NFL 2009 Playoffs: What to Look For Wildcard Weekend

From Wild Card to Super Bowl

Winners in the Wild Card round have won the Super Bowl six times, and at least one Super Bowl participant in each of the past four years played a Wild Card game.

Last year, the NFC No. 4 seed Arizona Cardinals won three games en route to a berth in Super Bowl XLIII. Two years ago, the NFC No. 5 seed New York Giants won three road games and en route to a Super Bowl XLII victory. Three years ago, AFC No. 3 seed Indianapolis won Super Bowl XLI. And four years ago, Pittsburgh became the first No. 6 seed to win a Super Bowl, defeating the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

Wild Card participants to win Super Bowl

 

See You Soon

Three of the four Wild Card matchups are rematches of NFL 2009 Week 17 games.

Since 1990, when the current playoff format was adopted, there have been nine instances when two teams have played in the final week of the regular season and again the next week to start the postseason.

The losing team in Week 17 has won five of the nine playoff games.

 

 

Third Time's a Charm

The Dallas Cowboys will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday night after sweeping them in the regular season. Since 1970, 19 teams have gone 2-0 against an opponent in the regular season and then faced that club in the playoffs. The sweeping team has won the postseason meeting 12 times (63.2 percent). Most recently, Pittsburgh beat Baltimore for a third time in last year's AFC Championship Game. The last time a team swept an opponent and then lost to them in the playoffs was 2007, when the New York Giants defeated the Cowboys in the Divisional round after Dallas had defeated them twice in the regular season.

The 12 teams that have swept an opponent in the regular-season and defeated them in the playoffs:

 

Post-Season Pro

New England Patriots quarterback TOM BRADY will line up under center for the 18th time in the playoffs when the Patriots face the Ravens on Sunday. With 46 passing yards, Brady will reach 4,000 in the postseason, a feat accomplished by only five quarterbacks in history.

With 255 yards, Brady will move into fifth place all-time in postseason passing yards, passing PEYTON MANNING (who is idle on Wild Card Weekend) and his 4,208 yards. In addition, with one touchdown pass, Brady will extend his streak of consecutive postseason games with a touchdown pass to 16, second all-time (BRETT FAVRE, 18).

The top five passing yards leaders in playoff history:

 

 

The most consecutive games with a touchdown pass in playoff history

 

Tom Brady has won each of his first eight home playoff games and can pass Pro Football Hall of Famer JIM KELLY (eight) to become the first player to win his first nine home playoff games.

Kurt Warner's Personal Playground

Arizona Cardinals quarterback KURT WARNER has taken his game to the next level in the postseason, setting numerous records in taking two different teams to the Super Bowl. Warner's 98.9 postseason passer rating is the second highest in NFL history (BART STARR, 104.8) and he averages 306.2 yards per playoff game, the best mark in league annals (min. five games). Warner passed for 1,147 yards in last year's playoffs, the most ever in a single postseason, giving him the top two marks in history (1,063 in 1999 with St. Louis). Warner's 64.8 playoff completion percentage is tops among quarterbacks with at least 250 attempts.

On Sunday against Green Bay, Warner can reach the top of another postseason list -- the most career 300-yard games. Warner has five career 300-yard games, with all of them over 365 yards, the most all-time.

The most 300-yard passing games in NFL postseason history:

 

 

In addition, Warner is tied with Tom Brady with 26 postseason touchdown passes, one shy of fifth-place on the all-time list (27, JOHN ELWAY). Both aim to climb the charts on Wild Card Weekend.

The most touchdown passes in NFL playoff history:

 

 

Rookie QB in Again

On Saturday, the New York Jets' MARK SANCHEZ will become just the ninth rookie quarterback to start a playoff game in the Super Bowl era. It will be the first time since 1985-86 (BERNIE KOSAR, 1985 and JIM EVERETT, 1986) that a rookie quarterback has started a playoff game in consecutive postseasons.

Last year, Atlanta's MATT RYAN and Baltimore's JOE FLACCO took the field marking the first time in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) that two rookie quarterbacks started a playoff game in the same year. Three of the past four rookies to start in the playoffs led their teams to the Conference Championship Game.

The eight rookie quarterbacks to start a playoff game (since 1966):

 

 

Flacco is the first quarterback in NFL history to start 16 games in each of his first two seasons and lead his team to the playoffs in both years.

Versatile Jets

The New York Jets led the NFL with 172.3 rushing yards per game on offense and allowed an NFL-low 252.3 total yards per game on defense. The Jets became the eighth team since 1970 to lead the NFL in both rushing offense and total defense.

The teams that led the NFL in rushing offense and total defense in a season since 1970:

 

 

First Timers

Green Bay quarterback AARON RODGERS and the Jets' Sanchez will make their first career postseason start on Wild Card Weekend. Rodgers threw for 4,434 yards, second in a single-season in Packers history (4,458, LYNN DICKEY) and Sanchez threw for 2,444 yards, a Jets rookie-record (topping JOE NAMATH, 2,220 in 1965).

 

NFL 2009 Playoffs: Super Season Kicks Off

NFL 2009 Playoffs: It's Playoff Time

NFL 2009 Wild Card Weekend: What to Look For

 

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NFL 2009 Playoffs: What to Look For Wildcard Weekend