Twenty-One Years of NFL Playoffs: Ranking the Wild Card Games, Pt. 1

Tier I – It’s Just Bad (sometimes just by one team), Boring Football

90.) 2002 AFC Wild Card – (A5) Colts 0 @ (A4) Jets 41

Review: This is the largest blowout since the new playoff format began. Oddly, it was also the very first playoff game since the new format began, so it really a case of “it can’t get any worse.” In a game that was 17-0 by the time Manning went back to throw his 4^th pass the Jets dominated in every way, outgaining the Colts 396-176, with Pennington going 19-25 for 222 yards and 3 tds. Manning was admittedly bad, but the Colts defense and run game was worse, in a game that marked the high-point of the Herman Edwards/Chad Pennington era. For them, it was mostly “it can’t get any better.”

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This was the Jets last playoff game in the Meadowlands, and the last home playoff win by either team that called the Meadowlands home.

89.) 2010 AFC Wild Card – (A5) Ravens 30 @ (A4) Chiefs 7

Review: To describe this game in one line, it was Matt Cassel against the Ravens defense. It should be no surprise that Cassel went 9-18 and somehow in those 18 passes managed to throw three interceptions. That said, this was the only time that Flacco played well in playoff game in his first three seasons, going 25-34 for  265 yards and 2 tds. The Ravens had a yardage edge of 390-161, and ran 78 plays versus 40 against a horribly outmatched Chiefs team that coasted to the AFC West Title mainly because of god-awful special teams by the Chargers.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This was the 3^rd straight time the Ravens played the 1pm Sunday game in the Wild Card round. All three were Ravens wins on the road, and in the three, they outscored their opponents 90-30.

88.) 2015 AFC Wild Card - (A5) Chiefs 30 @ (A4) Texans 0

Review: This game was over after one play. One special teams play. We didn't have to see one real 'snap' before the game was essentially over, as Kniles Davis ran the opening kick-off back for a touchdown - running it back 106 yards. The game after that was more sad than anything to watch, an old school blowout where the Texans never really had any life. Brian Hoyer was never removed and left out to suffer a 15-34 game with 4 INTs, for a nice 15.9 rating. The Texans defense did nothing, with JJ Watt triple-teamed most of the game. It wasn't a complete domination to the level of the first two games, but it was more sad that it was being done to the home team.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This was the earliest into a game the winning score was recorded, so in every other shutout in playoff history, the opening score by the winning team was scored later than this. Not a huge surprise, I guess, this being the opening play.

87.) 2005 NFC Wild Card – (N5) Panthers 23 @ (N4) Giants 0

Review: Stop me if this sounds familiar, this was a snoozefest where one team dominated the proceedings, outgaining the loser 335-132. The scariest part of this one, though, was that the Giants were the 4^th highest scoring team in the NFL in 2005, and the Panthers made their offense look amateurish. Eli Manning was awful in his playoff debut, matching Matt Cassel in throwing 3 interceptions In just 18 throws. Steve Smith was Steve Smith, but the real story was that defense that held Tiki Barber (off of an 1.860 yard season) to 41 yards on 13 carries.

Interesting/Memorable Plays: Steve Smith had a rushing and receiving touchdown in this game, which was the most recent time a receiver has done that in the same game.

86.) 2007 AFC Wild Card – (A6) Titans 6 @ (A3) Chargers 17

Review: For the first time, the losing team wasn’t held to under 200 yards. It might seem odd to rank a game that was only ended at an 11 point difference this low, but all you need to know about the game was that the Titans QB was Vince Young and the Titans RB was Chris Brown. That is how good Albert Haynesworth was in his prime, that his defense could carry a team with those skill players to the playoffs. Rivers had a nice game going 19-30 for 292 yards, but he could have done less and just let Vince Young screw it up some more.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: The Titans actually led this game 6-0 at the half. It is sad they didn’t pull it off, actually, because then the Chargers wouldn’t have beaten Indy the following week, plus we would have gotten that mess of a playoff team in Tennessee against the 16-0 Patriots.

85.) 2021 NFC Wild Card - (N5) Cardinals 11 @ (N4) Rams 34

Review: The Cardinals started the season 9-2 and were at the time in line for the #1 seed. They crashed and burned after that, then losing the first playoff game in Los Angeles in a long, long time. We don't get the level of blowouts in terms of yards that we used to earlier up the post, but they still outgained the Cardinals 375-183, going up 28-0, including a TD on a truly awful interception by Kyler, before the Cardinals finally scored. Kyler on the day was 19-34 for just 137 yards, while Stafford in his first playoff win after three losses in Detroit, was great when he needed to be, going 13-17 for 202 yards and 2 TDs.

Interesting/Memorable Play: I'll talk about that Kyler interception one more time. It was arguably the worst playoff interception in the entire period of this piece (2002 - 2021). It led to a whole offseason of Kyler and the Cardinals having an icy cold relationship - that at least as of this writing seems to have thawed a bit.

84.) 2012 NFC Wild Card - (N6) Vikings 10 @ (N3) Packers 24

This game was essentially over the second it was announced that Joe Webb was starting in place of Christian Ponder. The only thing that saved this game from being last on this list was the first Vikings drive, where Webb had a nice read-option run and they drove it down and come close to getting a TD to take a quick 7-0 lead. Of course, the Packers held them to a field goal, and then started just systematically taking over the game. What hurt even more for this game was that the Vikings defense did a good job against a listless Packers offense, holding them to seven(!) straight three-and-outs in the 2nd half, not even allowing a fun blowout. 

Interest/Memorable Fact: Joe Webb set a new record for the fewest starts in the regular season for a playoff starter with zero, a rare unbreakable record. Even Rob Johnson, in 1999, started a game, as did Rex Grossman when he came back from injury late in 2005.


