sign in sign up
<<
Home , Andy Dalton, Ben Roethlisberger, Bernie Kosar, Derrick Henry, Drew Brees, Kelly Holcomb

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1/3/20 http://twitter.com/NFL345

WHAT TO LOOK FOR – WILD CARD WEEKEND

NEW YEAR, NEW TEAMS: This season, five teams qualified for the after missing the postseason in 2018 – the , , , and – three of which will be active on Wild Card Weekend: Buffalo (at Houston, Saturday, 4:35 PM ET, ESPN/ABC), Tennessee (at New England, Saturday, 8:15 PM ET, CBS) and Minnesota (at , Sunday, 1:05 PM ET, FOX).

Since the 12-team playoff format was adopted in 1990 – a streak of 30 consecutive seasons – at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs in every season that were not in the postseason the year before.

-- WILD CARD WEEKEND --

POSTSEASON DEBUTS: Three – Buffalo’s , Philadelphia’s and Tennessee’s – are expected to make their first-career postseason starts on Wild Card Weekend.

The players with the most passing yards in their first-career postseason start:

PLAYER TEAM SEASON ROUND PASSING YARDS Cleveland 2002 Wild Card 429 Green Bay 2009 Wild Card 423 Philadelphia 1988 Divisional 407 Kurt WarnerHOF St. Louis Rams 1999 Divisional 391 St. Louis Cardinals 1982 Wild Card 385

-- WILD CARD WEEKEND --

YOUNG QUARTERBACKS KICK OFF WILD CARD WEEKEND: Saturday afternoon’s game featuring Buffalo JOSH ALLEN (23 years, 228 days old) and Houston quarterback (24 years, 112 days old) marks the sixth postseason matchup between two quarterbacks under the age of 25 in the era.

In four of the five such matchups in the Super Bowl era, the quarterback of the home team has won.

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

SEASON ROUND HOME TEAM QUARTERBACK VISITOR QUARTERBACK RESULT 1985 Divisional Miami Dan MarinoHOF Cleveland MIA 24, CLE 21 2000 Wild Card Philadelphia Donovan McNabb Tampa Bay Shaun King PHI 21, TB 3 2000 Divisional Minnesota New Orleans Aaron Brooks MIN 34, NO 16 2011 Wild Card Houston T.J. Yates Cincinnati HOU 31, CIN 10 2012 Wild Card Washington Robert Griffin III Seattle SEA 24, WAS 14

-- WILD CARD WEEKEND --

CLASH OF THE TITANS: Saturday night’s matchup between the TENNESSEE TITANS (9-7) and AFC East Champion (12-4) pairs ’s top-rated quarterback RYAN TANNEHILL (117.5 ) and the league’s leading rusher (1,540 rushing yards), against a Patriots defense that led the NFL in total defense (275.9 yards per game) and scoring defense (14.1 points against per game) in 2019.

Tennessee is the fourth team since 1970 to have the league’s top-rated quarterback and league-leading rusher in the same season.

New England is the first team to allow an average of 15 or fewer points per game since the 2013 (14.4). Seattle would go on to win Super Bowl XLVIII.

Patriots quarterback , who has led New England to 11 consecutive division titles and six overall Super Bowl championships, is the postseason’s all-time leader in games played (40), passing yards (11,179) and passes (73).

New England SONY MICHEL led the NFL with six rushing in the 2018 postseason – tied for the second-most in a single postseason in league history. If Michel, who had at least one rushing touchdown in each of his first three career postseason games, has a rushing touchdown against Tennessee, he would join Pro Football Hall of Famers and , as well as , as the only players with a rushing touchdown in each of their first four career postseason games in NFL history.

New England has 115 receptions for 1,412 receiving yards in 18 career postseason games – both the second-most in NFL history. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer (151 receptions, 2,245 receiving yards) has more.

In Super Bowl LIII, Edelman had 10 receptions for 141 receiving yards and was named the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player, marking his sixth-career postseason game with at least 100 receiving yards.

With at least 100 receiving yards against Tennessee, Edelman would surpass Pro Football Hall of Famer (six games) for the second-most career postseason games with at least 100 receiving yards in NFL history.

The players with the most career postseason games with at least 100 receiving yards in NFL history:

PLAYER TEAM GAMES Jerry RiceHOF San Francisco 8 Julian Edelman New England 6 Michael IrvinHOF 6

-- WILD CARD WEEKEND --

EASY BREESY: New Orleans quarterback will make his 16th career postseason start on Sunday against Minnesota (1:05 PM ET, FOX). Brees currently ranks in the top five in both postseason completion percentage and passer rating (min. 150 attempts) in league history.

The quarterbacks with the highest career postseason passer rating (min. 150 attempts):

QUARTERBACK COMP. ATT. YARDS TDs INTs RATING Bart StarrHOF 130 213 1,753 15 3 104.8 Kurt WarnerHOF 307 462 3,952 31 14 102.8 Matt Ryan 237 351 2,672 20 7 100.8 Drew Brees* 408 615 4,759 33 11 100.0 Aaron Rodgers* 378 595 4,457 36 10 99.4 *Active in 2019 playoffs

The quarterbacks with the highest career postseason completion percentage (min. 150 attempts):

QUARTERBACK COMP. ATT. PCT. 143 210 68.1 Matt Ryan 237 351 67.5 Kurt WarnerHOF 307 462 66.5 Drew Brees* 408 615 66.3 Ken Anderson 110 166 66.3 *Active in 2019 playoffs

Additionally, Brees has 4,759 career postseason passing yards. With at least 241 passing yards on Sunday, he would become the sixth player in NFL history with at least 5,000 career postseason passing yards, joining TOM BRADY (11,179), (7,339), Pro Football Hall of Famers (5,855) and (5,772), as well as (5,256).

-- WILD CARD WEEKEND --

BATTLE OF THE BIRDS: Seattle quarterback RUSSELL WILSON passed for 4,110 passing yards this season and joined PEYTON MANNING and as the only players with at least 3,000 passing yards in each of their first eight seasons in NFL history. Wilson also became the first quarterback in league history to finish with a winning record in each of his first eight seasons.

Wilson has 94 career wins (including postseason) since entering the NFL in 2012, the second-most in a player’s first eight seasons in NFL history.

The quarterbacks with the most career wins, including postseason, in their first eight seasons in NFL history:

PLAYER TEAM SEASONS WINS Tom Brady New England 2000-07 100 Russell Wilson Seattle 2012-19 94* Ben Roethlisberger 2004-11 90 *In eighth season

Seattle running back has recorded at least 100 rushing yards in six of his 11 career postseason appearances. With at least 100 rushing yards against Philadelphia (Sunday, 4:40 PM ET, NBC), Lynch would Pro Football Hall of Famers TERRELL DAVIS (seven games) and (seven games) for the most career postseason games with at least 100 rushing yards in NFL history.

The players with the most career postseason games with at least 100 rushing yards in NFL history:

PLAYER GAMES WITH 100+ RUSHING YARDS Terrell DavisHOF 7 Emmitt SmithHOF 7 Marshawn Lynch 6* John RigginsHOF 6 Thurman ThomasHOF 6 *Entering postseason

-- WILD CARD WEEKEND --