All four of the home teams are favored this weekend, but if form holds, a road team or two will win. The NFL went to the eight-division format in 2002, with division champs hosting wild cards in the first round of the playoffs. In 10 of the 12 subsequent years, at least one road playoff team has won.
Since the move to this format, home teams are only 27-21 in these games. So the typical expectation for this weekend would be for probably two road teams to win.
WILD CARDS BEATING DIVISION CHAMPS | |
---|---|
2002 | Atlanta 27, Green Bay 7 |
2003 | Tennessee 20, Baltimore 17 |
2004 | N.Y. Jets 20, San Diego 17 (OT) |
2004 | St. Louis 27, Seattle 20 |
2004 | Minnesota 31, Green Bay 17 |
2005 | Pittsburgh 31, Cincinnati 17 |
2005 | Washington 17, Tampa Bay 10 |
2005 | Carolina 23, N.Y. Giants 0 |
2006 | -- none -- |
2007 | Jacksonville 31, Pittsburgh 29 |
2007 | N.Y. Giants 24, Tampa Bay 14 |
2008 | Baltimore 27, Miami 9 |
2008 | Philadelphia 26, Minnesota 14 |
2009 | N.Y. Jets 24, Cincinnati 14 |
2009 | Baltimore 33, New England 14 |
2010 | N.Y. Jets 17, Indianapolis 13 |
2010 | Baltimore 30, Kansas City |
2010 | Green Bay 21, Philadelphia 16 |
2011 | -- none -- |
2012 | Seattle 24, Washington 14 |
2013 | San Diego 27, Cincinnati 10 |
2013 | New Orleans 26, Philadelphia 24 |
2013 | San Francisco 23, Green Bay 20 |
—Ian Allan