83.) 2005 AFC Wild Card – (A5) Jaguars 3 @ (A4) Patriots 28

Review: In classic Dynasty-Era Patriots fashion, what is a close game by yards somehow became a total joke of a game because of some long touchdowns. Asante Samuel, as he is known to do, returned an interception for a TD right after Ben Watson of all people broke a couple tackles for a long TD. Brady, in classic Brady fashion, completed just 15-27 passes, but threw for 3 TDs. In more classic Patriots fashion, Willie McGinest somehow had 4.5 sacks in this game. What I’m saying is that if you could draw up a classic Dynasty-Era Patriots blowout, this is how that game comes out.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This was the last playoff win by a defending Super Bowl Champion. The 2006 and 2009 Steelers didn't make the playoffs. The 2007 Colts, 2008 Giants and 2011 Packers all had great seasons (13-3, 12-4, 15-1) but lost their divisional round home game, and the 2010 Saints lost to the Seahawks.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This was the last time a non-Super Bowl Patriots playoff game was called by anyone other than Jim Nantz and Phil Simms (because they couldn’t, because it was on ABC). That streak will end probably sometime around 2020.

82.) 2021 NFC Wild Card - (N7) Eagles 15 @ (N2) Buccaneers 31

Review: Jalen Hurts-led rush-focused offense vs. Tom Brady coupled with a great Bucs rush defense never at all felt like a matchup that would end with anything other than this. The final score flatters this game as the Bucs led 31-0 before letting the Eagles put up long drive as they stiopped really playing defense after that. Brady was solid, mostly dinking and dunking his way to 271 yards on 29-37 passing. Hurts was the opposite. Sometimes the QB battle does just tell you the story.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: The Bucs did give up four sacks - which is a weird trend in Brady's playoff career where he will randomly have odd games in taking a of sacks. In another Brady playoff oddity - he wins those games a lot too (like Super Bowl LI against Atlanta).

81.) 2016 AFC Wild Card - (A5) Raiders 14 @ (A4) Texans 27

Review: This was a game about as dreadful as everyone expected, with the Raiders forced to start Kevin Cook after Derek Carr broke his leg in Week 16, derailing a potential #2 seed, and then backup Matt McGloin, who could have lead a win over a bad Houston team (starting Brock Osweiler) got hurt in Week 17. Connor Cook was every bit as dreadful as people figured he would be - going 18-45 with three picks. The Raiders actually made it 10-7 late in the first quarter, but the Texans scored 17 straight points to remove any bit of drama that the game would have. The Texans weren't great, Osweiler too  was 14-25 with a pick, but at least you had some fun with the Texans defense. In the end, the game was inevitable.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This marked the fourth time the Texans made the playoffs in their history, and the fourth time they made it as AFC South Winners. Each time, they were gifted the much maligned 4:30pm Saturday time-slot. At least they've made well, going 3-1 in those games.


80.) 2018 AFC Wild Card - (A6) Colts 21 @ (A3) Texans 7

Review: The Colts got three TDs on their first four drives (the other ended in a lucky interception). The Texans started the game with seven drives without scoring (five punts, one pick, one turnover on downs). It was a complete beatdown, so much so the Colts seemed to not truly care to add to their lead in the second half, easily sitting on a 21-0 lead they never even seemed for a second capable of blowing. Luck was good, but the real star was the Colts revived run game, with their great OL paving the way to a 148 yard day for Marlon Mack. The defense hounded Deshaun Watson, ending a season that two weeks prior seemed to line up with a #2 seed for the Texans.

Interesting/Memorable Play: The Colts interception of Watson came on a really sweet defensive playcall, where the Colts showed a clear man defense, complete with nickelback following a tight end across the formation, but switched to zone after the snap and completely fooled Watson. So much great NFL nerdery was borne out of that play.

79.) 2006 AFC Wild Card – (A6) Chiefs 8 @ (A3) Colts 23

Review: We return to Standard Protocol here, with the Colts winning by running 80 plays to the Chiefs 45 and outgaining them 435-126. That was the 3^rd largest differential in NFL playoff history. The big story was the historically shitty Colts run defense limiting Larry Johnson, when he was still good, to 32 yards on 13 rushes. By the way, those other two games ended 41-0 (NYG def. MIN, 2000) and 62-7 (JAX def. MIA, 1999). This was one obviously much closer, and that is because Manning threw three interceptions, marking the first time a QB was ever, half-correctly, criticized in a game where he went 30-38.

Interesting/Memorable Play: Lawrence Tynes, the man who would in his 2^nd career with the Giants make two field goals that won NFC Championship games in overtime, missed a 23-yard field goal; the game was played in a dome.

78.) 2020 NFC Wild Card - (N7) Bears 9 @ (N2) Saints 21

Review: This game, coupled with the two 2v7 matchups in 2021 did not set the 14-team playoff era to a good start. Granted, the other 2v7 matchup in this period is well up on the list. Here it was a bad Bears team with Mitch Trubisky limiting the limited Saints offense to 21 points and never for a second feeling like they were in teh game. The Bears were limited to 239 yards and were down 21-3 despite Brees throwing for a patented (by this point) 6.2 yards per attempt.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This game was simulcast on Nickelodeon, where Mitch Trubisky would hilariously win the 'NVP' ('Nick Valuable Player) - a factoid that is still listed on his pro-football-reference page.

77.) 2014 AFC Wild Card - (A5) Bengals 10 @ (A4) Colts 27

Review: The Colts won their 2nd straight Wild Card game, but unlike the previous year that needed a furious comeback (a game way, way up this list), this time the Colts walked over a sleepless, overmatched Bengals team. The Bengals were missing AJ Green, and were going back to a place they lost 27-0 earlier in the season. In that sense, I guess you can say the Bengals kept it closer, but their offense was overmatched. Andy Dalton once again had a poor playoff game, completing 50% of his passes for under 10 ypc. Andrew Luck was brilliant, if a little controlled, as the Colts repeatedly got stopped in the red zone, but this game had little doubt in terms of who would win.

