Yesterdays Results From Wild Card Saturday:
Cincinnati Bengals 10--Houston Texans 31
HOUSTON -- No first-time playoff jitters for the Texans.
Rookie defensive end
J.J. Watt returned an interception for a touchdown, and Andre Johnson and
Arian Foster put the game away with second-half scores to power the Texans over the
Cincinnati Bengals 31-10 on Saturday in an AFC Wild Card Game.
In the postseason for the first time in their 10-year history, the Texans came up with big plays on offense and defense to move into a divisional playoff game next Sunday at Baltimore.
Watt returned the first of Bengals rookie quarterback
Andy Dalton's three interceptions 29 yards for a score that broke a 10-all tie with 52 seconds left in the half.
Texans quarterback
T.J. Yates, also a rookie, then hit Johnson on a 40-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter, and Foster added his second touchdown run, a 42-yarder, to put away the Bengals.
Detroit Lions 28--New Orleans Saints 45
NEW ORLEANS -- Record-shattering
Drew Brees threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns, and the
New Orleans Saints poured it on in the second half for a 45-28 NFC wild-card victory over the
Detroit Lions on Saturday night.
Brees hit on 33 of 43 passes while throwing for the most yards in a regulation playoff game. He highlighted his night with three completions of at least 40 yards.
As usual, the quarterback had plenty of help from an offense that set an NFL record for yards from scrimmage this season (7,474). The Saints (14-3) gained a whopping 627 yards of total offense, and will travel to San Francisco for next Saturday's second-round game.
Matthew Stafford threw for 380 yards and three TDs for the Lions (10-7), who simply could not keep pace in their first playoff appearance since 1999. They have lost seven straight playoff games.
All-Pro receiver
Calvin Johnson had 12 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns in his playoff debut for Detroit.
Todays Wild Card Playoff Games:
Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants (1:00PM EST)
» The Falcons could also have trouble rushing the football. Turner is averaging just 56 yards running per game with a poor 3.3 yards per carry average.
» The Giants' run defense has struggled this season, giving up 126.1 yards per game coming into Week 17. That said, they shut down the Dallas ground attack Sunday night (49 yards allowed).
» These two teams have never met in the postseason. The Giants
lost the NFL's first NFL Championship game in 1933. The Falcons started play in 1966.
Pittsburg Steelers @ Denver Broncos (4:30 PM EST)
»
Elvis Dumervil and
Von Miller combined for 21 sacks this season.
» The Steelers put up 161 yards rushing in Cleveland. Expect
Isaac Redman (92 yards) to get the ball often with
Rashard Mendenhall's knee injury.
» These two teams last met in the playoffs in the
2005 AFC Championship. The Broncos were the two seed, but were bested by the sixth-seeded Steelers, 34-17.