The first week of the playoffs (Wildcard Round) started January 14th-16th. The NFC and the AFC battle it out, with some teams barely making it into the playoffs. This week was very stressful for some fans, especially since most games came close this season. Since they are the number one seeds in their divisions, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs have a by-week. In case you missed this week, here are the results from the Wildcard matches. 

Seattle at San Francisco: 

San Francisco 49ers vs Seattle Seahawks was the first game, with San Francisco scoring the first points of the game by making a 34-yard field goal and a touchdown. Quarter two was more eventful for this game, with Seattle scoring two touchdowns, and both teams scoring a field goal, ending the first half 17-16 Seattle. The third Quarter is more tame, with one touchdown from San Francisco. Quarter three ends with the 49ers in the lead 23-17. Quarter Four begins with almost an immediate touchdown by San Francisco, followed by a successful 2-point conversion. They then score one more touchdown and extra point, then field goal, leaving Seattle in a panic to score. Seattle successfully landed a touchdown, but then failed in their 2-point attempt. San Francisco ultimately won 41-23, knocking Seattle out of the Playoffs. 

Los Angeles at Jacksonville:

The Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars game had one of the biggest comebacks seen in NFL history. Jacksonville’s Quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw four interceptions throughout the game, but the Jaguars still managed to pull off a win. In quarter one, Los Angeles scored two touchdowns and a field goal, ending the first quarter 17-0.  In the second quarter, the Chargers again scored a touchdown and field goal, but Jacksonville scored a legitimate last-minute touchdown, with Lawrence passing to tight end Evan Engram, with 24 seconds left to go the half. This brought the score to 27-7, with LA still in the lead. The third quarter had a slow start, but Jacksonville eventually scored a touchdown in the later half of the quarter. The Chargers then made an impressive 50-yard field goal. Jacksonville, with 44 seconds left, gets a touchdown, but then fails their 2-point attempt. This makes it 30-20 with the Chargers still in the lead. Despite their 10-point lead, the chargers ended up not scoring in the fourth quarter. The Jaguars succeeded in catching up by getting a touchdown and completing a 2-point attempt. With barely not much time left, Jacksonville has the ball and scores the game-winning field goal, winning 31-30. 

Miami at Buffalo:

The Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins game came with high tensions. Since they are division rivals, the outcome of this game had all fans panicking. The Bills led the first quarter with two touchdowns, ending with 14 points to Miami’s zero. Buffalo started out the second quarter by making a 33-yard field goal. The Bills then started slipping up with Quarterback Josh Allen throwing two interceptions that Maimi picked up which led them to gaining the ball multiple times. However, Buffalo’s defense stopped Miami from getting a touchdown for a while, forcing the Dolphins to go for three field goals. Miami then scored a touchdown, and succeeded in their 2-point attempt, tying the game with 33 seconds left in the first half. The Bills then kicked a field goal at the 4 second mark, ending the second quarter at 20-17 Buffalo. Quarter three had fans on the edge of their seats, with several nearly game-making plays happening. Bills fans were panicking inside Highmark Stadium when Josh Allen fumbled, and Miami recovered it for a touchdown, giving the Dolphins the lead. Buffalo then scored two touchdowns for the remainder of the quarter, thus recovering the lead of 34-24. In quarter four Miami scored a touchdown, but the Buffalo Bills kept the ball until it was in Miami territory then kneeled, ending the game with a Bills victory, 34-31. 

New York at Minnesota:

The Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants game was a surprising game for many NFL fans. The Giants came into the game as a lower seed, making the Vikings the favored team. But the Giants stood their ground, playing surprisingly well against the Vikings. Minnesota got the first points of the game, with a touchdown, but quickly after, New York scored two touchdowns, which ended the first quarter 14-7. The second quarter was quiet up until the last 4 minutes, with the Giants scoring a field goal late in the quarter. The Vikings followed this by getting a touchdown, ending the first half with New York in the lead 17-14. The Giant’s and Vikings both scored touchdowns early in the third quarter. The New York Giants then still led 24-21. Fourth quarter was similar, Minnesota only was able to reach a field goal in the early minutes. New York then scored another touchdown, bringing the final score to 31-24. This was a major upset to NFL fans since the Vikings entered this game as the possible Superbowl contenders.

Baltimore at Cincinnati:

The Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens game was another nailbiter. Both teams share the AFC North, so this was their third game playing each other. Cincinnati was favored to win, but Baltimore made it a competitive game. Baltimore’s defense stayed strong in the first quarter and forced Cincinnati to only score a field goal, ending 3-0. When quarter two began, the Bengals almost immediately scored a touchdown, but missed the extra point. Baltimore then proceeded to score a touchdown. Then with 7 seconds remaining, Baltimore scored a field goal ending the first half 10-9 Baltimore. Quarter Three was chalk-full of penalties, but not as many points. Baltimore received a penalty during Cincinnati’s one touchdown, but then the Bengals declined it, gaining the 6 points. They go for two points and fail but Baltimore gets a pass interference penalty, so Cincinnati decided to retry, and their attempt succeeded. With two remaining in the third quarter, Ravens got another touchdown, tying the game 17-17. The last quarter was very eventful, with Bengals fans on the edge of their seats when the Ravens got near the endzone. However, the Ravens fumbled the ball just outside of the endzone, and Cincinnati recovered it, leading to an impressive 98-yard touchdown. The Ravens trying to get a touchdown, get close to the endzone, but their backup Quarterback Tyler Huntley, throws the ball, but it isn’t caught by anyone, which ends with Cincinnati winning 24-17. 

Dallas at Tampa Bay:

The Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were also a sight to watch, even though it almost ended as a blowout. Many people were favoring Tampa Bay to win, since they have THE star quarterback Tom Brady, but they were proven wrong. The first quarter took a while for either team to get their offense rolling. It took the Buccaneers around 10 minutes to even get a first down. Dallas got the first and the only points of the first quarter. They also missed the extra point, which ended the first quarter at 6-0 Dallas. The Cowboys dominated the second quarter, with two touchdowns and yet again two extra point misses, ending the half with Dallas 18-0. The Cowboys scored a very close touchdown, which was almost called off due to the fact of Michael Gallup being close out of bounds, but after reviewing the play, it was declared a touchdown. They missed the extra point once again, reaching five consecutive missed kicks since their last game. Tampa Bay finally got some points on the board by scoring a touchdown, and goes for a two-point attempt, but fails right at the end of the third quarter, 24-6 Dallas. With a majority of the fourth quarter to go, Dallas yet again scores another touchdown. Their kicker Brett Mahar finally succeeded in an extra point kick for his team. With about two minutes to go, Tampa Bay scores a touchdown with a successful 2-point attempt but in the end loses to the Dallas Cowboys, with the game ending 31-14. 

The Divisional Round set for January 21-22nd will be really interesting to watch, especially with all the outcomes of these six games. The Jacksonville Jaguars at the Kansas City Chiefs are set to play January 21st at 4:30 pm, followed by the New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles at 8:15 pm. Sunday January second the Cincinnati Bengals at the Buffalo Bills starting at 3:00pm, followed by the Dallas Cowboys at the San Francisco 49ers. Be sure to watch and check out next week’s NFL football recap.