NFL playoffs 2015 schedule: Colts vs. Bengals, Cowboys vs. Lions set for Sunday
The Wild Card round concludes on Sunday, with the Colts hosting the Bengals, and the Lions taking on the Cowboys.
Wild Card weekend concludes on Sunday afternoon with two intriguing matchups in both conferences. The AFC South champion Indianapolis Colts host the Cincinnati Bengals in the early afternoon, and the NFC East-winning Dallas Cowboys welcome the Detroit Lions to north Texas for the late afternoon contest.
The Cowboys and Lions are two of the biggest surprises in this year’s postseason field, which features five teams that missed the playoffs last year. While that number may seem like an outlier, it actually continues a trend of parity that has defined the league’s postseason party. Since the 12-team playoff format was adopted in 1990, every season has seen at least four teams qualify for the playoffs that were not in the postseason the year before.
The Colts and Bengals, on the other hand, are both postseason regulars and their young quarterbacks face immense pressure to deliver a deep playoff run. Indianapolis is in the playoffs for the third year in a row with Andrew Luck under center, but the 2012 first overall draft pick is just 1-2 in the postseason and has thrown a whopping eight interceptions in those three games. The Bengals have reached the postseason for a franchise-record fourth straight season, yet Andy Dalton is 0-3 with a quarterback rating of 56.2 in his playoff career.
The winners of these two games will hit the road to face the conference's top seeds -- New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers -- in the Divisional round next weekend.
Here’s a closer look at both of Sunday’s games and how you can watch them:
AFC Wild Card Game 2: (4) Indianapolis Colts vs. (5) Cincinnati Bengals
Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
Time: 1:05 p.m. ET
TV: CBS
Online: Verizon NFL Mobile
The Bengals will be looking for redemption on Sunday after getting pasted by the Colts, 27-0, in their lone meeting this season. More significantly, Cincinnati is looking to snap the league’s longest active postseason win drought and earn the franchise’s first-ever road playoff victory. The Bengals haven’t won a postseason game since beating the Houston Oilers in 1991, and have never won a playoff game away from home in six tries.
The Colts dominated a soft AFC South schedule, but have done little this year to show they can beat the league’s elite teams. Four of the Colts’ five losses this season were to division champions, and they gave up 30 or more points in each of those games. Indy won only two games againts playoff teams, but the good news is that one of those victories came against the Bengals.
NFC Wild Card Game 2: (3) Dallas Cowboys vs. (6) Detroit Lions
Location: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Time: 4:40 p.m. ET
TV: FOX
Online: Verizon NFL Mobile | FOXSportsGo
The Cowboys silenced many of their critics to win the NFC East by going 4-0 in the final month of the season, avoiding their typical December collapse. However, to truly change the narrative, Tony Romo and the 'Boys need to find success in January. Dallas has just one playoff win since the 1996 season, and has not advanced past the Divisional round since winning the Super Bowl in January of 1996.
Detroit is making a rare playoff appearance -- just its second since the turn of the century -- and, like the Cowboys, is also looking to turn around its postseason fortunes. The Lions have lost seven straight playoff games, one shy of the record held by the Kansas City Chiefs. Detroit got good news when Ndamukong Suh won his appeal this week, making him available to play Sunday. The Lions' second-ranked defense will have to be at its best against a Cowboys offense that has scored at least 30 points in six of its last seven games.
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