1. | You may have missed it, since any mention of it was so subtly and fiendishly obscured, but the champion of this division was decided on the very last game of the very last day of the regular season: | ||
AFC North | |||
NFC West | |||
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NFC East | ||
AFC South | |||
By way of explanation.....
The NFC West champion was also decided on the last day of the season, but the NFC East was clinched on the Sunday night game |
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2. | Get out your countin' fingers. The Broncos ride into the playoffs on the heels of a ______ game winning streak: | ||
8 | |||
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11 | ||
10 | |||
9 | |||
3. | The last team to beat the cast of Peyton Manning's Dance Fever was: | ||
A wildcard team | |||
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The champions of the AFC East | ||
The champions of the AFC South | |||
A team not in the playoffs this year | |||
By way of explanation.....
New England beat Denver in week 5. No one since then. |
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4. | Denver won the AFC West by a ridiculous six games. Similarly, half a dozen games separated this division's champion from its nearest competitor: | ||
AFC East | |||
AFC South | |||
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NFC South | ||
NFC North | |||
5. | Home field advantage throughout the postseason awaits for the teams that call these venues home: | ||
Sports Authority Field and Lambeau Field | |||
Gillette Stadium and Georgia Dome | |||
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Sports Authority Field and Georgia Dome | ||
Gillette Stadium and Lambeau Field | |||
6. | Meanwhile, if you show up at this field to catch a game during the wild card weekend, you'll be at the wrong place: | ||
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Lucas Oil Stadium | ||
M&T Bank Stadium | |||
FedEx Field | |||
Reliant Stadium | |||
By way of explanation.....
Luck, Pagano and company will be on the road for their wild card game |
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7. | The defending Super Bowl champion: | ||
Repeated as division champion | |||
Won its division in 2012 after playing as a wild card team last year | |||
Will play in the upcoming playoffs as a wild card team | |||
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Missed out on the postseason this year | ||
8. | Which of the following divisional champs failed to win its division the previous year? | ||
New England | |||
Denver | |||
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Atlanta | ||
Houston | |||
By way of explanation.....
The AFC East, West and South champs are repeats from last year. New Orleans won the NFC South last year. |
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9. | This Is Not 40. Each of these teams made the playoffs thanks to a rookie QB except: | ||
Seattle | |||
Washington | |||
Indianapolis | |||
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San Francisco | ||
10. | There's no place like home, most of the time. A single playoff team went undefeated at home during the regular season. That team is: | ||
Green Bay | |||
Atlanta | |||
Denver | |||
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Seattle | ||
11. | Bring out the limp noodles! This team secured a playoff bye thanks in part to the easiest schedule in terms of strength of schedule in the NFL. | ||
Green Bay | |||
Denver | |||
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Atlanta | ||
Baltimore | |||
By way of explanation.....
Shut up, Mercury Morris |
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12. | From the Annals of Marginally Interesting Things, we read that the Bengals will reach the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since... | ||
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1982 season | ||
1986 season | |||
1988 season | |||
1994 season | |||
By way of explanation.....
A good deal of our audience was not alive when the Bengals last visited consecutive postseasons |
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13. | Playoff-bound Minnesota rides the freakishly-rehabilitated Adrian Peterson into the postseason. Peterson fell this many yards short of Eric Dickerson's regular-season rushing record: | ||
14 | |||
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9 | ||
5 | |||
7 | |||
By way of explanation.....
Giving new meaning to the phrase, "The whole nine yards." |
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14. | Along with Peterson, the regular season leader in only one of these categories plays on a team that reached the playoffs: | ||
Passing yardage | |||
Interceptions | |||
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Sacks | ||
Receiving yardage | |||
By way of explanation.....
Sackmeister J.J. Watt's Texans made the playoffs; Drew Brees, Tim Jennings and Calvin Johnson will all watch from home |
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15. | Here's an interesting tidbit: one NFL team is without a 300 yard passing performance in any game this season, and that team is in the playoffs. Which team recorded this oddity? | ||
San Francisco | |||
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Seattle | ||
Cincinnati | |||
Washington | |||
16. | From the Nobody Beats Up My Little Brother But Me files, we read that these two teams went perfect against their divisional opponents: | ||
Denver and Atlanta | |||
Atlanta and New England | |||
Green Bay and Houston | |||
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Denver and New England | ||
17. | The team with the best record who failed to get their postseason ticket punched is: | ||
New York Giants | |||
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Chicago | ||
Dallas | |||
Pittsburgh | |||
By way of explanation.....
This fact comes to little solace to the 10-6 Bears or their quickly-fired coach Lovie Smith |
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18. | No team seriously flirted with regular season perfection. Atlanta was the last to give it a come-hither glance, before falling to this team in week 10: | ||
St. Louis | |||
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New Orleans | ||
Tampa Bay | |||
Arizona | |||
19. | Win through the draft, GMs! This playoff team features an NFL rarity, a rookie at QB as well as RB. | ||
San Francisco | |||
Seattle | |||
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Washington | ||
Cincinnati | |||
20. | Does defense win championships? We'll find out. This team led the NFL in scoring defense. | ||
Washington | |||
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Seattle | ||
Baltimore | |||
Denver | |||
21. | We are all about domination. This team led the NFL in point differential on the season. | ||
Denver | |||
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New England | ||
Washington | |||
San Francisco | |||
22. | In an unusual twist, this playoff team fired their offensive coordinator a month before the end of the season. | ||
Green Bay | |||
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Baltimore | ||
Washington | |||
Seattle | |||
23. | Reversal of fortune alert! This playoff team won 9 more games in 2012 than in 2011. | ||
Washington | |||
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Indianapolis | ||
Seattle | |||
Cincinnati | |||
24. | Groundhog Day: NFL Edition. This team earned a playoff berth by beating a divisional foe in the final game. Their reward is to play that same team again in round one. | ||
Washington | |||
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Minnesota | ||
Cincinnati | |||
Seattle | |||
25. | QBs are overrated. This team made the playoffs last year with one QB then dumped him and signed a different free agent QB who became the starter. | ||
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Denver | ||
Seattle | |||
San Francisco | |||
Cincinnati | |||