Interesting/Memorable Play: The only real highlight from the game was a patented 'Oh My God, Andrew Luck is amazing!' TD that he threw to Donte Moncrief. It was a 40-yard strike thrown as he was getting hit and being taken to the ground. It was an amazing play that got lost in one of the more boring playoff games in recent years.

76.) 2022 NFC Wild Card - (N7) Seahawks 23 @ (N2) 49ers 41

Review: In a weird game that was somehow a blowout on the scoresheet, and never in serious doubt for San Francisco, they were actually trailing at halftime, after Geno Smith hit DK Metcalf for a 50-yard TD, and then 56 yard field goal at the gun, turning a 13-7 defecit into a 17-16 lead. It was not to last. The 49ers offense was dominant, with 500 yards on the day, three straight TD drives to start the 2nd half, with the capper a 74-yard catch and run to Deebo Samuel. Purdy was brilliant, going 18-30 for 332 yards, with the 49ers getting their 11th straight win.

Interesting/Memorable Play: That small moment when the game was in doubt, was caused by one of the dumber penalties, with Jimmy Ward being called for unneccessary roughness on a sliding Geno Smith with a second to go in the first half. That moved the Seahawks into the edge of field goal range, and then their momentary lead.

75.) 2016 AFC Wild Card - (A6) Dolphins 12 @ (A3) Steelers 30

Review: The 2016 Wild Card Playoffs were a disaster, mostly due to the imbalanced QBs. In the AFC, both the losers (the Raiders in the game ranked worse than this) were playing backups. For Miami, making their first playoffs in eight years, it was losing Ryan Tannehill late in the regular season and starting Matt Moore - not as much of a downgrade as Derek Carr to Connor Cook, but it was still dreadful. Matt Moore actually played decently, but most of that occurred after they were already trailing big. The Steelers scored TDs on their opening drives, both catch-and-run's by Antonio Brown, which more or less ended the game right there. Roethlisberger took most of the second half off, with the team just relying on Le'veon Bell. This too seemed inevitable, and it ended up being so.

Interesting/Memorable Play(s): On the Steelers third drive, where they scored a third straight TD to take a 21-3 lead, the Steelers ran 10 plays, each a run by Le'Veon Bell. On the first eight, Bell gained at least 5 yards on each, and gained 82 yards. That took Pittsburgh to 1st and Goal on the 1 yard line. Two Bell plays later and the game was definitely over.

74.) 2004 AFC Wild Card – (A6) Broncos 24 @ (A3) Colts 49

Review: Since I placed the Episode 1 of this two-part movie quite a bit higher than it probably should, I am downgrading this game for being a bad sequel. Instead of accentuating what was fun about the first iteration of this playoff game, the Colts did the opposite. Their long TDs came via YAC instead of bombs by Manning. Manning threw a pick which allowed him to avoid another perfect passer rating playoff game. The Broncos actually played decent against a prevent in the 2^nd half this time, making the game seem slightly closer than it was the first time. All in all, the least enjoyable Manning blowout win ever.

Interesting/Memorable Play: Marvin Harrison did little in this game as Champ Bailey blanketed him (while Roc Alexander did the opposite of blanket Reggie Wayne), but he did lay a hellacious block on Bailey on Wayne’s 2^nd touchdown.

73.) 2005 NFC Wild Card – (N6) Redskins 17 @ (N3) Buccaneers 10

Review: This game happened right before the one right above it, and is easily among the worst one-score playoff games in my lifetime. The Redskins won the game, but did it with a record-low 120 yards, and a record-low 25(!) net yards passing. Mark Brunell went 7-15 for 48 yards, while Chris Simms (remember him – he was the starting QB for an 11-5 team) went 25-38 for just 198 yards. Sean Taylor (RIP) returned a fumble for a touchdown, and that and a disputed non-catch that would’ve been the tying touchdown by Edell Shepard (again, who?) marked the only two interesting things to happen.

Interesting/Memorable Play: Sean Taylor, after his TD, was ejected for allegedly (but pretty clearly) spitting in the face of Cadillac Williams.

Interesting/Memorable Fact II: I was babysitting for a friend during each of these two 2005 Saturday Playoff games. We started playing NFL Blitz in the middle of the Pats game. Way more fun than the alternative.

Tier II – Meh… I won’t rewatch, but at least I didn’t want to stop watching.

72.) 2011 NFC Wild Card – (N5) Falcons 2 @ (N4) Giants 24

Review: Just imagine if the Falcons convert either of those two failed 4^th-down conversion (I believe the scores were 7-2 and 10-2 when they happened), this game could have been higher up. It was oddly defense-heavy in the 1^st half, but the Giants started dominating. Eli Manning finally put up a great playoff game at home, going 23-32 for 277 yards and 3 tds, after two destitute performances in his first two. Hakeem Nicks was the real hero, though, breaking off a long TD to make it 17-2 and slam the door on any chances the Falcons had. One thing: why are there so many QBs that get caught doing illegal grounding in the End Zone?

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This was Matt Ryan’s 3^rd playoff game, and the 3^rd out of those three games that he has failed to have 10 yards per completion or throw for 200 yards. He had 199 yards on 24 completions in this game, after having 186 on 20 in 2010 and 199 again on 26 in 2008.

