2009–10 NFL playoffs
The postseason tournament concluded with the New Orleans Saints defeating the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, 31–17, on February 7, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Following the missed field goal, New York drove 75 yards in eight plays, with Sanchez completing an 18-yard pass to Cotchery and a 16-yarder to Braylon Edwards before Thomas Jones finished the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run, increasing their lead to 21–7.
But the Jets responded on their ensuing drive, with Sanchez's 43-yard completion to Keller setting up a 20-yard field goal by Jay Feely to put them back up by a two score margin.
But the Cowboys struck back with an 85-yard scoring drive, featuring 18-yard receptions by Jason Witten and Patrick Crayton, along with a key replay challenge that overturned an Eagles interception.
Just 33 seconds later, the Cowboys increased their lead to 24–7 with Romo's 6-yard touchdown pass to Austin after linebacker Bobby Carpenter recovered a fumbled handoff from Vick on the Philadelphia 18-yard line.
Then with time running out in the half, Cowboys linebacker Bradie James forced and recovered a fumble from fullback Leonard Weaver on the Eagles 42-yard line, setting up Suisham's second field goal to give Dallas a 27–7 halftime lead.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys defense held the Eagles in check the rest of the game, forcing two turnovers on downs, another fumble and an interception, while only allowing a meaningless touchdown on a 6-yard pass from Donovan McNabb to DeSean Jackson in the fourth quarter, making the final score 34–14.
Following an exchange of punts, cornerback Chris Carr intercepted a pass from Brady and returned it to the New England 25-yard line, setting up a drive ending in Rice's second touchdown on a 1-yard run.
New England was forced to punt on their next drive, but Baltimore returner Tom Zbikowski muffed the catch and Kyle Arrington recovered the ball for the Patriots at the Ravens 16-yard line.
Zbikowski returned the ensuing kickoff 30 yards to his own 48-yard line, sparking a 52-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run from Willis McGahee, making the score 33–14 after the two-point conversion failed.
New England responded with a drive deep into Baltimore territory, but Stephen Gostkowski missed a 44-yard field goal attempt with 7:19 left in the game, ending any chance of a miracle comeback.
Then Dansby forced a fumble from Packers receiver Donald Driver that defensive tackle Alan Branch recovered on the Green Bay 22-yard line, leading to Kurt Warner's 15-yard touchdown pass to Early Doucet.
Early in the second quarter, Packers cornerback Charles Woodson stripped the ball from Fitzgerald, and linebacker Clay Matthews returned the fumble 28 yards to the Green Bay 48.
But Rodgers struck back with a pair of completions to tight end Jermichael Finley for gains of 44 and 17 yards on the way to a 20-yard field goal by Mason Crosby, cutting the score to 24–10 at halftime.
Arizona opened up a 7–0 lead just 19 seconds into the first quarter when Tim Hightower ran through a hole in the line, cut left and took off down the field for a 70-yard touchdown run on the game's first play from scrimmage.
On the first play of the following drive, defensive back Randall Gay stripped the ball from Cardinals wide receiver Jerheme Urban, forcing a fumble that Saints safety Darren Sharper returned 13 yards to the Arizona 37-yard line.
In the first playoff game in Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning completed 30 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns, while the Colts defense limited Baltimore to a single field goal on their opening drive.
First Raheem Brock forced a fumble from Baltimore running back Ray Rice deep in Colts territory and linebacker Clint Session recovered it.
In the second half, after another Dallas drive into Vikings territory that ended with a missed field goal attempt by Suisham, Leber intercepted a pass from Romo and returned it 10 yards to the Cowboys 15-yard line.
Trailing 7–0 at the end of the first half, New York scored 17 unanswered points and then sealed the victory with a fourth down conversion run from Thomas Jones with one minute left.
Midway through the third quarter, the Chargers got another scoring opportunity when Quentin Jammer picked off a pass from Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and returned it 24 yards to the New York 38-yard line.
But three plays later, Rivers returned the favor when he threw a pass to Jackson that bounced off his body and into the arms of cornerback Darrelle Revis just before it hit the ground.
A few plays later, Rivers was intercepted again, this time by safety Jim Leonhard, who returned it 11 yards to the 16, setting up Sanchez's 2-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Keller.
But the Colts defense tightened up, tackling running back Shonn Greene twice behind the line of scrimmage and Brad Smith for a 1-yard gain, and then Jay Feely was wide right on a 44-yard field goal attempt.
In the second quarter, the Colts put together the first scoring drive of the game, with Manning completing two passes to Pierre Garçon for gains of 27 and 36 yards on the way to a 25-yard Matt Stover field goal.
Following an incomplete pass, Collie was tackled at the 1-yard line and then Manning was stuffed for no gain on a quarterback sneak, forcing them to settle for a second field goal from Stover to cut the score to 7–6.
After three carries by Greene for 17 yards, Smith's 45-yard completion to Jerricho Cotchery from the Wildcat formation moved the ball to the Colts 12-yard line, setting up Sanchez's 9-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Keller with 4:53 left in the half.
Later on, the Vikings got a scoring opportunity when New Orleans running back Reggie Bush muffed a punt that Minnesota's Kenny Onatolu recovered on the Saints 10-yard line.
After forcing a punt, the Vikings got the ball back with 2:42 left and drove to the Saints 33-yard line, within range of a potential game-winning field goal by kicker Ryan Longwell.
On the next play, the Vikings decided to pass in an attempt to move the ball into better field goal range, but Porter intercepted a desperate throw from Favre, ending the drive and sending the game into overtime.
