Things I Noticed: Wild Card Round

It was a wild weekend in the Wild Card round to open the postseason.  Three road teams advanced to the next round, including two #6 seeds.  Three of the four games came down to a one possession game, with two of them ending on last second field goals.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts

• Andrew Luck (443 yards, 4 TDs) overcame three turnovers to lead another miraculous comeback.
  
  The Colts 28-point comeback is the second largest comeback in postseason history.  In only his second season in the league, Luck already has eleven 4th quarter or overtime comeback victories, which is more than any other QB in the league over the last two seasons.
• T.Y. Hilton set a franchise postseason record with 13 catches for 224 yards and 2 TDs.  His second came when he burned his coverage for a 64-yard game winning TD with just over four minutes left in the game.  It was the first time the Colts had led all game, but it was a lead they would not relinquish.
• Hilton did a lot of his damage after cornerback Brandon Flowers was knocked out of the game with a concussion.  The absence of one of the Chiefs top defensive players helped fuel the Colts comeback.  
• Kansas City started building their big lead in the second quarter and first led by double-digits after Alex Smith threw a 79-yard TD pass to Donnie Avery.  That was the longest TD pass in a postseason game since the 2011 Wild Card round when Tim Tebow threw an 80-yard game winning pass to Demaryius Thomas.
• Jamaal Charles got knocked out of the game on the Chiefs opening drive with a concussion, depriving Kansas City of their most explosive offensive weapon.  That forced them to rely on Alex Smith a bit more than they would have liked, but Smith did not disappoint (378 yards, 4 TDs).  Instead, it was the defense, which ranked 5th in the league in points allowed this season (19.1), that let them down.
• The Colts converted a 4th and inches by faking to Trent Richardson.  Andrew Luck kept it and ran 21 yards for a first down.  It was the first time all season Luck had kept the ball on a zone read.  The drive ended in a field goal that pulled them to within two scores.  
• Donald Brown fumbled at the 2-yard line, but the ball bounced right into the hands of Luck, who dove across the goal line to pull the Colts to within one score in the 4th quarter.  You might even say that it was a lucky bounce (sorry, had to).  
• Only an Andy Reid coached team could burn their final time out right after the two minute warning break.
• On 4th and 11, the Chiefs had one last chance to get into field goal range.  Dwayne Bowe made the catch along the sideline, but couldn't keep both feet in bounds.
• Bowe finished with 8 catches for 150 yards and a TD.  He had 81 yards in the first quarter alone, which is more than he's had in an entire game since Week 4 of the 2012 season!
• The Chiefs have now lost 8 straight playoff games, breaking a record they shared with the Detroit Lions for the longest postseason losing streak in league history.
• The Colts are the first team to allow 40+ points and turn the ball over four times in a playoff game and still win.
• Final score: Colts 45, Chiefs 44

New Orleans Saints at Philadelphia Eagles

• All we heard heading up to this game was that Drew Brees and the Saints couldn't play in cold weather and struggled outside the comfort of the dome in their home in New Orleans.  In the history of the franchise, the Saints were 0-5 in road playoff games.  For a while those worries seemed accurate, but in the second half the Saints were able to find some rhythm on offense.  
• Oddly enough, it was the Saints running game that got the offense going.  The Saints were only 25th in the league this season, averaging 92.1 yards per game on the ground.  Despite being without starter Pierre Thomas, the Saints piled up 185 rushing yards, led by Mark Ingram (97 yards, 1 TD).
• Brees gave the Saints a lead early in the third quarter with a 24-yard TD pass to Lance Moore.  It was his only TD pass of the game.  Brees averaged 406.7 passing yards per game in his previous three road playoff games, but finished with only 250 in this game.  It's no coincidence that this was the only one of those games the Saints actually won.
• Every time a Saints player got hurt, the Philadelphia crowd booed.  Apparently they believed the Saints were faking injuries to slow down the Eagles up tempo offense, but booing players that are legitimately injured is a little classless.
• DeSean Jackson's first catch of the night went for 40 yards to set up the Eagles inside the Saints 10-yard line.  Jackson may have stepped out of bounds while running his route, which would make him ineligible to make the catch, but the Saints didn't challenge.  Philadelphia capped the drive with a 1-yard TD run by LeSean McCoy on 4th down to make it a one score game at the end of the third quarter.
• This game is the first time in 10 years as a defensive coordinator that Rob Ryan has coached in the postseason and his defense did a respectable job of controlling Chip Kelley's high octane offense.  Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis was doing a great job of containing Jackson, but when he left with an injury in the third quarter, the Eagles were able to get Jackson involved.  
• Jackson drew a pass interference call that gave the Eagles the ball first and goal at the 1-yard line.  Two plays later, Nick Foles gave them the lead with a TD pass to Zach Ertz.   
• Shayne Graham nailed his 4th field goal of the game as time expired in the 4th quarter to give the Saints a win.  Graham didn't join the team until the end of the season, when the Saints cut Garrett Hartley.
• Final score: Saints 26, Eagles 24