71.) 2008 AFC Wild Card – (A6) Ravens 27 @ (A3) Dolphins 9

Review: In one of those incredibly predictable games the Ravens did all of those Raven-ish things, like win by forcing five turnovers against a team that had only 13 on the season, and picking off Pennington four times after he threw just seven picks on the year. The Ravens won when their QB completed just 9 of 27 passes. The only reason that this game is high is because watching the Ravens do Raven-type things is usually quite fun. WatchingEd Reed picking off two passes is fun. Watching Haloti Ngata, Ray Lewis andTerrell Suggs dole out hellacious blocks on Reeds TD return was awesome. At their best, the Ravens defense is easily worth the price of admission.

Interesting/Memorable Play: On Ed Reed’s second interception, he basically sprints the second the Dolphins snap the ball to a spot to cut off a slant, and starts this well before Pennington even looks to that side, and easily picks off a pass. If ever you can describe Ed Reed in one play, that one is it.

70.) 2014 NFC Wild Card - (N5) Cardinals 16 @ (N4) Panthers 27

Review: 78. That's the only real takeaway from this game. That number represents the number of total yards the Cardinals had in this game. That's a little skewed as they lost about 20 yards on the game's final play - a lateral-o-rama, but still this was the most dominant defensive performance in a long time. Of course, the Cardinals were starting a hapless Ryan Lindley - who threw his first career TD pass in this game. The Cardinals actually led at halftime because of a bad Cam Newton pick and good special teams play, but it was inevitable the Panthers would take over. The final stats for Lindley was two picks and 82 yards (on 16-28 passing), and with the four sacks they got 51 net passing yards. The star for the Panthers was, unsurprisingly, Luke Kuechly, but it was a total team domination of a hopeless offense.

Interesting/Memorable Play: To me the play of the game was Luke Kuechly's leaping interception near the goal line. This came right after a sack-fumble by Cam and a return by the Cardinals to the 8 yard line. Despite the putrid offensive performance, the Cardinals were 8 yards away from making it 27-21. On the first play of the drive, Kuechly made his interception, capping a brilliant day for him in particular.

69.) 2019 NFC Wild Card - (N5) Seahawks 17 @ (N4) Eagles 9

Review: While not as one-side in yards as the game we just covered, this one too is told by the losing team having to play a bad QB and going nowhere. In his last game for Philly, Carson Wentz would get concussed on the Eagles' second position, and Josh McCown entered to a full game of misery, taking six sacks in the process against what is usually a porous pass rush. The Seahawks never really got it going until Russell Wilson went off in the second half to take hold of a game that was close than the score.

Interesting/Memorable Play: The only real cool paly of the game was a 53-yard TD to DK Metcalf. The Seahawks would lose their next two playoff games (and final ones of the Wilson era) but f this one moment it seemed like we were back in old times.

68.) 2008 NFC Wild Card – (N6) Eagles 26 @ (N3) Vikings 14

Review: This is the first game on the list that I didn’t watch live and didn’t go back and watch at any point other than brief highlights. Not much to share here. It was a close game in a way, and featured some big plays, like a long touchdown run by Peterson, a 76-yard screen pass for a TD to Brian Westbrook. And of course, like the sun rising and taxes, Asante Samuel returned an interception for a TD in a playoff game. Also, this game was notable for the fact that it provides evidence that Tarvaris Jackson started a playoff game. He had a most-Tarvaris like day, going 15-35 for 165 yards and a pick. The scariest thing is that if he wins the starting job, Tarvaris has a shot at starting another one with Seattle.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: The Vikings leading wide receiver on the day was the one and only Bobby Wade. It is odd that he hasn’t played since 2009, considering he put up decent depth receiver type numbers over the course of his career.

67.) 2003 NFC Wild Card – (N6) Cowboys 10 @ (N3) Panthers 29

Review: I was in Italy during Wild Card Weekend in 2003, so I know little of these games as well, especially this one. What I do know is the Panthers dominated, outgaining the Cowboys 380-202, but were forced into five field goals by John Kasay. Jake Delhomme started his first postseason game and played well, with one perfectly thrown deep fade to Steve Smith for a TD. As for the Cowboys, all you need to know is somehow the combination of Quincy Carter and Troy Hambrick couldn’t score enough points. Actually, given that it was them, I’m surprised they got to 10.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This game set an NFL record for most sub-40 yard field goals, as all six field goals kicked in the game were from under 40 yards.

(I totally made this record up, This game could very well have it, but who knows – overall, I couldn’t think of anything interesting or memorable about the game).


66.) 2013 AFC Wild Card - (A6) Chargers 27 @ (A3) Bengals 10

Review: Well, they all can't be good. The three other games on Wild Card Weekend in 2013 were all great, and appropriately way higher up the list. This was a sad game, really. Hard to watch. The Bengals were a really good team, with probably one of the 3 most talented rosters outside of their starting QB. Well, sadly for them the starting QB is important. Andy Dalton had his 3rd straight bad playoff game, this time with two awful 2nd-half turnovers including a back-breaking pick when the Chargers retook the lead. The Bengals defense finally seemed to miss Geno Atkins and Leon Hall, as they had no real answer for the Chargers offense, who were at their most efficient. Rivers did not have to do much, but he was solid. Dalton was not. And the wait for a playoff win continues for the Bengals.

Interesting/Memorable Play: The game turned when, tied 7-7, the Bengals were driving for a TD to go up 14-7 and Gio Bernard fumbled at the 3-yard line. The Bengals never got that close to a TD again.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: The Bengals made it a 5th year in a row that a team that went 8-0 at home in the regular season lost a game, joining the '09-'10 Pats, '11 Packers and '12 Broncos.


