Houston Texans, 27 Oakland Raiders, 14
Connor Cook's first NFL start, a postseason matchup on the road against a top 3 defense went as well as you'd think that could go. There was some garbage time stat padding, 122 of Cook's 161 yards were in the 4th quarter when the game was out of reach. Make no mistake, the Raiders were not an NFL offense this Saturday. Amari Cooper, Michael Crabtree and Latavius Murray were invisible without Derek Carr and two Pro Bowl O-linemen also missing time. The blind optimism that the Raiders were anything but decapitated was extinguished before halftime.
By comparison, it may appear Brock Osweiler had a great game. Okay, but not great. Osweiler has been so bad this year that so routine completions were raising eyebrows, hey- maybe he can complete a pass. It also helped that Oakland's suffering offense provided endless quarters for second chances at the Wildcard Arcade. It's nice that Brock had a highlight sideline throw to WR DeAndre Hopkins but there were also consistently blown opportunities, missed throws and for a 6'8 gargantuan in the pocket- why are there so many balls batted down at the line?
It was a miserably hopeless wildcard kickoff, the Raiders hopes were in the hands of the their defense which has been their greatness weakness all season. RB Lamar Miller was able to punch a TD in, WR DeAndre Hopkins caught a short slant. The Texans were dead last in Touchdowns this season, it was nice for Houston to see those two big names celebrating in the end zone.
MVP : The Texans defense did what they had to do, they dominated. Jadaveon Clowney, with JJ Watt cheering on the sideline, was the undisputed highlight. Clowney was moved all over the line- his highlight was reading a screen, tipping the ball, and making the interception to set up the aforementioned Miller TD.
Seattle Seahawks, 26 Detroit Lions, 6
The Lions have had the "indoor team with an outdoor mentality" mantra going for 2-3 years now. In retrospect, doesn't it just seem so obvious that those declarations of strength were giving away precisely the team's weakness? Golden Tate, Marvin Jones and the Lions WRs did not show up to help Matt Stafford. Clearly, Stafford never felt right after his week 14 finger injury. Against the Seahawks, the Lions never threatened the end zone.
The Seahawks flashed their old formula - run it with a feature back (Thomas Rawls) and play great defense. These were two things were not a given without S Earl Thomas and the way the 2016 Seahawks have run the ball. Without a consistently healthy running back or a healthy Wilson, the Seahawks averaged under 100 yards rushing per game this season (after 3 years of 142/g, 172/g, 136/g).
The game remained close on the scoreboard for the 1st half and through the 3rd. The Lions' defense put up some stiff resistance in the red zone. The score was 10-6 to start the 4th but did not feel that close. Finally, the time of possession (Seahawks-37m, Lions-23m) wore the Lions down and QB Russell Wilson led two back-breaking 80+ yard touchdown drives to put the outdoor Lions to sleep.
MVP : RB Thomas Rawls. I know WR Paul Richardson provided the one-handed highlights and WR Doug Baldwin continues to be a force as the TDs add up but the MVP was clearly Rawls who set a postseason Seahawk record with 161 yards. Rawls could well be the x-factor of the entire NFC bracket. If the Seahawks can run the ball- can they be stopped?
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