- NFL Wildcard Weekend recap 2022
Contributors
Santiago Leon – @sleon
Joe Toscano – @joeybagovdonuts
Raiders 19 at Bengals 26 – Sat. Jan. 15th 4:30pm ET
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, merely seemed to shrug after leading his team to its first playoff victory in 31 years, 26-19 over Las Vegas on Saturday in an AFC wild-card game.
It was a victory three decades in the making for the Bengals (11-7). After going from worst to first in the AFC North with a generally young roster
Helped by some problematic officiating by Jerome Boger’s crew that might have allowed Burrow’s touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd to count when it shouldn’t have, the Bengals also extended a lengthy postseason drought for the Raiders (10-8). Las Vegas, which won its final four games to squeeze into the playoffs, last won in the postseason in the 2002 AFC championship game.
Ja’Marr Chase, who had nine receptions for 116 yards, kept victimizing the Raiders, his 38-yard reception getting the Bengals to the 6. McPherson made a 30-yarder for a 13-3 lead. It soon was 13-6 on Carlson’s 28-yard field goal.
Carr finished 29 of 54 for 310 yards.
Patriots 17 Bills 47 –
Josh Allen set a team playoff record with five touchdown passes, including two to Dawson Knox, and Devin Singletary ran for two scores in the first half of a 47-17 throttling of the division-rival Patriots in a wild-card playoff game.
Allen finished 21 of 25 for 308 yards in a game Buffalo became the NFL’s first team in the Super Bowl era to score on each of its seven possessions that didn’t end with a kneeldown.
The Allen-led offense was so efficient it gained 480 yards offense on just 51 snaps before backup Mitchell Trubisky finished the game with three kneeldowns.
The Patriots limped into the playoffs by losing three of their last four, and were effectively outclassed in Jones’ postseason debut.
New England’s previous worst playoff loss under Belichick was a 33-14 defeat to Baltimore also in the wild-card round on Jan. 10, 2010.
Jones struggled in finishing 24 of 38 for 232 yards with two touchdowns to Kendrick Bourne, including a 4-yarder in the final two minutes. Jones was also intercepted twice in closing his season with a combined seven touchdowns passing and seven interceptions in his final five outings.
Eagles 15 Bucs 31
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers dominated the Philadelphia Eagles 31-15 in a NFC wild-card playoff victory Sunday
Brady finished off the Eagles with TD passes of 2 yards to Rob Gronkowski and 36 yards to Mike Evans, improving his dazzling playoff record to 35-11 in a record 46 postseason starts.
Brady completed 29 of 37 attempts without an interception while extending his postseason record for TD passes to 85.
Brady targeted Evans 10 times, completing nine of the throws for 117 yards.
The Eagles (9-9) scored on Boston Scott’s 34-yard run and Hurts’ 16-yard TD pass to Kenneth Gainwell both in the fourth quarter. A 2-point conversion trimmed Philadelphia’s deficit to 16 with 4:45 remaining, but that was as close as it would get.
49ers 23 – Cowboys 17
Deebo Samuel ran 26 yards for a touchdown for a comfortable lead in the third quarter before the Cowboys rallied and ran out of time trying to get a final play in the 49ers’ 23-17 victory Sunday.
The 49ers (11-7) overcame an interception by Jimmy Garoppolo when they led by 13 in the fourth quarter, and now are headed to a divisional playoff next Saturday night at Green Bay two years after reaching the Super Bowl and losing to Kansas City.
San Francisco lost star pass rusher Nick Bosa to a concussion just before halftime
Rookie Elijah Mitchell ran for 96 yards and the game’s first points on a 4-yard run. Samuel had 72 yards on 10 carries and three catches for 38 yards.
Prescott was 23 of 43 for 254 yards. Garoppolo, whose future with the 49ers beyond this season is uncertain with rookie Trey Lance waiting his turn, was 16 of 25 for 172 yards.
Steelers 21 Chiefs 42
The Chiefs cruised through the second half for a 42-21 wild-card victory.
Roethlisberger, who acknowledged the Steelers (9-8-1) were “not a very good football team” this week, wasn’t very good in his own right. The 39-year-old quarterback was 29 of 44 for 215 yards with two meaningless TD passes late in the game, providing the coda to a career that includes six Pro Bowl trips and two Super Bowl wins.
It wasn’t quite the 23-0 halftime advantage the Chiefs had in their December blowout of the Steelers
Predictions
MONDAY
AZ-LAR
JT: 33-29
JT: 31-27
Santiago Leon is the Founder and CEO of the Sports Cast. He covers NFL, NBA, and world soccer. He’s also founder of sleon productions, which he specializes in technology and serves clients with solutions to make their business grow.
