NFL playoffs: Seattle finds its running game mojo again; Osweiler helps Houston win
The first half of the first weekend of the NFL playoffs is in the books. The Seahawks found their dominant running form again, while Brock Osweiler found a measure of redemption as the Texans’ well-paid and recently benched quarterback.
Seattle Seahawks 26, Detroit Lions 6
SEATTLE - The formula that has led the Seattle Seahawks to unmatched success over the past five seasons returned.
A healthy dose of Thomas Rawls rumbling on the ground. A few timely throws by Russell Wilson helped by some remarkable catches. And a defense that never allowed Detroit a sniff of the end zone.
“This felt like old times. This felt great.” Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman said.
Rawls rushed for a franchise playoff-record 161 yards, Paul Richardson made one of the catches of the year for his first career postseason touchdown, and the Seahawks beat the Lions 26-6 on Saturday night in an NFC wild-card game.
“It kept the chains going,” Rawls said. “We want to end like this. We want to end with a great mark running the football, which is our identity, playing tough hard-nosed Seahawks football, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Seattle won its 10th straight home playoff game, continuing Detroit’s miserable conclusion to the season that finished with four straight losses. Detroit’s long playoff history without postseason success continued: no playoff wins since 1992. No road playoff wins since 1957.
“We’re walking away with nothing,” Detroit cornerback Darius Slay said.
Rawls was the workhorse as the run game the Seahawks became known for when Marshawn Lynch was in the backfield finally found consistency that was missing all season. Rawls bettered Lynch’s 157 yards in the 2014 NFC championship game against Green Bay. Rawls had runs of 12, 14, 26 and a 32-yarder late in the third quarter, when Wilson ended up being his lead blocker.
Rawls capped his night with a 4-yard touchdown run that gave Seattle a 19-6 lead. He was the first player with at least 150 yards rushing in a playoff game since Lynch’s performance against the Packers.
While Rawls did the grunt work, Richardson filled the highlight reel with a trio of catches. None was better than his 4-yard touchdown in the second quarter to give Seattle a 7-0 lead.
Richardson went horizontal reaching out with his left hand to cradle the pass as he was being interfered with by Tavon Wilson. What wasn’t called on the play was Richardson’s right hand yanking on the facemask of Wilson as he reached to make the catch.
Richardson had another one-handed catch in the fourth quarter, and Doug Baldwin got into the act of amazing catches, pinning a 10-yard reception to the back of his leg late in the fourth quarter to continue a Seattle drive. Two plays later, Baldwin’s 13-yard touchdown reception put it away.
Baldwin ran the wrong route and the pass was actually intended for teammate Jermaine Kearse.
“I wasn’t where I was supposed to be,” Baldwin said. “Fortunately it worked out.”
Wilson finished 23 of 30 for 224 yards, while Baldwin had 11 catches for 104 yards.
SHUTDOWN D
Overshadowed by the offensive performance was Seattle’s defense shutting down the Lions. Hampered by a handful of dropped passes and some untimely penalties, the Lions could only manage a pair of long Matt Prater field goals.
Matthew Stafford was 18 of 32 for 205 yards. He was sacked three times and Detroit never ran a play inside the Seattle 33-yard line.
“We definitely knew if we came in and focused, we’d be fine,” All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “We knew they got some great players on the other end, but we were just locked in all week and we prepared very well. We knew were going to play well.”
FOURTH-DOWN SUCCESS
Seattle was 4 of 11 on fourth downs during the regular season, but got two big conversions on its first touchdown drive. On fourth-and-1 at the Detroit 39, Rawls bounced for 4 yards; the drive was capped by Richardson’s catch on fourth-and-goal from the 2.
Detroit wasn’t so successful. On its third possession, it went on fourth-and-2 from the Seattle 38. The oddly designed play had Stafford throwing behind the line of scrimmage to Matthew Mulligan. The play was blown up by Wagner and K.J. Wright for a 2-yard loss.
KICKING IT
Prater became the first kicker with multiple 50-yard field goals made in the same playoff game, and Seattle’s Steven Hauschka was true on both of his field goal attempts. But Hauschka missed his seventh extra point of the season after Rawls’ touchdown with 8:43 remaining.
UP NEXT
Detroit: The Lions will lament the end of their season. After getting its record to 9-4, Detroit lost its final four games.
Seattle: The Seahawks will face the No. 2 seed Atlanta Falcons next Saturday. Seattle beat Atlanta 26-22 in October.
“We’re expecting a fight,” Wagner said. “They’re going to come in rested. They’re going to be hungry, but we’re hungry, too. We’re going to come out and give ‘em everything we got.”
Houston Texans 27, Oakland Raiders 14
HOUSTON - Brock Osweiler redeemed himself after last month’s benching. Jadeveon Clowney established himself as a postseason force.
