NFL Super Wild Card Weekend: Rivalries renewed as playoffs kick off
Only the best of the best have booked their spot in the ‘win or go home’ portion of the season, with just a few more victories standing between them and football immortality. The first stage of this year’s postseason begins on Saturday, with ‘Super Wild Card Weekend’ throwing up a host of familiar faces traveling to familiar places to intrigue fans.
Browns | 11 - 6 @ Texans | 10 - 7
The opening playoff game of the 2023 season will see a clash of two quarterbacks at opposing points of their careers. The Houston Texans, spearheaded by rookie sensation CJ Stroud, will host the Cleveland Browns, who have undergone a late-season surge with veteran signal-caller Joe Flacco at the helm. Both have had remarkable years for very different reasons.
Dolphins | 11 - 6 @ Chiefs | 11 - 6
Although the Miami Dolphins’ Week 18 loss to the Buffalo Bills meant they missed out on the AFC’s No. 2 seed and their season ended in slight disappointment, it did set up the weekend’s first reunion of familiar faces.
Steelers | 10 - 7 @ Bills | 11 - 6
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ season has been difficult to make sense of. Although it ended with a record of 10-7 and a spot in the postseason, Pittsburgh cycled through a series of quarterbacks following up-and-down play, with Mason Rudolph who began the year as the team’s third-string quarterback – finishing the season and providing an offensive jolt to spark a three-game winning run to end the campaign.
Packers | 9 - 8 @ Cowboys | 12 - 5
There will be yet another reunion when the Green Bay Packers travel to face the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas is coached by Mike McCarthy, who spent 13 seasons as Packers head coach, winning the Super Bowl in 2011. His time in Green Bay fizzled out after years of playoff underachievement, but he has added life to his coaching career with a successful stint in Dallas, leading “America’s Team” to 12 wins and the playoffs in three of the four years he’s been with the team.
Rams | 10 - 7 @ Lions |12 - 5
Sunday’s primetime game sees familiar faces meet again as the Los Angeles Rams go on the road to take on the Detroit Lions. It’ll be Rams quarterback Mathew Stafford’s first game back in Detroit since he was traded to Los Angeles in 2021. Stafford was drafted by the Lions with the first overall pick in the 2009 draft before spending 12 seasons with the team. He won a Super Bowl ring in his first season in California. For the Lions, their quarterback jared Goff – drafted by the Rams with the first overall pick in the 2016 draft before being traded to Detroit as part of the deal to send Stafford in the opposite direction – will play against his former team and head coach Sean McVay.
Eagles | 11 - 6 @ Buccaneers | 9 - 8
The final game of ‘Super Wild Card Weekend’ could have massive ramifications. Both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have huge pressure riding on the outcome of their playoff game, with both head coaches’ jobs potentially on the line. Following a Super Bowl defeat last year and the discontent surrounding the team, rumors of a coaching change have begun to percolate and could come to fruition should an early playoff loss take place.