San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals

• San Diego overcame a slow offensive start to cruise to an upset victory over Cincinnati.  Philip Rivers was 5 of 6 passing in the first half for only 48 yards.  That's a career low for pass attempts in a half.  None of those passes were completed to a WR or Antonio Gates.  Rivers would finish 12 of 16 for 128 yards and a TD.
• Rather than run the two minute drill before the half, San Diego made little effort to try to score. Instead they ran the ball three straight times and went no where, before punting the ball away. They did force the Bengals to use their remaining time outs, but Cincinnati still had time to kick a field goal as time expired in the first half to take the lead.  Had the Chargers at least picked up a first down, they may not have scored themselves, but at least could have prevented the Bengals from having time to score.
• The play that got the Bengals into field goal range was a 13-yard completion to Jermaine Gresham.  He did not control the ball all the way to the ground when he landed out of bounds, but after review, the officials determined that his forward progress was stopped prior to when he went down.  It also meant the clock didn't stop after the play, which gave the Bengals a mere two seconds to snap the ball after the officials blew the whistle to resume play after the review.
• The Bengals were 21 of 25 (84%) in goal to go situations this season, which was the best percentage in the league.  They were 1 for 2 in these situations in this game, with their lone failure coming on the final drive of the game when they ran out of time before they were able to attempt a 4th down play.
• They also turned the ball over in the red zone when Giovani Bernard fumbled at the 16 yard line when he took a hit just one step after reeling in a short pass.  The turnover was a huge momentum shift for the Chargers, who otherwise easily could have been down double digits at halftime.
• Andy Dalton dove head first looking to pick up a first down on a third down scramble.  Not only did
  
  he come up short, but he lost control of the ball as he hit the ground and the fumble was recovered by San Diego.  The turnover set the Chargers up in Bengals territory for a drive that resulted in a field goal, which extended their lead to seven at the time.
• The Bengals next two drives both ended with Dalton throwing an interception, giving him a total of three turnovers in the game.  San Diego won the turnover battle 4-0.  You don't win playoff games when you lose the turnover battle that decisively.  
• Dalton tried to go deep to a double-covered Marvin Jones on 4th and 3, but the pass was way overthrown.  On the next drive he threw a pass on 4th and 13 over the head of Jones again to turn the ball over on downs for the second straight drive.  When accounting for turning the ball over on downs with an incomplete pass, Dalton turned the ball over on the Bengals final five possessions, leading up to their last drive that ended when the game clock expired.
• Despite holding the lead for most of the second half, Ryan Mathews was practically invisible during the second half and finished with only 13 carries.  He had been bothered by an ankle injury, but the team reported that he didn't experience any issues with the ankle during the game.  Danny Woodhead and Ronnie Brown did most of the heavy lifting in the second half.  Ronnie Brown put the game away with a 58-yard TD run with just over 2 minutes left.
• Final score: Chargers 27, Bengals 10

San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers

• The temperature at kick-off at Lambeau Field was an icy 5 degrees.  Surprisingly, that's only the 7th coldest game time temperature at Lambeau and the 4th coldest playoff game.  Even more surprisingly, several players didn't bother to wear long sleeves!  I nearly had to put a jacket on just watching the game from the comfort of my couch (in a related story, my heat was on the fritz this weekend).
• Colin Kaepernick seems to save his best games for the Green Bay Packers.  In last year's divisional
  
  round he set a postseason rushing record for QBs with 181 yards on the ground.  When the Packers learned their lesson and shut down the read option in their re-match in Week 1 this season, Kaepernick picked them apart with his arm to the tune of 412 passing yards.  This week he did a little bit of both in getting the best of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers for the third straight time.  Kaepernick finished with 227 passing yards and a TD with 98 rushing yards.
• Despite playing only four career playoff games, Kaepernick is already 5th all-time in postseason rushing yards by a QB (362 yards).  Steve Young leads the list with 594 yards, but it took him 20 games to do it.
• In only his 6th game back since returning from a devastating Achilles injury, Michael Crabtree led the 49ers in receiving with 8 catches for 125 yards.
• Vernon Davis caught the only TD pass thrown by Kaepernick in the game.  Davis now has 14 of the 49ers 22 TD catches this season, which is easily the highest percentage of anyone in the league.  Aside from one TD catch Michael Crabtree managed in his abbreviated season, Anquan Boldin is the only other Niners player to catch a TD pass this season.
• Green Bay went three-and-out on all three of their first quarter possessions and Aaron Rodgers failed to complete a pass.  He finished with only 177 passing yards, which is his lowest passing total in his postseason career.
• The Niners 4th ranked run defense did not give up 100+ yards to an opposing running back all season.  Eddie Lacy, who rushed for nearly 1,200 yards this season (8th in the league) managed only 81 yards in this game.
• Final score: 49ers 23, Packers 20