There’s a decidedly different tenor to Wild Card weekend. It’s a round of games that inevitably feels far more competitive than the Divisional Round. This isn’t terribly complicated to figure out: Whoever advances here has to face higher seeds that benefitted from a week of rest. Invariably, though, there are always some upsets, so the conference title games don’t usually end up with the top two teams playing each other. And in the Super Bowl, anything can really happen, from last-second field goals (made or missed) to complete and utter blowouts.
But Wild Card weekend is the best. The teams are more evenly matched. Home-field advantage feels more important because of said evenness. The idea of a No. 6 seed upsetting a No. 3 isn’t a foreign concept by any means. And some of the most dramatic games in the history of the NFL have taken place in Wild Card contests. Brush past this weekend’s slate of games at your own peril, basically.
My spidey sense tells me that Seattle, which is way better than your normal No. 6 seed, could give No. 3 Minnesota everything it can handle. And Cincinnati, which again will need to rely on A.J. McCarron at quarterback, must host Pittsburgh, which up until a couple of weeks ago was the Team No One Wanted to Face in the playoffs. Then again, you’ve also got Houston-Kansas City and Green Bay-Washington, which, you know, something fun could happen in those games! You just never know, so might as well watch just to be safe.
But before those events unfold, let’s take a peek at past memorable Wild Card matchups — and hope someone this weekend takes their place on this list.
5. 2006 NFC Wild Card: Seattle 21, Dallas 20 (Romo’s fumble)
Tony Romo has assembled a quietly great NFL career over the past 10 years. He’s almost top-20 all-time in touchdown passes. He’s got the third-highest pass rating of all time (a number that invariably goes down as players get older, much like field goal-kicking percentage, but I digress). He’s also top-30 in passing yards and top-15 in game-winning drives. Romo, by all accounts, has pieced together something close to a Hall of Fame resume.
But if he never wins a Super Bowl — hell, advances to a Super Bowl — this will be the boner for which he’s most remembered, fumbling the hold on a chip-shot field goal that would’ve won the game. Instead, it proved to be Bill Parcells’ final seconds as an NFL coach. Although you have to give Romo a ton of credit. That was basically the wrap on his rookie season and quarterbacks of lesser mettle would’ve never been able to bounce back after such a public screw-up. Instead, all of Romo’s best days were ahead of him and he’s made it count.
4. 2003 NFC Wild Card: Green Bay 33, Seattle 27, OT (Hasselbeck’s “guarantee”)
Confidence is a good thing. You want football players to be extremely confident all the time. That’s how you win games! With just so much [clenches fist] freakin’ confidence every time out. OK, so there’s confidence. And then there’s winning the coin toss in overtime and going out of your way to yell into the ref’s lapel mic — while on the road, mind you — that you’re going to score and win the game. Like, why in the world would you do that to yourself, to your team? And to the other team, as a means of motivation? You instantly heap all the pressure of the world onto your own shoulders when, frankly, you don’t really need to be doing that. You’re a starting quarterback in the NFL playoffs. Pressure is abundant. You’re breathing in pressure with every Wisconsin-frozen gasp.
And so it was that cornerback Al Harris intercepted a suddenly chagrined Matt Hasselbeck, and the Seahawks were summarily sent home. Seattle would make the playoffs the next four years as well and Hasselbeck rebounded well from his faux pas, but has anyone ever tried this again since he did? No? Maybe there’s a reason.
3. 1999 AFC Wild Card, Tennessee 22, Buffalo 16 (Music City Miracle)
This series of laterals is actually not all that super-skillful. The most miraculous aspect of it all is that Buffalo’s kickoff coverage was inept to let it happen. Kevin Dyson is basically untouched for the last 75 yards.
But the best part of this whole sequence is the announcer emphasizing not so much that the touchdown was scored, but that there was no penalty and the play would presumably stand. That’s a fascinating emphasis to be placed on such an iconic call: “THERE ARE NO … FLAGS … ON THE FIELD.” That’s the indication a great moment in football history, such as it just happened, shall be allowed to stand. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but that call makes my hair stand on end every time.
2. 2002 NFC Wild Card, San Francisco 39, New York Giants 38 (second-half comeback)
Now this game, I most certainly did have a rooting interest. As a lifelong Giants fan and relatively new Bay Area transplant, I was beyond excited to be attending my first NFL playoff game. On a whim, my girlfriend (now wife) and I went to Tower Records to buy game tickets. We ended up sitting in a section of 49ers season-ticket holders, all clad in Niners gold, and then there was me in my Giants hat and jacket. The first half went swimmingly! The second half? Ehhhhhh, not so much.
The lesson here? We all will die alone one day, nothing in life is ever guaranteed, and 24-point comebacks can happen at any time, so watch your back, kids.
1. 1993 AFC Wild Card, Buffalo 41, Houston 38 (largest comeback ever)
Now, a 32-point comeback? That, we may never see again. And I believe it’s federal law that any ranking of top Wild Card games must end with Frank Reich’s epic comeback against Warren Moon and the Houston Oilers. If you watched the recent 30 for 30 on the Bills’ run of four straight Super Bowls, the recapping of this game was the highlight of the whole film.
Maybe the Bills will never win a Super Bowl in our lifetimes. But they’ve already accomplished a truly impossible feat, and that counts for something.
