NFL Playoffs - Wild Card Round Recap

 

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence helped lead huge comeback win.

The NFL playoffs got started with the Wild Card round on Saturday in San Francisco where the host 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 41-23 in the first of three NFC wild card games as they pulled away in the second half, with the critical play being a fumble recovery on a hit on Seattle quarterback Geno Smith when the Seahawks were in the red zone and trailing 23-17. The 49ers turned that into a touchdown drive and QB Brock Purdy had three scoring passes and a one-yard TD run to lead the way. 

Seattle fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter before rallying as Smith threw a 50-yard TD pass to wide receiver DK Metcalf  for a 14-13 lead. The teams exchanged field goal before the half as Seattle held a 17-16 lead. But the second half was dominated by San Francisco as Purdy connected with Deebo Samuel for a 74-yard scoring pass and also threw a seven-yard TD strike to running back Elijah Mitchell. 'Niners RB Christian McCaffrey (119 yards rushing on 15 carries) also caught a scoring pass in the first quarter as his team piled up 505 yards in total offense to bring home the victory. 

On Saturday night in Jacksonville, it was definitely a tale of two halves as the Jacksonville Jaguars pulled out a 31-30 win against the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC wild card match. The Chargers jumped out to a quick lead after the first of four interceptions (three picks by Asante Samuel, Jr.) from their defense against Jags QB Trevor Lawrence, who would wind up the game with both four picks thrown and four touchdown passes. Chargers RB Austin Ekeler scored on a 13-yard run for the 7-0 lead and the 'Bolts added a field goal and two more scores for a 24-0 lead midway through the second quarter as Ekeler added another scoring run and QB Justin Herbert threw a nine-yard TD pass to tight end Gerald Everett. Another field goal made it 27-0 before Jacksonville finally got going as Lawrence threw a nine-yard pass for a TD to tight end Evan Engram with 24 seconds left in the first half. 

It was all Jacksonville in the second half as they continued the momentum from the late score in the first half, scoring on three successive drives with Lawrence throwing three more scoring passes. The Chargers had a 30-14 lead late in the third quarter after a 50-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker. The Jaguars came right back when WR Zay Jones hauled in a 39-yard pass for touchdown and a 30-20 deficit entering the fourth quarter. 

Jacksonville scored again with 5:25 to play and got the two-point conversion on a one-yard sneak by Lawrence to trim the score to 30-28. The Chargers had missed a field goal (40 yards wide left) prior to that and the next time they had the football they went nowhere and punted. With 3:01 left in regulation, the Jags took the ball downfield and a fourth down-and-one yard play resulted with a 25 yard run by Travis Etienne (20 carries for 109 yards) to the Chargers 16-yard line and set up the game winning field goal, a 36-yarder by Riley Patterson as time expired to complete the third largest comeback win in NFL playoff history. 

The first of the three Sunday games saw the host Buffalo Bills hang tough for a 34-31 win against a gritty Miami Dolphins effort. The Bills raced out to a 17-0 lead thanks to the first of three touchdown passes by quarterback Josh Allen (352 passing yards, three TD, two interceptions) and a 12-yard scoring run by James Cook.  However, Miami scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter and they tied it at 17-17 when rookie third string QB Skylar Thompson (220 passing yards, one TD and two INT) hit tight end Mike Gesicki on a seven-yard TD pass. The Bills then got a 39-yard field goal from Tyler Bass at the end of the first half for a 20-17 advantage. 

The Dolphins actually took a 24-20 lead early in the third quarter when they sacked Allen and he lost the fumble, which the Dolphins DL Zach Sieler scooped up and scored a touchdown from five yards out. But then Allen threw two scoring passes within a 3:11 span to get the Bills back in front, 34-24 with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter. Miami scored once more with 10:53 left in the fourth quarter on a one-yard run by Jeff Wilson, Jr. to account for the final score. 

Just like their regular season game three weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings and visiting New York Giants played yet another back and forth game only this time the Giants came out on top, 31-24 to advance to the divisional round next weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles, the top team in the NFC. 

Running back Saquon Barkley scored two rushing touchdowns and QB Daniel Jones threw for two more scores along with 301 passing yards to lead the way. Barkley's two-yard TD run with 7:47 remaining in the fourth quarter was the difference in the final score. The Giants defense stopped the Vikings ensuing drive in the final two minutes and then ran out the clock.

The Vikings led 7-0 early on when Kirk Cousins scored on a one-yard run but then New York scored 17 straight points with Barkley scoring on a 28-yard run and Jones throwing a 14-yard TD pass to WR Isaiah Hodgins and a field goal. Cousins would throw a pair of scoring passes to get Minnesota within 24-21 midway through the third quarter and they later tied it 24-24 when Greg Joseph kicked a 38-yard field goal with 12:34 to go in the final quarter. 

 

The final game in the AFC wild card round on Sunday night went to the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-17 over the visiting Baltimore Ravens, who were once again without starting QB Lamar Jackson. The Ravens are know for their defense and they did their part in the loss, limiting the potent Bengals offense to 234 total yards. 

Sam Hubbard (middle) scored the winning TD for Bengals.

But the story of the game was the Cincinnati defense as they turned the tide when defensive end Sam Hubbard took a fumble recovery back 98 yards for what was the winning touchdown with 11:39 left in the fourth quarter. The game was a back and forth affair with the Bengals getting a 9-0 lead thanks to a field goal and then a seven-yard scoring pass from QB Joe Burrow to WR Ja'Marr Chase. But the Ravens came back as running back J.K. Dobbins took a two-yard scoring pass from QB Tyler Huntley and then Justin Tucker drilled a 22-yard field goal just before halftime for a 10-9 edge. 

The Bengals went back ahead with 5:02 left in the third quarter when Burrow snuck it in from one yard out and then completed the two-point conversion pass to WR Tee Higgins for a 17-10 lead. Baltimore would come right back when Huntley connected with WR Demarcus Robinson on a 41-yard TD pass with 2:13 remaining in the third quarter. The Bengals will now travel to Buffalo to face the Bills next Sunday in the divisional round. 

The final wild card game took place on Monday night and the visiting Dallas Cowboys throttled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-14 for their first road playoff victory since the 1992 NFC Championship Game. 

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott put on a show as he threw four touchdown passes (two of them going to tight end Dalton Schultz) and also had 305 passing yards and also scored a rushing touchdown to pace the rout. Dallas led 18-0 at the half and increased the lead to 24-0 early in the third quarter when Prescott hit WR Michael Gallup on a two-yard scoring pass. The Buccaneers were never in this game and QB Tom Brady wound up passing 66 times, completing 35 of them for 351 yards and two touchdowns along with one interception, which was in the Dallas end zone in the first quarter with Tampa Bay down, 6-0 at that point. 

Dallas went up 31-6 early in the final quarter on Prescott's fourth TD pass (18 yards to WR CeeDee Lamb) to put it away and get them into the divisional round, where they will face the San Francisco 49ers on the road next Sunday.

NFC Wild Card Games

San Francisco 41, Seattle 23

N.Y. Giants 31, Minnesota 24 

Dallas 31, Tampa Bay 14 

AFC Wild Card Games 

Jacksonville 31, L.A. Chargers 30 

Buffalo 34, Miami 31

Cincinnati 24, Baltimore 17