Wild Card Round Produced Great Tilts

Four of the 5 wild card round games played thus far Pittsburgh (Steelers) hosts the Houston Texans tonight, to complete the round) were down to the wire, thrilling entities.

When the proverbial “dust cleared” the “slots”/divisional round is almost set. One Saturday tilt will match the NFC top seed Seattle Seahawks, just under a TD “fave” and the San Francisco 49ers for the second time in three weeks, perhaps again on a Saturday night.

Yesterday the Niners eliminated the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, holding on to a 4 point lead as there were 4 straight Eagles no gains, once they reached the Niners’ 21, in the closing minute or so.

Also on Saturday, in what appears to be a scintillating matchup, (again one never knows but surely the largely, high scoring NFL delivered quite an array of close w/cd/rd games), AFC top seed Denver (Broncos) will host the Buffalo Bills, the latter riding a key push on a Josh Allen “sneak,” to a last minute, go ahead to stay, TD in a (27-24) win at Jacksonville (Jaguars).

Perhaps they will clash in the upcoming Supe, a day shy of 4 weeks hence, both the above mentioned Allen and the day before Matthew Stafford, each directed winning touchdown drives for decisive scores sans the safety net of a tying FG in back pocket.

Stafford’s 21 yard TD toss to Colby Parkinson lifted the 10 point “fave” Rams (34-31) over (call it 3-1-1, likely all 10’s and all but the Eagles and Chargers (that next and last), 7’s yet “live” fear and …..) Carolina (Panthers) and into Chicago, forty years later as the great Bears defense stymied Brock Dieter and L.A. in that year’s semi/NFC title tilt.

Chi, down by the comeback score (21-3) (see many examples but I watched none as it was Amazon Prime, which dominates and also delivered a “grabber” that day), again overcame the Packers, winning (31-27) and opened 4 plus point(s) underdogs, albeit at home vs the Rams, some time next Sunday.

Finally, the intense Mike Vrabel (somehow Michigan 2023 title coach Jim Harbaugh, also an excellent one did not seem “as,”) coached, AFC “2” seed New England Patriots won the least competitive of the 5 thus far, (16-3) vs the L.A. Chargers.

Next either a ’96 Sunday slots redux vs the Steelers or a stretch but vs the city whose then Oilers “slotted” N.E. in their first home game in that round.

Since that ’78 season slot 3 home loss to the Houston Oilers, N.E. has gone (13-1) in home slots/div round games. (The only loss to the Jets, yes the Jets in 2010).