And the Houston Texans got their first playoff victory since the 2012 season Saturday against the Oakland Raiders.
Osweiler threw for a touchdown and ran for another to lead the Texans to a 27-14 wild-card playoff win over Oakland. Clowney, erasing any doubts he deserved to be the top pick in the 2014 draft, got his first career interception.
Osweiler, benched on Dec. 18, got his job back this week with Tom Savage out with a concussion, played his best game of the season. It was the first career playoff game for Osweiler, who was benched for Peyton Manning before the postseason last season with Denver, and coach Bill O’Brien said he’ll start again next week. Osweiler finished with 168 yards passing.
“It just goes back to having confidence in my teammates,” Osweiler said. “Believing in what you see and just rip it. Cut it loose and don’t have any hesitation. I trust that my teammates, the skill guys, they’re going to be where they’re supposed to be . and they’re going to make me look good in the end.”
Houston (10-7) and its top-ranked defense, led by Clowney and Whitney Mercilus, bounced back after an embarrassing 30-0 wild-card loss to Kansas City last season to advance to face either the Chiefs or New England in the divisional round next weekend. Clowney was roundly criticized in his first two injury-plagued seasons before starring this year to help make up for the loss of J.J. Watt.
“Those guys picked me No. 1; they (saw) something in me,” Clowney said. “Things didn’t go well earlier in my career, but I’m on the right track now. Things are coming together, I’m healthier. I’m playing good ball and we’re all coming together and playing good defense.”
The Raiders’ first trip to the playoffs since the 2002 season, when they went to the Super Bowl, ended with a thud behind the struggles of third-string rookie Connor Cook. He threw for 161 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.
“It was his first start, on the road, in a playoff game, against the No. 1-ranked defense. It was a tough draw for him,” coach Jack Del Rio said. “We had hopes that we would be able to do enough around him so he wouldn’t have to do as much.”
He became the first quarterback in NFL history to make his first start in a playoff game after MVP contender Derek Carr broke his leg two weeks ago, and Matt McGloin injured his shoulder on Sunday. His performance wasn’t helped by star left tackle Donald Penn missing the game with a knee injury, which ended a streak of 160 straight starts.
“We missed Donald, he had a great year for us, “ Del Rio said. “Losing a Pro Bowl tackle was a blow.”
Houston led by 13 at halftime and made it 27-7 on a 1-yard run by Osweiler early in the fourth quarter.
The Raiders (12-5) cut the lead when Andre Holmes grabbed an 8-yard touchdown reception on their next possession. Oakland got a stop after that, but Corey Moore intercepted Cook on the next possession.
“I was trying to do too much out there, at times,” Cook said.
Oakland cornerback David Amerson believes things would have been different if not for the team’s injuries.
“I’ve got all the faith in Connor or Matt - any backups we’ve got,” he said. “But they know, at full strength, ain’t nobody in the league touching us, man. We’re going to take this loss on the chin, and we’re going to come back, for sure.”
DeAndre Hopkins had a touchdown reception for the Texans and Lamar Miller gave Houston a 10-0 lead in the first quarter on a TD run one play after Clowney’s interception.
Houston took a 3-0 lead with a 50-yard field goal by Nick Novak with about eight minutes left in the first quarter.
Clowney batted a pass by Cook with one hand, then tipped it with his other one before pulling it down for the interception later in the quarter. He probably would have scored on the play, but in the time it took him to grab the ball, Raiders running back Latavius Murray had latched on to one of his ankles and was pulling him down.
Miller scampered untouched on the next play for a 4-yard touchdown to make it 10-7.
The Raiders got a 2-yard TD run by Murray late in the first quarter.
Houston added a field goal in the second quarter before making it 20-7 on a 2-yard reception by Hopkins. That score was set up when Osweiler delivered a 38-yard pass to Hopkins just before the receiver stepped out of bounds two plays earlier.
THIRD-DOWN WOES
Oakland had trouble converting third downs Saturday. They failed to get a first down on their first 11 attempts. The Raiders finally converted one early in the fourth quarter and another came later in the drive that ended with the TD by Holmes. They ended 2 of 16 on third downs.
BRING IT BACK
Houston looked to have scored a touchdown on a 57-yard punt return by Tyler Ervin late in the third quarter. But the score was nullified because Mercilus ran into punter Marquette King on the play. He punted again and it almost turned bad for the Texans when Ervin muffed that one. Luckily for Houston, teammate Eddie Pleasant grabbed the ball after it bounced away from Ervin.
UP NEXT
Raiders: Oakland is left to ponder what might have been had Carr not been injured.
Texans: Look to win a divisional playoff game for the first time in franchise history after losing in their first two games in that round.