What to Look For - Divisional Playoffs

“Super Wild Card Weekend” lived up to its billing, with six opening-round games providing a combination of expected outcomes and surprising results.

When the Browns beat the Steelers to close out the slate of games Sunday night, lower seeds finished the weekend with a 4-2 record, setting up four games this weekend in the divisional round.

The matchups feature some of the game’s rising “young gun” quarterbacks in the AFC and three quarterbacks in the NFC who will be enshrined in Canton a few years in the future.

This weekend also adds the top seeds in each conference – Kansas City and Green Bay – to the action.

For a look at what to watch for this weekend, read on …

SURVIVE AND ADVANCE: The CLEVELAND BROWNS (12-5) and LOS ANGELES RAMS (11-6) both earned victories on Super Wild Card Weekend as the No. 6 seeds in their respective conferences. In 2019, both the MINNESOTA VIKINGS and TENNESSEE TITANS won on Wild Card Weekend as the No. 6 seeds while both the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS and PHILADELPHIA EAGLES advanced to the Divisional round of the playoffs as No. 6 seeds in in 2018.

This marks the first time in which two No. 6 seeds advanced past Wild Card Weekend in three consecutive seasons since 1990, when the NFL expanded the playoffs to six teams per conference.

The No. 6 seeds to reach the conference Championship since 1990:

 
In both conferences, the No. 5 [BALTIMORE RAVENS (12-5) and TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (12-5)] and No. 6 seeds (Cleveland and Los Angeles Rams) are all still alive in the postseason. With victories by Baltimore and Cleveland in the AFC or Tampa Bay and Los Angeles in the NFC, it would mark the first conference Championship game featuring a No. 5 and No. 6 seed since 1990.

YOUTH MOVEMENT: All four starting quarterbacks remaining in the AFC playoffs are under the age of 26. This is the first time ever that all four starting quarterbacks in one conference in the Divisional playoffs are under the age of 26.​

Three quarterbacks selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft – Cleveland’s BAKER MAYFIELD (No. 1 overall), Buffalo’s JOSH ALLEN (No. 7) and Baltimore’s LAMAR JACKSON (No. 32) – are projected to start in the AFC Divisional round. This will mark the second time in the common-draft era that three first-round quarterbacks from the same NFL Draft will start in the Divisional playoffs in the same postseason. The only other time this occurred was in the 2008 postseason, when three quarterbacks selected in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft – ELI MANNING, PHILIP RIVERS and BEN ROETHLISBERGER – each started in the 2008 Divisional playoffs.

Saturday night’s game featuring Jackson (24 years, nine days old on Saturday) and Allen (24 years, 240 days old on Saturday) marks the fourth matchup in the Divisional round between two quarterbacks under the age of 25 in the Super Bowl era.​

Divisional round matchups between starting quarterbacks under the age of 25 in the Super Bowl era:

Mayfield and Los Angeles Rams quarterback JARED GOFF, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft, are each expected to make the second road postseason starts of their careers this weekend. Mayfield earned a victory in his first postseason start on the road last weekend while Goff won his first road playoff start at New Orleans in the 2018 NFC Championship game. JIM PLUNKETT, the No. 1 overall selection in the 1971 NFL Draft, is the only quarterback who was selected first overall to win each of his first two road postseason starts.

LEGENDS OF THE WINTER: When Tampa Bay quarterback TOM BRADY (43 years, 167 days old on Sunday) and New Orleans quarterback DREW BREES (42 years, two days old on Sunday), the two most prolific passers in NFL history, meet in the NFC Divisional playoffs, it will mark the first postseason game in NFL history to feature two opposing starting quarterbacks age 40 or older and their combined age (85 years and 169 days old on Sunday) is the oldest combined age of opposing starting quarterbacks in a single game (regular-season or postseason) in league annals.​

The players with the most passing yards and touchdown passes, including the postseason, in NFL history:

 
Brees, who has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 17 consecutive postseason games, needs a touchdown pass on Sunday against Tampa Bay (6:40 PM ET, FOX/FOX Deportes) to tie Brady (18 consecutive playoff games) for the second-longest such streak in postseason history. Green Bay quarterback AARON RODGERS has thrown a touchdown pass in 14 consecutive playoff games, tied for the fourth-longest such streak in postseason history.

The players with the most consecutive postseason games with a touchdown pass in NFL history:​

Rodgers led the NFL with 48 touchdown passes and had a 121.5 passer rating in 2020, the second-highest single-season mark among qualified passers in NFL history. In 18 career postseason starts, Rodgers has 43 touchdowns (40 passing, three rushing) and a 100 passer rating.

With at least two touchdown passes on Saturday against the Rams (4:35 PM ET, FOX/FOX Deportes), Rodgers would tie JOE FLACCO (eight consecutive games) for the most consecutive playoff games with at least two touchdown passes in NFL history.​

The players with the most consecutive postseason games with at least two touchdown passes in NFL history: