Wild Card Saturday begins with the Oakland Raiders (12-4) taking on the Houston Texans (9-7) for the honor of mercifully ending a shitty season. Can a playoff season really be “shitty?” Well, for the Raiders it can be with Derek Carr on the sidelines in crutches. For the Texans every day is shitty with Bill O’Brien as the head coach. That problem might be fixed after this game with a Texans loss. We shall see.
As always, scroll on down for the live blog. Keep reading for the press release from the NFL.
FROM WILD CARD ROUND TO SUPER BOWL: Winners in the Wild Card round have won the Super Bowl nine times. At least one Super Bowl participant in six of the past 11 years played a Wild Card Game. AFC
WINNING PARTICIPANTS: The PITTSBURGH STEELERS, GREEN BAY PACKERS and OAKLAND RAIDERS will each be playing on Wild Card Weekend. Oakland travels to Houston (4:35 PM ET, ESPN/ABC) on Saturday in the opening game of Wild Card Weekend. On Sunday, Pittsburgh will host Miami (1:05 PM ET, CBS) while Green Bay will face the New York Giants at Lambeau Field (4:40 PM ET, FOX).
The Steelers (34) are tied with the DALLAS COWBOYS (34) for the most postseason wins in NFL history, while the Packers (32) and Raiders (25) rank third and sixth, respectively, in all-time playoff victories. The NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, who are the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC, have 29 postseason victories, the fifth-most all-time.
Green Bay (.604) owns the third-best winning percentage in postseason history, while Pittsburgh (.596) and Oakland (.581) rank fifth and sixth, respectively.
PROLIFIC PASSERS: Green Bay quarterback AARON RODGERS has thrown for at least 300 yards in four postseason games in his career.
With 300 passing yards against the Giants on Sunday, Rodgers would join TOM BRADY (10), PEYTON MANNING (nine), DREW BREES (six), KURT WARNER (six) and Pro Football Hall of Famers JOE MONTANA (six) and DAN FOUTS (five) as the only quarterbacks to have at least five 300-yard passing games in NFL postseason history.
Detroit quarterback MATTHEW STAFFORD has thrown for at least 300 passing yards in each of his first two career postseason starts.
With 300 passing yards on Saturday night at Seattle, Stafford will join Fouts as the only quarterbacks with at least 300 passing yards in each of his first three postseason games. Fouts recorded four consecutive games with 300 passing yards to begin his postseason career.
WINNING WILSON: Seattle quarterback RUSSELL WILSON has led the Seahawks to five consecutive postseason appearances in his first five seasons in the NFL.
With a start against the Lions on Saturday night, Wilson would join JOE FLACCO (2008-12) as the only quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to start a playoff game in each of his first five seasons beginning with his rookie year.
With a win over Detroit on Saturday, Wilson, who has seven career playoff wins through his first four seasons, will tie BEN ROETHLISBERGER (eight) for the third-most postseason victories by a starting quarterback in his first five seasons.
The AFC Wild Card game is ESPN at 4:20 p.m. Watch it with me.