65.) 2022 NFC Wild Card - (N5) Cowboys 31 @ (N4) Buccaneers 14

Review: In what will go down as Tom Brady's last name, his Buccaneers, fresh off an embarrassing 8-9 season, were never in the game, trailing 18-0 at halftime, and having two garbage time scores make it look respectable. They had a shot, as down just 6-0, Brady threw an interception in the end zone. The Cowboys got two more TDs in the first half and dominated with Dak Prescott playing the game of his life, going 25-33 for 305 yards and 4 TDs, with some amazing throws. The Cowboys defense was nearly as good - just pure domination for a team who must have been disrespected with so many picking the 8-9 Bucs over teh 12-5 Boys.

Interesting/Memorable Plays: The Cowboys won 31-14, but really should have been 35-14 - and a 28-0 lead, but somehow Brett Maher missed four straight extra points. The first was wide one way, the second wide another and then it was clear he just had the yips, big time.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This game will be memorable for me in that the Manning Bros' did their ManningCast broadcast for Tom Brady's final game. Even if Peyton and Tom are clearly quite friendly, I'm sure Peyton took a small delight in seeing Brady being dominated.

64.) 2007 NFC Wild Card – (N5) Giants 24 @ (N4) Buccaneers 14

Review: The Giants started their march to the 2007 Title a lot like how they started their march to the 2011 title, with a solid win over a good but not great team from the NFC South. In both games, the Giants scored 24 points, and Eli Manning had multiple TDs and no picks. The weirdest part of the game was the fact that the Giants had -1 yards of offense in the 1^st quarter, with no first downs, and still won the game rather easily. I guess that is what happens when the other team has an offense that features a guy who the Giants cast off in 2004 (Ike Hilliard) and Earnest Graham.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: Michael Pittman caught 5 passes for 62 yards, being the Buccaneers best receiver on the day. What is interesting about this: Michael Pittman is a running back who had just one carry on the game, and also the fact that I was shocked Michael Pittman was still in the league in 2007.

63.) 2009 AFC Wild Card – (A5) Jets 24 @ (A4) Bengals 14

Review: The Jets have a way of following the Giants. In 2002, they matched the Giants 41-0 playoff score. In 2009, they matched the Giants 24-14 score from two years previous. This game could easily have been tight had Shayne Graham not shanked two field goals from inside 40 yards. Either way, Cedric Benson and Shonn Greene both had good days, but only one of the two QBs did. Carson Palmer was undone by drops and the power of Darrelle Revis. Mark Sanchez was brilliantly efficient, going 12-15 for 182 yards and a TD.

Interesting/Memorable Plays: In the game, Jets punter Steve Weatherford got hurt early, so kicker Jay Feely punted, and didn’t embarrass himself, with 7 punts with a 32 yard average.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: The game was stunningly called by the trio of Tom Hammond, Joe Theismann and Joe Gibbs. Surprisingly, Theismann was better than Gibbs, but overall it worked about as well as the Matt Millen as NBC Football Expert idea. NBC smartly replaced those two with Mike Mayock the next season.

62.) 2019 AFC Wild Card - (A6) Titans 20 @ (A3) Patriots 13

Review: This was the final game Tom Brady would play for the Patriots, ending in a pick-six (the Titans were winning 14-13) in a sullen last moment. A Patriots season that started 9-0 with some ludicrous scores, ending with the Patriots giving up 140 yards to Derrick Henry, losing even when Ryan Tannehill went 8-15 for 72 yards. But the Patriots couldn't overcome Brady's inability to make it work with by far the most patchwork set of offensive players since their prior 2006 nadir.

Interesting/Memorable Plays: Towards the end of the game, Mike Vrabel employed the same tactic that Bill Belichick did in a regular season game against the Jets, intentionally getting a delay of game and then false start penalty to take 1:20 off the clock. Of course, Belichick who cackled when he did it against the Jets was irate in a hilarious twist.

61.) 2016 NFC Wild Card - (N6) Lions 6 @ (N3) Seahawks 26\

Review: The Seahawks went in the Russell Wilson era from playing a slew of great playoffs games to a steady diet of bad ones, this being way up the list. Russell Wilson was great, the Seahawks defense better, and the Lions never really had a chance. They did cut it to 10-6, but the game ended quickly thereafter with two Seahawks TD drives buttressed by two quick punts by Detroit. In the end, the Lions were in no real position to challenge Seattle. The Lions were outscored for the year, easily the worst playoff participant on the NFC half, and played like it.

Interesting/Memorable Play: The only truly memorable play in the game was Paul Richardson's circus catch on an early TD. It was just two yards, but featured a bit of patented Russell Wilson scrambling, him throwing up a lob to a fully covered Richardson, and Richardson going through a player to catch one on the back line. The Seahawks receivers have never been all that great - Doug Baldwin aside - but have made some special catches.


60.) 2012 AFC Wild Card - (A5) Colts 9 @ (A4) Ravems 24

Just like the other two miracle Giants runs, the Ravens started their four-game march to the Super Bowl in a slightly listless game against the Colts. The only memorable part of game was that it was the start of Joe Flacco's amazing playoff run. Flacco wasn't even that good in the 1st half, but facing a 3rd and 19 early in the 3rd quarter, he just threw one up to Boldin for 50 yards. On the next drive, he threw another lob up to Boldin for 46 yards. This would become a recurring theme for the Ravens in their playoffs, as were other things, like Ray Lewis' impending last games (this was his last home game), and Ray Rice fumbling. 

Interesting/Memorable Fact: With this win, the Ravens became just the sixth team to win a playoff in five straight seasons, the most recent being the 2003-07 Patriots (right behind them, the 2000-04 Eagles).


