32 things we learned from NFL’s ‘Super Wild Card Weekend’: After 49ers roll, close games highlight slate
San Francisco 49ers’ 41-23 runaway from the Seattle Seahawks in the weekend’s opener, an 18-point gap, and the next four games were decided by a total of 18 points (4.5-point average).
2. Seven of the teams that were in action on Saturday and Sunday – the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and Seattle – didn’t qualify for postseason last year. Of that group, only the Jags and G-Men advanced.
3. This was the first time in 23 years that all three Florida NFL teams – Jaguars, Fins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers – all made it to the Super Bowl tournament.
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4. How quickly can a playoff game’s script flip? As long as it takes to force a fumble at the goal line of a 17-17 contest and for a 6-5, 265-pound defensive end to return it 98 yards the other way for the go-ahead TD. Salute to the Cincinnati Bengals’ Sam Hubbard, who now owns the longest fumble recovery return in NFL playoff history and longest TD in Cincy’s postseason log.
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8. Sunday’s 31-24 loss to the Giants dropped Vikings QB Kirk Cousins’ playoff record to … 1-4. The stat line (31-for-39 for 273 yards and 2 TDs) looked good – but the 3-yard checkdown to TE T.J. Hockenson on the Vikes’ final play, which was run on fourth-and-8, had to be infuriating if you’re a Minnesota fan … or player.
9. Meanwhile, Jones looked every bit the player poised to cash a hefty signing bonus following the season. A pending free agent after the Giants declined his fifth-year option, he passed for 301 yards and a pair of scores and ran for 78 more as the centerpiece of an offense that repeatedly gashed the Vikings despite a relative lack of playmakers aside from Jones and RB Saquon Barkley (109 total yards, 2 TDs). But given what this duo has proven in 2022, gonna be hard for GM Joe Schoen to move on from either.
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14. San Francisco’s sweep of Seattle was the first time the 49ers had beaten the same opponent three times in one season. Their failure to achieve that against the Los Angeles Rams last year cost them a berth in Super Bowl 56.
15. Philadelphia will go for its first-ever three-game sweep of the Giants in next weekend’s divisional around. The bitter NFC East rivals have split four previous playoff meetings, Big Blue sweeping the Eagles in 2000.
16. For anyone comparing the 2020 draft class’ quarterbacks to 1983, let’s pump the brakes a touch. Herbert’s Bolts couldn’t hold a 27-0 lead, Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa (concussion) couldn’t post, and the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts (throwing shoulder) may still not be the player we saw for the first three months of the regular season
he visited his teammates Saturday, he wasn’t ready to appear at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium on Sunday and cheered on the Bills while continuing his recovery from home.
24. Were Melissa Stark’s questions really that invasive, Harbs?
25. The Ravens were the first team in 13 years to open the playoffs on the road in the same venue (Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium) where they ended the regular season.
26. Of course, “Super Wild Card Weekend” isn’t over, for the second year rolling into Monday, when the Bucs will host the Dallas Cowboys.
27. Tampa Bay QB Tom Brady seeks to run his career record against Dallas to 8-0.
28. The Cowboys have lost eight consecutive playoff road games, their last victory occurring in the 1992 NFC title game at San Francisco’s old Candlestick Park.
29. Dallas’ Dak Prescott is the fifth quarterback since postseason expanded to 12 teams in 1990 to begin postseason with at least one interception in seven consecutive games. His four predecessors were all one and done.
30. The Buccaneers-Cowboys winner will head to Northern California to face the 49ers, who – aside from their scalding streak – are also 3-0 in playoff games at Levi’s Stadium.
31. With the one game left, six teams have scored at least 30 points this weekend, tied for the most in any playoff round during the Super Bowl era (since 1966).
32. One last bit of “Super Wild Card” context? Teams playing on wild-card weekend have won the Super Bowl 11 times, seven of those clubs true wild cards. A year ago, both the Bengals and Rams advanced from the wild-card round to Super Bowl 56. The season prior, the Buccaneers took the wild-card path – three road playoff wins – to victory in Super Bowl 55.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.