There are endless storylines for the opening round of the NFL playoffs, but some hit closer to home than others.
Wild card weekend will feature six matchups from Saturday to Monday as the playoff field gets cut from 14 down to eight. While the Lombardi Trophy is the ultimate goal, each team will have some extra incentive to beat their opponent this weekend.
From blockbuster trades to coaching ties, here is a notable connection between opponents in each of the six wild card games.
Cleveland Browns vs. Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson trade
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The Browns and Texans participated in one of the most seismic trades in recent NFL history, but the player at the center of the deal will not be on the field Saturday afternoon.
Houston dealt quarterback Deshaun Watson and a fifth-round pick to Cleveland in exchange for three first-rounders, a third-rounder and a fourth-rounder in March 2022. The move took place just days after a grand jury declined to indict Watson while he faced 22 civil lawsuits over sexual misconduct allegations. The Browns promptly gave Watson an unprecedented contract of five years and $230 million in fully guaranteed money.
Watson returned to Houston in Week 13 of the 2022 season for his Browns debut following an 11-game suspension, which came as part of a settlement between the NFL and NFL Players Association. He started six games in 2023 before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.
Joe Flacco will lead the fifth-seeded Browns against the fourth-seeded Texans and their new franchise quarterback, 2023 No. 2 overall draft pick C.J. Stroud.
Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Tyreek Hill trade
Tyreek Hill has already faced Patrick Mahomes and his former team once, but Saturday will be his first time playing in front of Chiefs Kingdom as a visitor.
The Kansas City Chiefs dealt the speedy receiver to the Miami Dolphins in March 2022 for five draft picks, including a 2022 first-rounder. Hill immediately sparked the Miami offense, as he was second in the NFL last season in catches and receiving yards, but the Chiefs did just fine without him en route to a Super Bowl LVII win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Fast forward to this year, and Mahomes might be missing Hill a bit more. The Chiefs’ pass catchers have been unreliable all season as the team finished the season 11-6. Hill, meanwhile, led the league with 1,799 receiving yards and tied for the league lead with 13 receiving touchdowns.
Hill had a relatively quiet game by his standards when the Dolphins lost a “road” game to the Chiefs in Germany, finishing with 62 yards on eight catches. With sub-zero temperatures in the forecast for Kansas City on Saturday, Hill will hope for a warm welcome at his old stadium.
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Buffalo Bills: Former college teammates Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott
The two head coaches in Sunday’s wild card contest between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills have a long history that dates back to their playing days in college.
Long before Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott were patrolling NFL sidelines, they were teammates at William & Mary University in 1993 and 1994. Tomlin was a wide receiver and graduated in 1995, while McDermott played safety before graduating in 1998.
This will be the fifth meeting between Tomlin and McDermott since the latter took the head job with the Bills in 2017. McDermott has a 3-1 edge in head-to-head matchups with the most recent being a 38-3 Bills blowout in Week 5 of the 2022 regular season.
Both coaches reached the playoffs after their offensive coordinators were fired midseason. McDermott’s Bills are the AFC’s No. 2 seed at 11-6 and Tomlin kept up his impressive streak of winning seasons by leading the Steelers to a 10-7 record despite trotting out three different starting quarterbacks.
Green Bay Packers vs. Dallas Cowboys: Mike McCarthy against his old team
Thirteen years ago, McCarthy lifted the Lombardi Trophy at AT&T Stadium after leading the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl XLV victory over the Steelers. On Sunday, he will be on the opposite sideline coaching against his former team in the wild card round.
The Packers fired McCarthy at the tail end of the 2018 season and he landed with the Dallas Cowboys in January 2020. He began his Dallas tenure with a 6-10 season in 2020 before earning three straight playoff berths. The Cowboys turned the last two playoff appearances into just one win and two losses, both at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers.
The Cowboys’ playoff slate begins against the Packers. Led by McCarthy’s successor, Matt LaFleur, the young Green Bay team snuck into the NFC’s No. 7 seed with a 9-8 record.
Los Angeles Rams vs. Detroit Lions: Matthew Stafford-Jared Goff trade
A March 2021 blockbuster between the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions will come full circle on Sunday.
The deal sent Matthew Stafford to L.A. and Jared Goff to Detroit. Both players have excelled with the change of scenery, as the Rams won a Super Bowl in Stafford’s first year with the team and Goff helped propel the Lions to their first division title in 30 years.
The Lions will host their first home playoff game since 1993 when they host the Rams. Detroit fans are evidently eager to see Stafford back in town, as tickets to get into Ford Field Sunday night are the most expensive for a wild card game in NFL history.
Goff is aiming to get the Lions their first playoff win since 1991, while Stafford will be keen on leading the Rams to an upset in his former home.
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jalen Hurts’ first playoff game
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are stumbling into the playoffs, and their next matchup is against a team with proven postseason success against them.
Hurts took over as the Eagles’ full-time starter in 2021 and got the team into the playoffs that year. Making his first postseason start, he took the field in Tampa Bay to battle Tom Brady and struggled against the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers.
The Eagles fell behind 31-0 before tacking on two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Hurts finished the game 23-for-43 passing for 258 yards, an inconsequential touchdown pass and two interceptions to go along with 39 yards on the ground.
Baker Mayfield has replaced Brady under center, but Hurts will still be facing a Todd Bowles defense with many of the same players from the Bucs’ 2020 Super Bowl-winning roster. Offense was not the Eagles’ biggest problem in the home stretch to the 2023 regular season, but the spotlight could shift to Hurts if he gets stymied against the Bucs again.
