It took 18 weeks and 272 regular-season contests. And the final playoff berth in the AFC came down to the closing seconds of the last game of the 2021 NFL campaign. Now the playoffs begin. Can the Tampa Bay Buccaneers become the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions? There are plenty of interesting statistics when it comes to this postseason.
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There are seven different teams in the playoffs that weren’t in the postseason a year ago. The newcomers (listing year of last appearance) are the Cincinnati Bengals (2015), Las Vegas Raiders (2016), New England Patriots (2019), Philadelphia Eagles (2019), Dallas Cowboys (2018), San Francisco 49ers (2019) and Arizona Cardinals (2015). Hence, out this season are the Ravens, Browns, Colts, the Washington Football Team, the Bears, Saints and Seahawks.
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There was another worst-to-first story in the league this season. A year after the Cincinnati Bengals finished 4-11-1 and in the basement of the AFC North, this was the only club in the division to win at least 10 games. The team is back in the postseason for the first time since 2015. It’s also worth noting that two other clubs – the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers – are in the postseason after both being divisional cellar-dwellers a season ago.
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It’s the number of quarterbacks that will be making their first NFL playoff start in 2021. And three of those signal-callers will take the field on Saturday. Eight-year pro Derek Carr guides the Raiders to their first playoff appearance and clashes with the Bengals and Joe Burrow on Saturday afternoon. Mac Jones and the Patriots battle the Bills later that day. Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and Arizona’s Kyler Murray will also make their NFL postseason debuts.
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The Cincinnati Bengals are getting a lot of play here and understandably so. It’s been a big year for head coach Zac Taylor, red-hot quarterback Joe Burrow (who sat out Week 18) and electrifying rookie wideout Ja’Marr Chase. The team is in the playoffs for the first time since 2015 but the franchise hasn’t tasted success in the postseason since 1990. The club has lost eight straight playoff games since ’90, tied for the second-longest streak in NFL history.
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It almost sounds incorrect because it’s so startling. During the 55-year history of the Super Bowl, no player has ever led pro football in passing yards and captured a Lombardi Trophy in the same season. In 2021, Buccaneers’ quarterback Tom Brady led the NFL with 5,316 through the air. So could the seven-time Super Bowl champion be the first player to lead the NFL in passing yards and walk home with a Super Bowl title? The quest begins Sunday.