8 winners and 7 losers from Wild Card Weekend in the 2019 NFL playoffs

The NFL playoffs kicked off with Wild Card Weekend Saturday, beginning with the Colts stomping the Texans from start to finish, 21-7.

Indianapolis jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half and — even if they didn’t score at all in the second half — that was enough of a lead that Houston was buried early and couldn’t come back.

Next up was an NFC matchup. After a few lead changes, the Dallas Cowboys took control in the fourth quarter against the Seattle Seahawks and then held on for the 24-22 win.

On Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens struggled to find offense until it was too late against the Los Angeles Chargers, ultimately falling 23-17. The Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears dueled it out in the latter matchup of the day, with the Eagles coming out on top, 16-15.

Here are all the winners and losers from the first weekend of the playoffs:

HOW DOES HE DO IT??

Foles is now 4-0 in his last four playoff games. Obviously, it takes more than just the quarterback, but you cannot deny that Foles made the plays when the Eagles needed him to. Case in point, fourth-and-2 at the Bears’ 2 with a minute left to play, the Eagles are down to their last chance. The Bears are on the verge of one of the greatest goal-line stands in franchise history. But Foles would not be denied. He found Golden Tate for the touchdown to give the Eagles a 16-15 lead that they would not give up.

The Bears got where they needed to be, close enough to kick a game-winning 43-yard field goal. Cody Parkey made it too, but that first attempt didn’t count because the Eagles called a timeout right before the Bears snapped the ball. Parkey kicked it through the uprights anyway, taunting the very notion of icing the kicker with a rope right through the uprights.

But when he kicked it when it mattered, it doinked off the left upright AND the crossbar to bounce out — with an assist from an Eagles player tipping the ball. No good. Bears lose.

Parkey had a rough season. He doinked four kicks against the Lions in November. He missed a potential game-winner in 2016 while he was with the Browns. Oh, and he used to work for the Eagles too, but they let him go before the season started in 2016. The Bears signed him to a four-year deal before the start of this season, a deal they miiiiiiight be rethinking.

Give the kid some credit.

He was getting roasted early in the game, and really was struggling with his accuracy through most of the first three quarters. But he turned it on when the Bears needed it most. He made three beautiful, critical passes on the Bears’ fourth quarter touchdown drive, starting with a 19-yard bullet to Taylor Gabriel on a do-or-die third-and-11. And Parkey would have never had the chance to miss the game-winning field goal if not for Trubisky’s 25-yard back shoulder fade to Allen Robinson with 44 seconds left on the clock. He connected with Robinson again on the next play to get the Bears into field goal range.

Trubisky and the Bears were never really expected to compete like this, not this season. This is a really good sign for their future. They’re playing with house money now. I know that won’t relieve Bears fans from the pain of a double doinker, but things are looking up in Chicago for the first time in forever.

There were several close calls near the goal line in the Chargers’ 23-17 win, and the officials seemed confused on each of them.

First, there was a pass in the flat to Derek Watt that appeared to be a touchdown, but officials somehow decided was nearly a full yard short of the goal line:

There was a dive for the end zone for Melvin Gordon that was dangerously close to being called a fumble, but would’ve been dead regardless because the officials blew the whistle:

The third was a diving catch for Michael Crabtree that was originally ruled short, but was overturned and determined to be a touchdown:

None of the plays were easy calls to make, but it wasn’t exactly a banner day for NFL officiating.

The rookie was terrible for most of his postseason debut, and then almost pulled off a miraculous comeback. He threw two fourth quarter touchdowns to close the gap to 23-17, but then the game ended like it started for the Ravens — with Jackson fumbling.

His third fumble of the day ended Baltimore’s season and his 14th since the beginning of November. Jackson also threw an interception early in the game on a high pass that was deflected into the arms of Chargers safety Adrian Phillips.

Jackson is the Ravens’ future, and priority No. 1 for his development will be taking better care of the football.

