SPORTS | NFL UPDATE
The Fastest Two Minutes in NFL Football — Super Wild Card Weekend Results
From twelve teams to six, here’s what happened — the scores, fumbles, INTs, and upsets from this wild and wacky weekend. Two “rookie” QBs shine.
AFC Wild Card Game #1
In the first game of the 2024 Wild Card weekend, the 10–7 Texans+1.5 absolutely rolled over the 11–6 Cleveland Browns, 45–14. The rookie QB, CJ Stroud, continued his unbelievable climb to stardom in Houston with a 3-TD game. Oh, let’s not discount their rookie HC, DeMeco Ryans.
The Texans excelled on both sides of the ball, with Steven Nelson’s 82-yard pick-six and Christian Harris’s 36-yarder in the 3rd quarter. It was QB Flacco’s first loss in a wild-card game.
AFC Wild Card Game #2
It felt like -27 below in Arrowhead Stadium in KC, it probably felt a lot colder for the 11–6 Miami Dolphins, as Mahomes and rookie WR Rashee Rice hooked up 8 times for 130 yards and a TD. The Chiefs-4.5 entered the contest at 11–6 also, but Miami ceded the AFC East crown to the Bills in the last week of the regular season to force a road game.
The real difference in the game was Butker’s boot. He hit four FGs and two PATs for a total of 14 points in the Chiefs’ 26–14 win.
NFC Wild Card Game #1
Although Jordan Love is not a true rookie, he started one game in ’21 and played backup for Rodgers in ten games previously. This was his first year as the GB starting QB. The 9–8 GB Packers+7 surprised the Cowboys and the football world.
Love passed for three TDs, Aaron Jones ran for three more, and Savage had a 64-yard pick-six for another score, downing the favored 12–5 Dallas Cowboys at home, 48–32.
If you look at the stats, you’d swear Dallas won this one. Lamb, Gallup, and Ferguson combined for 306 yards receiving, and Prescott threw three TDs. But GB ripped off 27 points before the ‘Boys even scored.
As a Cowboys fan, how does this article title make you feel? “The 9bn Cowboys excel at two things: Making money and losing in the playoffs.”
NFC Wild Card Game #2
In an evenly matched game, the Detroit Lions-3 finished the game with one more point than the LA Rams, 24–23. It was Detroit’s first playoff win in 32 years (1992).
It must have been especially gratifying for Jared Goff to beat the team that traded him away for Stafford.
AFC Wild Card Game #3
The 11–6 AFC East Champion Buffalo Bills-10 had to wait an extra day to beat up on the TJ Watt-less Pittsburgh Steelers due to a massive snowstorm in Buffalo. After trailing 21–0, Pittsburgh actually closed to within a TD in the 4th quarter, but the Bills took charge to win 31–17.
NFC Wild Card Game #3
The NFC South champion, TB Bucs+3 made the Eagles look silly on both sides of the ball and won 32–9. Yes, the Eagles were without AJ Brown, but they didn’t even look like they belonged in a playoff game.
How the Division Round Shapes up
The Ravens, who sat idle, will play the Texans due to their lowest-seed standing in the AFC. This could be the game to watch.
The SF 49ers will play the GB Packers in SF.
The Bucs will travel to Detroit to take on the Lions.
The KC Chiefs will travel (for the first time in a playoff game) to Buffalo to take on the Bills.
Who are your favorites in the Division Championship round of the playoffs?
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Stephen Dalton is a retired US Army First Sergeant with a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and a Certified US English Chicago Manual of Style Editor. Also, a Top Writer in Bitcoin, Business, Investing, Nutrition, Travel, Fiction, Transportation, VR, NFL, Design, Creativity, and Short Story.
