“Expansion” Teams Playoffs Clashes Notes

The first of six NFL wild card round games matches the two most recent NFL additions, the Cleveland Browns (added in 1999) and the Houston Texans, whose first season was 20 years back, in 2003.

Only three ‘offs meetings between the then two most recent NFL additions, the Dallas Cowboys (1960) and the Minnesota Vikings (1961), had less years between the teams entering the league and meeting in the ‘offs, than the upcoming Browns/Texans clash.

In 1967 the league added its 16th team, the New Orleans Saints and went to four divisions (remember the “C’s”: Century, Capitol, Central and Coastal Divisions).

A year earlier, the Atlanta Falcons came aboard and by the time (1991 Saturday wild card round game won by the visiting Falcons) they met in the playoffs, the Seattle Seahawks then in the AFC and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFC, were the two most recent NFL additions.

Four years later in 1995, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers were added and incredibly, each made its conference’s title tilt/NFL semi the next season.

The fact those pair of teams were in separate conferences, meaning they could only have a playoffs clash in the Super Bowl/NFL final round, made/makes such an event less likely to happen, especially for expansion teams.

That second year rise by both the Jags (they just fired their coach Doug Pederson, who won it all with the Philadelphia Eagles in ’17 and have never made the Supe) and Panthers (they lost NFL final round tilts/Super Bowls in both ’03 and ’15 and just fired their coach Ron Rivera, the ’15 team coach) remains an astounding, unlikely feat.

So now 20 years later, the same conference Browns and Texans meet in the ‘offs.

The Cowboys and Vikings met thrice in the playoffs while being the league’s two newest teams, not counting the AFL expansion teams.(Those were the Miami Dolphins whose first season was 1966, with Joe Auer returning the opening kickoff for a ” ‘Phins TD, in their first ever tilt and Cincinnati Bengals, who played in the AFL’s last 2 seasons 1968 and 1969, each of which culminated in an AFL team pulling a huge upset win in the Super Bowl, perhaps justifying the 1966 NFL/AFL merger)

All three of those Cowboys/Vikings such tilts were won by the road team, Dallas winning slots/div round games at Minne in ’71 and ’75 while the Vikings won the ’73 NFC Title Game/NFL “semi” at Dallas.

Above, I cited Mr. Auer’s first Dolphins’ play kickoff return touchdown in 1966 now click below for two videos of John Gilliam, later a Vikings’ touchdown maker in the above cited 1973 NFC Title Game win at Dallas as he gathered in a Fran Tarkenton pass, scoring a touchdown via kick return on the New Orleans Saints’ first play, that on same calendar 1967/1968 2023/2024, on September 17, 1967.

Each video has the superb TV football broadcaster Don Criqui’s opening audio with one including the “hard to hear” culmination of Gilliam’s TD return.