Ingram finished 2018 with seven sacks — his lowest total since 2014, but still enough to get into the Pro Bowl. He showed Sunday that accolade is deserved when he sacked Lamar Jackson twice. He led the Chargers in tackles, tackles for loss, and he had a fumble recovery in the final minute of the game that sealed the win for the Chargers.

Ingram was just a second-year player during the Chargers’ last trip to the playoffs five years ago. He caught an interception in that postseason, but had no sacks and just three tackles. He’s ready to do work this time around.

There’s a lengthy history of bad kicking luck for the Chargers, so settling for six field goal attempts in the postseason probably isn’t the best formula. But the team’s rookie kicker wasn’t haunted by the ghosts of Chargers kicking past.

He drilled five of the six tries — a postseason franchise record — and only missed one that was blocked by the Ravens’ special teams.

Even the always reliable Justin Tucker missed one field goal in the swirling winds in Baltimore.

If the Cowboys offensive coordinator really was in danger of losing his job, he’s not anymore. Linehan called a good game for Dallas, especially in the second half. It was a nice even balance of running and passing, all of it centered around Ezekiel Elliott.

It helps to have the Cowboys defense backing you up too.

Jason Garrett made all his people play last in a meaningless Week 17 game against the Giants. Except for Elliott. The rest did him good. He gouged the Seahawks for 137 rushing yards on 26 carries and scored a touchdown.

He spent most of the first 58 minutes of the game doing whatever he could to keep Russell Wilson from throwing the ball. Which is as dumb as it sounds. When they finally got creative, it worked. Two option plays by Wilson on the same drive converted a third down (something Seattle didn’t do very well on the night) and scored a touchdown. There’s outside the bun thinking, and there’s Schottenheimer’s offense.

Jason Garrett didn’t screw it up. The Cowboys didn’t choke. Dallas is legitimately going to be a tough team to beat ... until it’s inexplicably not.

One of Luck’s passes was tipped and bounced into the arms of Texans defensive tackle D.J. Reader. Other than that, it’s hard to find many negative things to say about Luck’s start to the playoffs.

Luck completed 19 of his 32 passes for 222 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also added 32 rushing yards.

Luck entered Saturday with just a 70.8 passer rating in six previous postseason starts. His good day against the Texans will help raise that mark a bit.

Houston wasn’t particularly good on any down Saturday, but third down was especially bad. The Colts converted their first seven third downs of the day — including every single one in the first half.

Analytics said the Texans’ struggles on third down were something we all should’ve seen coming:

The Colts finished the day with nine third down conversions. The Texans couldn’t force punts and get off the field, and that buried them early against the Colts.

There was a lot of reason to be excited for Watson’s playoff debut. After all, this was the quarterback who pulled off a come-from-behind win in a national championship against Alabama.

Watson didn’t have that magic Saturday, though.

He finished 29 of 49 passing with 235 yards one touchdown and an egregious interception in the first quarter:

Watson missed DeAndre Hopkins in the end zone on a fourth down just before halftime, and overthrew Ryan Griffin in the third quarter on what could’ve been a huge play, if not a touchdown. Watson was also lucky to avoid his second interception when he hit Colts cornerback Pierre Desir in the chest.

He finally got a touchdown in the fourth quarter when he hit Keke Coutee in the flat, but it was too little, too late. His last chance at keeping the comeback alive ended when the Texans turned the ball over on downs with just over four minutes left.

Watson had a great year and he has a bright future, but his postseason career got off to a surprisingly poor start.

It wasn’t quite Hilton’s usual domination of the Texans, but he did enough to back up his “second home” comments about NRG Stadium. He said that to reporters in December after a 199-yard day in Houston and it peeved Texans cornerback Jonathan Joseph who said “that’s for clowns.”

Well Hilton started his day with 63 yards on the Colts’ first possession of the game — just a couple hours after showing up to the stadium in a clown mask:

Hilton finished with 85 yards on five receptions — below his usual average in Houston — but that’s a good enough day to count as tally in the win column for the receiver.