Benedict Bermange picks out the best stats from Super Wild Card Weekend in the NFL playoffs, including a first postseason win in 31 years for the Cincinnati Bengals and Josh Allen's near perfect performance
Wednesday 19 January 2022 09:35, UK
Sky Sports Cricket statistician - and big Buffalo Bills fan - Benedict Bermange dives into the NFL playoffs and picks out the best stats from each week...
The Cincinnati Bengals entered this past weekend with the longest active streak of seasons (30) without a playoff win, but they defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 26-19 for their first postseason victory since the 1990 Wild Card. The Raiders have still not won a playoff game since the 2002 AFC Championship Game.
This was the first playoff game in NFL history in which both teams made at least four field goals with Evan McPherson and Daniel Carlson both converting four kicks. The eight combined field goals tied the record for the most in a playoff game in NFL history.
The Buffalo Bills crushed the New England Patriots 47-17, and in doing so, scored the most points by a team in a game against Bill Belichick - including the playoffs. Belichick has lost by at least 28 points only three times in his career - and all three times to the Bills. In Week Three of the 2003 season, the Bills won 31-0, and in Week 16 of the 2020 season, the Bills won 38-9.
The Bills scored touchdowns on each of their first seven offensive possessions in the game - the first team to do that since the Patriots did so in Week 11 of the 2007 season, against the Bills. They also did not punt, have a field goal attempt or turn the ball over - the first team to ever do so in the same game in NFL history.
Josh Allen compiled a passer rating of 157.6 in the win, the second-highest in NFL postseason history.
The only playoff game that Belichick has won without Tom Brady remains the 1994 Wild Card game for the Cleveland Browns against the Patriots, when Vinny Testaverde was his starting quarterback.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 31-15 to pass 30 points in their fifth successive playoff game. The only team with a longer such run were the New Orleans Saints, who scored at least 30 points in six successive playoff games between 2009 and 2011. Before signing Brady, the Buccaneers had only scored 30 points in two of their 15 playoff games in franchise history.
The last four winners of playoff games between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys have gone on to win the Super Bowl - in 1981, 1992, 1993 and 1994, and the 49ers will hope that sequence continues after their 23-17 victory in Texas. The Cowboys committed 14 penalties in the loss, the second-most in playoff history, behind only the Raiders being flagged for 17 penalties in a Wild Card game against the Denver Broncos in 1993.
Patrick Mahomes was dominant in the Kansas City Chiefs' victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, becoming the first player to throw for at least 400 yards and five touchdowns in a playoff victory. The only other player with over 400 yards and five touchdown passes in a playoff game was Ben Roethlisberger in the Steelers' 2017 divisional round loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Roethlisberger may well retire after his record fifth defeat in the Wild Card round, moving him ahead of Peyton Manning and Andy Dalton, who each lost four times at the same stage.
David Long's three-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Los Angeles Rams in their Monday night victory over the Arizona Cardinals was the shortest pick-six in NFL playoff history.
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