59.) 2012 AFC Wild Card - (A6) Bengals 13 @ (A3) Texans 19

In a rare playoff rematch, the Bengals and Texans met at the same place at the same time on the same network (NBC's kind of black-sheep 4:30 Saturday Wild Card Game), and despite this game being 15 points closer than last year, it was probably a little worse. Instead of the energy of the first playoff game in Reliant Stadium, the fans were dour as their assumed first round bye had slipped through their fingers. Instead of this being JJ Watt's coming out party (2011 Playoffs, when he pick-sixed the Bengals to break a 10-10 game), it was a relatively quiet game by Watt's standards. Instead of a dominant Texans effort, it was more about how awful Andy Dalton was on deep throws. Just a forgetttable game that is propped up because at least it was somewhat close.

Interesting/Memorable Play: It was during a play early in the 2nd quarter when NBC cutaway to Al and Cris at Lambeau to give us the news that Christian Ponder would not play against Green Bay, making this the first game to not only be boring, but to cause people to already dislike the game to come.

58.) 2018 AFC Wild Card - (A5) Chargers 23 @ (A4) Ravens 17

Review: The Chargers led 23-3 in this game before a furious Ravens rally that always seemed a bit too farfetched. In the end, they were given 45 seconds to go 66 yards which unsurprisingly didn't happen. What's weird is the Chargers took their 23-3 lead despite not playing all that well on offense (granted, against the league's best defense), instead capitlizing on a brutal start by Lamar Jackson (fumbling twice) and the special teams (long punt returns). The Chargers defense was great, being able to physically keep up with the league's craziest run game despite playing no linebackers and seven DBs. In the end, the Chargers dream season continued for one more week, and the Ravens lost their first home playoff game in 12 years.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: The Chargers got a lot of plaudits for their inventiveness of playing seven DBs agianst the Ravens. Of course, this was somewhat by necessity and the next week they would simiarly try that against New England, and let's just say it didn't work out so well.


57.) 2021 AFC Wild Card - (A7) Steelers 21 @ (A2) Chiefs 42

Review: The Chiefs had an up and down offensive season in 2021, one that would ultimately cost them two weeks later, but in tis game they showed the full might of their offensive powers. The Chiefs actually started out with three punts, a pick and a fumble that was returned for a TD, but were down just 0-7 and then put up six straight TDs to close it out. They came in every way, including a ridiculous stretch of 11 minutes of game time featuring five Mahomes passing TDs to five different players. That was the Cheifs.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: This was Ben Roethlisberger's last game for the Steelers, and third straight one-and-done to close out his playoff career. The weirdest part is this massacre where his team gave up six straight TDs was actually their best defensive performance of the three, giving up 45 to Jacksonville in 2017 and 48 to Cleveland in 2020.

56.) 2015 NFC Wild Card - (N5) Packers 35 @ (N4) Redskins 18

Review: It seemed strange entering the game to see the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers as underdogs on the road against a Kirk Cousins-led Washington team, but it made sense given the way the two teams entered the game, and even more so when through the first 18 or so minutes, the Redskins sacked Rodgers for a safety, and put together two nice drives for a FG and TD to take a 12-0 lead. But 12 is not a huge lead, and by halftime it was gone. Aaron Rodgers finally got some protection, and more than that, relied on a resurrection from his running game. Both Eddie Lacy and James Starks combined for 120 yards on 24 carries, and they even used Randall Cobb out of the backfield. By halftime, it was 17-11 Packers and the game was basically over, a sad slow end for what was a really nice run for the Redskins.

Interesting/Memorable Play: The momentum seemed to turn when following the Redskins TD to make it 11-0, Dustin Hopkins missed the PAT. In the first year of the extended PAT, this would not be the last time it would wreak havoc in the playoffs.

55.) 2020 AFC Wild Card - (A6) Browns 48 @ (A3) Steelers 37

Review: Hey, it's that game we just talked about at the end of the last Steelers one. The Browns took a 28-0 lead scoring a TD on their first three drives after a TD on a snap recovery on the first play of the game. The Steelers had one of the strangest games, going fumble-int-punt-int-punt-int on their first six drives, but somehow ending up with 550 yards of offense. The Steelers closed it to 35-23 in the third quarter, but the Browns scored on their next possession on a 40-yard catch and run by Nick Chubb in probably the single best moment for the new-Browns to date. Certainly this was the best win they've had to date, with Mayfield having a 115 passer rating, and Chubb & Hunt rushing for 134 yards.

Interesting/Memorable Fact: Ben Roethlisberger threw for 501 yards and was never sacked and threw 4 TDs - in maybe the worst performance for a player to hit those marks. Which is what happens when you also throw 4 picks, and do it all - including the 501 yards - on a ridiculous 68 attempts.

The Rise of Carlitos

Before we talk about Alcaraz, let's talk about a story of me say 15 years ago. Nadal was on teh ascent, already my favorite player. Federer was dominant. Djokovic was this up and comer that had a slam but was seen as a flightly disappointment. I used to play a lot of tennis abck then, with friends, for my school, etc. And I had a wild imagination - I created all these fake players and fake careers, hoping for someone who would come out and top Federer's then 15 slams (not fully believeing at that point Nadal would beat that by 7 himself, and not retire at the top - the big-3 are insane man...).

In that era, I created this fake player named Juan Marino Icar - a tall, lanky spaniard with a backhand of Safin, a forehand of a Federer, a good but not great serve, and in incredible level of fitness. This player in my fake version of teh sport, would come around 2015 or so, win a few slams at the twilight of Nadal's and Djokovic's and Del Potro's career (yes, back then we all expected big things from him). But when those guys wouild fall off completely around 2017 or so, well Mr. Icar would go on a huge run and end up with 17 slams in his career, overtaking Federer and taking the title back to Spain in honor of his countryman Nadal - who ended up 14 or somethign like that. 

