NFL wild card weekend breakdown: Chaotic finish to 49ers-Cowboys game. Big Ben's unceremonious (likely) final game.
"Super Wild Card Weekend" is (almost) in the books. Here are the highlights with one more wild-card playoff game to play:
- Dak Prescott did not back down from support of fans throwing debris at officials and agreeing with those fans was not a good look.
- The Bills' beatdown of the Patriots was reminiscent of the early-90s Buffalo teams.
- Bill Belichick still doesn't have a playoff win as Patriots coach without Tom Brady as his QB.
- The divisional round matchups for next weekend are nearly set.
"Super Wild Card Weekend" supplied football fans with a stunning Bills blowout of the Patriots, Ben Roethlisberger's likely final NFL game and a finish that will be heavily debated.
And ... there's still one more wild-card game to go before moving on to the divisional round.
Wild card weekend analysis
- Winners and losers: The Bills may have emerged as the buzzsaw no one wants to see the rest of the way. Bill Belichick still doesn't have a playoff win with New England when he doesn't have TB12.
- Mike McCarthy makes same mistakes with Cowboys: Many of the same mistakes McCarthy made with the Packers are playing out in real time with the Cowboys. Jerry Jones should have known better, Nancy Armour writes.
- Bad loss for Dak Prescott in more ways than one: Prescott should be ashamed of himself – and not because of squandering the final seconds off the clock in Sunday's wild-card playoff loss, Jarrett Bell writes.
- ‘We definitely underachieved’: Why do the Cowboys perennially seem to fall short of expectations?
- 'He’s a tremendous leader': Patrick Mahomes proves he's capable of attacking in a different style and keeping Chiefs' Super Bowl hopes alive, Mike Jones writes.
- Tougher tests loom for the defending champs: The Bucs were well enough to handle overmatched Eagles team. But it remains to be seen whether they are healthy enough to deal with what comes next, Jarrett Bell writes.
- Injury-stung Bucs offense can use big boost from revived D: For the Buccaneers to legitimately defend their Super Bowl crown, they will have to live up to the NFL’s ubiquitous "next man up" mantra, Jarrett Bell writes.
- Bills may have played best game in team history: It felt like January 1991 again for Sal Maiorana as Josh Allen and the Bills put forth perhaps the best performance in team history.
Wild card weekend's biggest moments
- FOX Sports' (and former Cowboys quarterback) Troy Aikman dropped a not-so-subtle hint that he'd rather be at the Cowboys-49ers playoff game than the Buccaneers-Eagles game he was assigned to cover.
- A sad Cowboys fan quickly became a meme during Dallas' wild loss to the 49ers.
- The Cowboys' season ended as the umpire had to physically spot the ball before it could be snapped.
- Listen to the Cowboys' radio call as time ran out on Dak Prescott and Dallas' season.
- 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa was knocked out of Sunday's game with a concussion.
- Eagles sack leader Josh Sweat missed Sunday's playoff game against the Buccaneers after a "life-threatening situation."
- Bengals head coach Zac Taylor hit up a local Cincinnati bar and gave out game balls to fans.
- There was a stampede at Jerry World as fans raced into the stadium for the best standing-room views.
- The NFL on Nickelodeon broadcast was back for the Cowboys-49ers playoff game with more slim than ever.
Wild card weekend rundown
Saturday
- Cincinnati Bengals 26, Las Vegas Raiders 19: The Bengals ended the NFL's longest playoff victory drought, but not without some controversy.
- Buffalo Bills 47, New England Patriots 17: The Patriots never stood a chance in this lopsided dump-trucking.
Sunday
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, Philadelphia Eagles 15: This was more of a tune-up than a gauge of whether or not Tom Brady and the Bucs are ready to defend their Super Bowl crown.
- San Francisco 49ers 23, Dallas Cowboys 17: The 49ers survived a frenzied fourth quarter comeback attempt by the Cowboys to win an absolutely crazy game.
- Kansas City Chiefs 42, Pittsburgh Steelers 21: The Chiefs cruised to victory and likely ended the Ben Roethlisberger era with an unceremonious blowout defeat.
Monday
- Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams, 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN2/ABC)
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