Pro Football
History On The Side Of NFL Wild-Card Teams
By Ira Kaufman | Tribune Staff
Published: December 31, 2008
TAMPA - Recent NFL history suggests that while winning your division ensures a first-round home game, road teams often flourish on wild-card weekend.Published: December 31, 2008
As usual, oddsmakers have noticed.
For the first time since the league's 2002 realignment, all four visiting clubs are favored to advance to the divisional round.
The road to the Feb. 1 Super Bowl in Tampa begins this weekend with four division champions - Arizona, San Diego, Miami and Minnesota - tabbed as home underdogs.
"Sometimes the team that's in the tougher division can be a wild-card team and be the better team than a club that is in a weaker division and wins the division," NBC analyst John Madden said. "I think that's what we are seeing here."
In the past four seasons, road teams have gone 8-8 during the wild-card round, and since 1970, nine wild-card clubs have advanced to the Super Bowl.
The 2007 Giants and the 2005 Steelers are among the five wild cards to eventually hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy, so division runner-ups Atlanta, Indianapolis, Baltimore and Philadelphia hit the road brimming with confidence.
Why not?
The Falcons (11-5) head to Arizona on Saturday having won eight of their last 10. Michael Turner keys the NFL's No. 2 ground game and Offensive Rookie of the Year Matt Ryan is difficult to rattle in the pocket.
The Colts have reeled off nine victories in a row after a 3-4 start, extending their NFL record by posting at least 12 wins for a sixth consecutive season. Peyton Manning enters Saturday night's matchup in a groove, and an underrated defense is healthy and eager to shut down San Diego's Philip Rivers, who easily won the league's passing title.
After reversing last season's 5-11 mark, Baltimore travels to Miami on Sunday armed with the NFL's No. 2 defense and its own remarkable rookie quarterback, Joe Flacco. The Ravens have won nine of their last 11, including a 27-13 win at Dolphin Stadium in Week 7.
"It's not going to faze us to go on the road," Flacco said. "I think everybody saw New York do it last year, and we believe we can do the same thing."
The Eagles (9-6-1) trounced Dallas to earn the NFC's No. 6 seed and will bring a fierce pass rush to the Metrodome on Sunday. Philadelphia joins the Giants and Patriots as the only three clubs to rank in the top 10 on both sides of the ball, and quarterback Donovan McNabb has far more big-game experience than counterpart Tarvaris Jackson.
Reporter Ira Kaufman can be reached at (813) 259-7833.