans faced off just two years removed from the blockbuster disaster of a trade that sent Deshaun Watson to the Browns and multiple draft picks to the Texans, which virtually built their AFC South championship team.
The Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs game meant the return of speedster star wide receiver and former Chief Tyreek Hill to Arrowhead Stadium, along with the record-low expected temperatures.
The Dallas Cowboys hosted the Green Bay Packers for the first playoff game between the two teams since the Dez Bryant no-catch, which led to major rule changes, albeit it was 2017, so the two teams have completely different rosters now.
The Detroit Lions hosted their first home playoff game since the 1993 season against none other than their greatest quarterback in franchise history, Matthew Stafford, and the Los Angeles Rams.
With four of the six games having major storylines, it only left the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles versus Tampa Buccaneers without one.
That said, even with the major storylines, there was only one close game to come out of the first round of the NFL playoffs. That game was the Rams versus Lions game, which was a nail-biter throughout but ended in the Lions defeating Stafford and the Rams 24-23 for the team’s first playoff win since the 1991 playoffs.
Although the other five games were not close whatsoever, with an average point differential of 21 and the closest game being between the Bills (31) and Steelers (14), there were some notable upsets.
In the first game of the weekend, the Texans, who came into the game as home underdogs, proved their worth by blowing out the Browns 45-14 and sending Joe Flacco back to his couch.
The Packers stormed into Jerry’s World in Dallas and stunned the Cowboys 48-32, becoming the first seventh seed to win a Wild Card game, with it only being a game after the Cowboys scored two touchdowns in garbage time.
In the weekend’s final game, Tampa Bay, who barely won their division this year, crushed the Eagles as home underdogs 32-9, who lost five of their last six regular season games to lose their division.
Lastly, the Chiefs took care of business against the Dolphins 26-7 on a frigid Saturday night.
The “Super Wild Card Weekend” set up this past weekend’s AFC and NFC divisional round matchup.
The four-seed Texans traveled to face the one-seed Baltimore Ravens. Houston’s improbable run, going from worst to first in their division behind quarterback C.J. Stroud and head coach Demeco Ryans, ended with a 34-10 loss. After a close first half, the score was tied at 10 going into the second half when the Ravens put their foot on the gas pedal and scored 24 unanswered points. Lamar Jackson continued his MVP season with four total touchdowns and another game with over a hundred yards rushing and passing in the win. The victory books Jackson and the Ravens a spot in the conference championship game, Jackson’s first and the team’s first since their Super Bowl-winning season in 2013.
The three-seed Chiefs went on the road to the two-seed Bills for Patrick Mahomes’s first-ever road playoff game. Football fans were blessed with one of the best playoff games in NFL history the last time these two met in the playoffs. The game started as advertised, whenever two of the best quarterbacks in the league face off. Only one drive ended in a punt in the first half, ending with a 17-13 Bills lead. The offense continued in the second half after three straight touchdowns to start, beginning with Kansas City and putting them in front 27-24. From there, the offense sputtered with no more scoring in the game. The Chiefs’ win puts them in the AFC Championship for the sixth straight year; every year Mahomes has been the starter.
The young and hungry seventh-seed Packers faced the Super Bowl favorite one-seed San Francisco 49ers for a record 10th time in their franchise’s history. After trailing heading into the fourth quarter, the Niners narrowly held off Jordan Love and Green Bay for a 24-21 comeback victory. The turning point in the game was when the Packers kicker Anders Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal late in the game, which would have put his team up seven. Instead, on the following drive, Brock Purdy and the San Francisco offense stormed down the field for the eventual game-winning score. The win put the Niners in the NFC title game for the fourth time in five years.
The four-seed Buccaneers matched up with the three-seed Lions. It was another close game heading into halftime, with a couple of back-and-forth scores had the game knotted at ten at the start of the third quarter. The game continued that way in the second half, with a touchdown for each team in the third quarter. In the fourth, the Lions pulled away with two unanswered touchdowns to go up 14. After scoring a touchdown of their own, the Bucs made it a one-score game with the chance to tie the game late. However, a Baker Mayfield interception in the following drive solidified the win for the Lions and put them in the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1991.
With the Divisional Round over, the Conference Championship matchups are set with the Chiefs traveling to Baltimore and the Lions to San Francisco, both with a Super Bowl appearance on the line.
