So much for home-field advantage.
Three of the four winners on NFL wild card weekend were road teams (San Diego, San Francisco and New Orleans) and the only victorious home team (Indianapolis) had to overcome a 28-point deficit in the second half.
Long gone are the days where it was next to impossible to win on the road in the playoffs—especially at Lambeau Field where the Green Bay Packers have dropped three of their past four playoff games. They used to unbeatable there in January.
Now Seattle, Carolina, Denver, and New England look to buck the trend. Will they fare better than the home teams did on wild card weekend?
Here are the other things we learned during the opening playoff weekend:
Andrew Luck is ridiculous: The Indianapolis Colts quarterback is playing at an incredibly high level for such a young player. It’s rare to see a second-year quarterback do so much with so little. Luck is working with a horrific offensive line, an average running game and an underwhelming group of raw receivers outside of T.Y. Hilton. The Colts would’ve had no chance to come back against Kansas City without the heroics of Luck. He did it on the ground, through the air and even recovered a fumble for a touchdown near the goal line. Simply put: Luck is winning the games Peyton Manning never could as a young player with the Colts.
Give Alex Smith some credit: Thanks to a putrid showing from the Chiefs defence, one thing that was lost this weekend was the unbelievable performance from Alex Smith. It was his best game since stunning New Orleans in the playoffs two seasons ago. Smith, who has been labeled as a game manager, looked like a completely different player against the Colts. He was in command. He took chances downfield, he moved around the pocket, and used his athletic ability to gain yards on the ground. With four passing touchdowns, 378 yards, and his star running back Jamaal Charles out with a concussion, Smith deserved better than a heartbreaking loss.
Rob Ryan steps up: The Saints were able to overcome two interceptions from Drew Brees thanks to an impressive defensive effort by Ryan’s unit. New Orleans held the Eagles to 256 yards and were able to shut down Philadelphia’s playmakers. The Saints limited the NFL’s leading rusher, LeSean McCoy, to 77 yards on just 3.7 yards per carry—only two teams held McCoy to a lower average this season—and DeSean Jackson finished with only three catches for 53 yards.
Saints end road woes: It hasn’t just been this season that New Orleans Saints has struggled away from the Superdome. Coming into Saturday’s game, the Saints had lost five of their past six road games, but they ended the streak with their franchise’s first post-season road victory. It was also the first road win in the playoffs for Drew Brees, who had been 0-3 coming into the game.
Another choke job by Dalton: What are the Bengals going to do with Andy Dalton? Dalton laid an absolute egg in the playoffs for the third year in a row. The Bengals had no business losing to an underwhelming San Diego squad, but Dalton’s three turnovers ended any chance that Cincinnati had. It’s evident that Dalton is holding back this franchise. They have too much talent to be a one-and-done team every year. They can’t realistically replace him considering his success in the regular season over the past three years but the Bengals have to consider bringing in competition.
John Pagano should get head coaching consideration: We can’t say enough about the job Mike McCoy has done in his first year in San Diego. He inherited a flawed roster that severely lacked talent on defence, but the Chargers have been able to get the most out of its players. The Chargers defence ranked among the worst groups for most of 2013, but they’ve turned things around over the final six weeks, giving up just 16 points per game. Against Cincinnati, the Chargers dialed up some creative blitz packages from Pagano, the brother of Colts head coach Chuck. Pagano deserves some recognition around the league—he’s doing great work with a unit that hardly has any blue-chip players.
Crabtree’s impact on Kaepernick: It’s been no coincidence that Colin Kaepernick has been a much improved quarterback since Michael Crabtree returned from his Achilles injury. Early in the season, Kaepernick lacked weapons on the outside and drastically struggled at times with his reads when he was tentative and indecisive. It’s clear how comfortable the 49ers quarterback is with his No. 1 weapon. The 49ers have not lost since Crabtree returned and the two were again at their best against Green Bay on Sunday. Kaepernick now has 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions since week 11.
Micah Hyde’s nightmare: Green Bay had one of their best defensive performances of the season Sunday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a very strong San Francisco team. It’s going to be especially hard for defensive back Micah Hyde to watch film of the contest. He had a potentially game-winning interception drop through his hands on the final drive of the game. That pick would’ve given the Packers the ball on San Francisco’s side of the field (and the 49ers would have had only one timeout). It truly is a game of inches.