So much of this weird prediction didn't happen - most notably this bizarre notion that was supported by 100% of the historical tennis to that point that players would age out of winning slams around 32 or so. But weirdly, that player I created in my mind, is here. Took seven years longer for him to come (and Federer, Nadal, Djokovic to age). His name is not Juan Marino Icar, but Carlos Alcaraz - backhand of Safin, great forehand, good not great serve, an athleticism that was stunning for a guy already his size - is the living embodiment of my fake manifestation.

I avoided watching the first two sets of the final, waking up to him having lost the first set 6-1, and then next checking the score when they were in a tiebreak. I figured Djokovic would win that, as he had won 15 straight teibreaks in slams (an absurd stat), but somehow Alcaraz pulled that off with an incredible passing shot return. He then dominated the 3rd set, including an amazing 15-deuce, 28-minute game to break Djokovic for a second time. He was the faster player, the cleaner player, and most incredible, the sharper, more present player.

But Djokovic does not jsut go away, especially to these young guys. He/s been in a lot of precarious situations these last few years against the next gen (and the Alcaraz, Sinner, Rune gen is very much here) but was able to fight his way back. Not this time. Alcaraz is here.

Carlos Alcaraz's game is indescribably good in the way that I always imagined of this Icar character. Brilliant ground strokes, but more than that a rare tennis IQ for a player his age, be it hsi drop-shots, his decisions on when to go up the line, his ability to seemingly predict where Djokovic would hit to then run around it. He was just so complete, something that I haven't seen of a player this age since Nadal.

There's a lot of discussion of this being the changing of the guard, and the Alcaraz era and what not, and honestly none of that is premature. This is not just a great young player, this is the best young player since Nadal. Alcaraz is the youngest #1 ever. He's the youngest player to win two slams since Nadal's 2006 French Open. He's the youngest player to win two different slams since god knows who. He's also great on clay, despite him not having won the French yet. He's just insane. There are other great players around his age, that have gone deep in slams like Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune, and slightly older guys like Medvedev, Ruud, Rublev, Tsitsipas and others, but this is Alcaraz's time.

And it came at just the right time. With Federer retired, and Nadal saying he's joining him in retirement at the end of 2024, tennis was in a boring current with Djokovic dominating endlessly, with an even more troubling future. One match, one player, doesn't change all that - but Alcaraz has the game, the charisma, the energy and the poise to be the next leader of the sport. You hope that others will join him, and they will. He can't win every tournament, but as the spearhead for that next generation, Carlos Alcaraz is everything I could have asked for - and everything I did when I created Juan Marino Icar back in 2007 or so. He's finally here, with a different name, but a similar game from the same country, and he was more than worth the wait.

Nostalgia Diaries, Pt. 28: 8 Years of Soccer (2008-2016)

I watched the opening game of The Copa America Centenario yesterday in a New York bar, packed to the brim with USMNT fans - the bar a delightful mix of reds, whites and blues. The game itself was something of a disaster, a desultory 0-2 loss, with few real chances. But forget about the game. I'm here to talk about the atmosphere. Here we are, in the throes of the NBA Finals, and the MLB season, and it being a Friday Night - the first one post-Memorial Day - and the bar was packed.

The bar was enlivened with song after song, chant after chant, over the two hours. The chants were not complex, a tad crude, but it was an amazing sight. Here we are in America, and we are add huddled shoulder-to-shoulder, singing and chanting our lungs out. The whole crowd was aged 18-30, all people that grew up in a country increasingly embracing the USMNT, embracing the sport.

The next weekend, UEFA Euro 2016 started in France. Other than the World Cup, this is the biggest tournament in international football, a celebration of soccer that is more consolidated with talent than even the World Cup - there are no minnows in this tournament. While the exposure of Euro 2016 may not be as large in the US this time around due to the parallel Copa America, but we can draw a line directly back to the experience that was Euro 2008 - a tournament that grew my interest as much as the outcome drew our countries interest. A lot has changed in eight years.

Eight years ago, the thought of me watching the USMNT play in a bar packed with screaming, delirious home-grown fans would have been absurd - and only partially because I was just 17 at the time. I was something of a soccer fan but Euro 2008 was my awakening. A mix of coincidences left me alone at home for most of that tournament, with few things else to do than watch the two games a day. Euro 2008 was also the awakening for Spain, for tiki-taka.

Spain was the best team from the start, and they won the tournament with ease, finally setting aside all the labels of chokers and talented wastes that had been such a part of their history. They played with a style of possession, short intricate passing, and brilliant finishing. They called it tiki-taka. That fall, Pep Guardiola would take over in Barcelona, with a lot of the same players that just won for Spain, adding in a 21-year old Lionel Messi, and they would take over the world.

Both Spain and Barcelona's simultaneous dynasties became old and tired by 2012-13 or so, but in that period, they combined to help lift the sports profile in the US. The fresh, intricate, exciting brand of play captivated the US like nothing else in soccer before. Liking the Blaugrana became trendy, became new. As much as anything the USMNT did themselves, the dual rise of tiki-taka at the international and club level helped rise the interest level in the US.

;We can see this in the way the sport was covered. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, most of the ESPN coverage was hosted from the US - moving to Germany for only the semifinals and final. Same with Euro 2008 in Poland. By 2010, in the World Cup in South Africa, ESPN's coverage had moved right to Johannesburg. Interest raised so quickly, so sharply, after that water-shed tournament.

It is hard to remember now a world before soccer was this big in the US. During the 2014 World Cup, there were crowd shots of viewing parties lining the streets of places like Kansas City and Columbus and Denver. The sports rise through the various channels culminated in that tournament, where the US lost in the Round of 16 - but for the first time we looked at that as a disappointment.

