Jan. 14, 2021

 

NFL Playoffs Wild Card Weekend

By Sebby Leffew

This past weekend is known as the Wild Card weekend and is when every wild card playoff game takes place for the NFL playoffs.  There were a total of six games over the weekend with three games each day. 

 

These were the games played on Wild Card Weekend:

 

Time                                  Saturday                                      Sunday

10:05 a.m.               Indianapolis @ Buffalo          Baltimore @ Tennessee

1:40 p.m.                 Los Angeles @ Seattle           Chicago @ New Orleans

5:15 p.m.                  Tampa Bay @ Washington    Cleveland @ Pittsburgh

 

The first game was the Indianapolis Colts against the Bills in the city of Buffalo. I watched this game and it was a very competitive game played down to the very last minute.  Both Josh Allen and Phillip Rivers had just around 300 yards with 2 touchdowns each.  Buffalo had the odds to win this game as the money line had Buffalo at -290 and the Colts at +265. Buffalo came and played their hearts out and won the game by just a field goal with the final score being 27 to 24.  Fun fact Buffalo has not won a playoff game since 1995.  The next game of the day was the Los Angeles Rams against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle.  This was another very competitive game.  Cam Akers was the player of the game in my book offensively for the Rams as he rushed for 131 yards on 28 carries and took one in for a touchdown. The Rams and their stellar defense upset the Seahawks with a 30 to 20 point win.  

 

The night game on Saturday took place in Washington D.C. where Tampa Bay and Washington battled it out.  The Bucs were the big favorites for this game as the Football Team had a losing record of 7 wins and 10 losses.  Also the Football Team was led by Taylor Heinicke who had only started one other NFL game in his life.  Although it was a close game Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the game 31 to 23.  This was Tom Brady’s first career playoff win as a quarterback for a team other than the New England Patriots.  The morning game on Sunday was the Baltimore Ravens against the Tennessee Titans in Tennessee. This was a very much looked forward to game by the NFL fans as these two teams are currently at some “beef” with each other.  The Titans last year upset the Ravens with a big win on Wild Card Weekend and the Ravens were out for revenge this year.  Another reason these teams had “beef” was because in their last matchup the Titans won the game and right after it many players on the team ran to the Ravens logo and started to tear up the grass and stomp on the logo with their cleats.  But the Ravens got revenge this game as they won in a close game that ended with the score of 20 to 13.  Then after the game many Ravens players ran to the Titans logo and started to jump and stomp on it.

 

The afternoon game on Sunday was the Chicago Bears at the New Orleans Saints.  The Saints definitely had the odds on their side for this matchup.  The Saints struggled to stay healthy this season as many of their star players like Quarterback Drew Brees and Wide Receiver Michael Thomas were out for many games due to injuries.  But the New Orleans Saints came out with a big win with the final score of 21 to 9.  The night game on Sunday was a Rivalry game between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.  This game was played in Pittsburgh.  To start off the game the Cleveland Browns recovered a fumble for a touchdown on the very first play.  Then the Cleveland Browns scored some more with the first half ending with a score of 35 to 10.  With the huge deficit to make up the Steelers still managed to make a comeback in the game but ended up losing 48 to 37.  This was the highest scoring game of the weekend. This was the Browns first playoff win since 1994.

 

Overall there were some great games played this weekend and every single one of them was very competitive.  The winning teams that will go onto the next round were the Bills, Rams, Buccs, Ravens, Saints, and Browns. These teams along with the division winners that had a bye week are the only teams left in the playoffs.  The Division winners with a bye week were the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers.  Lastly, this past Wild Card Weekend was one to remember and many great teams battled it out on the field.