Justin Baltes and Dominick Kerman – Mustangs Ahead 

(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) – The National Football League (NFL) super wildcard weekend had many crazy games with an almost crazy comeback and major storylines dominating the whole NFL world.  

The first game of the NFL wildcard weekend was the Seattle Seahawks vs the San Francisco 49ers. This game went as predicted with the 49ers winning handily.  

The next National Football Conference (NFC) wild card game is the sixth seed New York Giants vs the third seed Minnesota Vikings. The game was very competitive with both teams trading the lead and making a close game.  

In the end, the quarterback for the New York Giants Daniel Jones did enough to win the game 31-24 with over 300 yards passing and two touchdowns to go with no interceptions. 

LRHS senior Ryan Hanson said, “The Giants are the team to beat in the NFC with star running back Saquan Barkley being the main reason for the Giants success.” 

The last NFC game was the four seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs the fifth seed Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys came into this game as the favorites and looked like the dominant team the whole game.  

The momentum was swung in Dallas favor with the redzone interception by Tom Brady. This led to Dallas going the length of the field and scoring another touchdown, putting the game at a 12-point lead in the second quarter due to two missed extra points.  Dallas won 31-14. 

Across the league in the American Football Conference (AFC), the Jacksonville Jaguars played the Los Angles Chargers. The game started terribly for the Jaguars with starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence throwing four interceptions. The Jaguars ended up making a 20 plus point comeback to win the game 31-30 with a game winning field goal with only a couple of seconds left on the clock.  

Sophomore Heyden Kudelko said, “I hope the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Kansas City Chiefs next week.” 

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The next game in the AFC wildcard was the Miami Dolphins vs the Buffalo Bills. The Dolphins had a very rough season with the starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffering at least three concussions. 

He didn’t end up playing this game due to concussion protocol, so backup quarterback Skylar Thompson was forced to start the game. In the end it was the mistakes of Skylar Thompson with the costly turnovers costing them the game 34-31.  

The last game in the AFC wild card was the Baltimore Ravens vs the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ravens were without star quarterback Lamar Jackson due to a PCL sprain suffered during week 13 game vs the Denver Broncos.  

Without Lamar Jackson the Ravens still managed to keep the game close with backup quarterback Tyler Huntley leading them to a 24-17 loss.