It is hard to say if interest has peaked, or if it will just continue to rise. Certainly, the interest in the USMNT is still on an upward path, and the viewing numbers for the large tournaments will remain strong, but there is still a feeling that the MLS, or even larger club soccer is more a niche interest. As someone who liked to think I liked soccer before most, I'm fine with this, but then again it is really fun to see through an entire bar wrapped up in the ecstasy of international soccer, to be chanting and hollering and shouting. If that's where peak interest will be, I'll certainly take it.

The Idiocy of Wimbledon's Queue

I was in the UK this past week with some friends, moreso a trip to Scotland (a first for me), and the like, but had us in London on July 3rd, 2023, the opening day of Wimbledon. As a group with many tennis fans, this seemed like perfect timing, so we had earmarked this day to go to Wimbledon. We had collectively done about a half dozen or so trips to the US Open as a group, always a good time. I personally would love to visit all four slams (admittedly, I've done tours of both Wimbledon and the Australian Open). It was all set to be great. In the words of Goodfellas.... "It didn't work out" Why? The ridiculous Queue.

So, my friend did most of the research into tickets and Wimbledon basically gives out tickets in three ways. First, there is a small set available outright for purchase. They're super expensive and snapped up quickly. None of those are for general "grounds passes" which are the lifeblood of the tournaments early days. The second way is a national lottery drawing where each UK-based applicant gets a shot at two tickets for any random day (I may be getting some of the details wrong there, but needless to say we were not eligible here). The last way is to go to Wimbledon and stand in a queue. 

Now, if this was say the US Open, the third option doesn't exist, becuase the first option is for all tickets for every day. You can order tickets months in advance as easily as you can day of (granted, day of may require teh secondary market). You can get a groudns pass day of by just showing up and maybe needing to wait in line. 

But this isn't the US Open - this is Wimbledon, a tournament so in love with its own traditions it is slowly losing itself. Nothing speaks more loudly to this than the queue. Apparently, a creation of a long-before-time when people didn't have computers that could let anyone buy a ticket. Wimbledon allowed basically the everyman to watch matches. Well, this is 2023 and this queue system is insane. Basically you show up and wait hours to get a queue card to wait longer to get access to buy tickets for the day. The one positive I guess is the price is flat, so it is "cheap", but time is money, so that cheap-ness is hollow as hell.

I should mention, apparently the queue on the 3rd was notably bad, both from a higher number of people coming than expected (based on prior years) and some unannounced amped up security measures which made it basically unmanageable (Wimbledon themselves have admitted this), but I'm not talking about yesterday, I'm talking about the system in general. If it works as expected based on prior years, if you show up around 8am, you would be the ~5000th person or so to show up, have a good chance of getting into the grounds around noon (play starts at 11am) and off you go. 

But really, in 2023 do we need people to wait four hours? That's also the "standard". On the day we arrived, people showed up at 3am and got in around 1pm. How exactly is this format, something that encourages to people eitehr to camp out overnight, or show up at 8am for chance to get to watch tennis, something for the "common man." It isn't when the common man would need to take off of work to attempt to go to Wimbledon, with a non-zero chance they will end up shit out of luck.

The wrost part is Wimbledon lean's into this ridiculous process despite two underlying ridiculous facts: (1) again, in 2023 having to queue to buy tickets that for basically any other comparable event would be available simply online, and (2) they can't organize the queue anyway.

On #2, we arrived around 8:30 and were led into the giant field taht is Wimbledon Park (a ways away from the actual Tennis groudns), and then led into a line numbered K8. K9 was to the left, K7 to the right. These numbers seemed to mean nothing, or at least had no discernable meaning. Lanes K12-K7 faced one way, and slowly people from those queues wouild be led and turned to face the opposite direction into K6-K1. None of this is explained - despite them handing out a 34-page manual entitled "Guide to Queueing" that is given to everyone. Literally wasting hundreds of thousands of pages of paper, of trees, to explain a system and the pages don't even explain it well.

As for #1, Wimbledon is just way to stuck up its own ass at this point. I get it in terms of the legacy of the tournament, the oldest major, the home of tennis, all that stuff. And that is so deeply imprinted taht even today basically any young player will still say their lifelong dream as a player is to win specifically Wimbledon.

But this whole love of the Queue System is just a continuation of all the ridiculous shit Wimbledon has latched onto. The worst being the all-white that has led to some awful optics with Wimbledon not wavering on things like the soles of Nick Kyrgios's shoes, to the under-shorts worn by women's players who had specifically raised issue with the idea of having to wear all white when statistically 25% of the players would be on their period. As with many of their traditions, Wimbledon finally relented on at least the undergarments point.

But beyond that, from the "no play on Middle Sunday" (since gone away with) year after year over-stuffing Monday leading to cascading scheduling issues. The whole calling the draws "Ladies" and "Gentlemens". All of it just wreaks of classicism and elitsm that has myriad issues, from how deeply embedded these ideals are with Tennis sadly (specifically Wimbledon at fault here...), to a continuation of a general unearned British Exceptionalism that slips into every part of life in England today (more on that in a separate piec).

What annoys me the most of the whole situation is Wimbledon is so stuck on the Queue being part of the tradition. Among the thousands of us waiting, were families playing catch, and people picnicking, and I'm sure Wimbledon will market the shit out of this fact, but holy hell is it not easier to just, I don't know, buy tickets online and not need to waste your day doing this stuff?

At the end of the day, Wimbledon will carry on with The Queue because it has basically gotten this reputation as the most important, most "pure", most perfect major and despite no real reason for this in the year of our Lord 2023, it will always have this moniker. I can hope the magnified nature of The Queue due to teh security issues and what not, will maybe make them reconsider The Queue. But knowing this tournament is - it won't. That will persist. Their obstinance to developing will persist, and they'll go on thinking they're the world's greatest infallible sporting institution, just like their country thinks about their place in the world. But for me, I'll never go to the All England Club until the get rid of The Queue.