This team was tied with the Lions for the overall longest failure streak entering the season (the Bills had also not made the playoffs since qualifying as a wild card in 1999 where they were defeated by the Tennessee Titans).
Then with just 52 seconds left in the half, rookie defensive end J. J. Watt intercepted a pass from Dalton at the line of scrimmage and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown to give the Texans a 17–10 halftime lead.
Then in the fourth quarter, Houston put the game completely out of reach with an interception by Danieal Manning that set up Foster's 42-yard touchdown run, increasing their lead to 31–10 with just over five minutes left in regulation.
New Orleans never punted the ball, gained a postseason record 626 yards, converted three fourth downs, and scored 35 points in the second half to defeat the Lions, who were playing their first playoff game in twelve years.
Eventually, Atlanta managed to sustain a drive, but on the first play of the second quarter, quarterback Matt Ryan was stuffed for no gain on fourth down and one on the Giants 24-yard line.
Two plays later, New York quarterback Eli Manning gave Atlanta the first points of the game by committing intentional grounding in the end zone, resulting in a safety that made the score 2–0.
After forcing a punt, New York earned their first score with an 85-yard drive, featuring a 34-yard run by Brandon Jacobs, that ended with Manning's 4-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks, giving them a 7–2 lead.
Later in the quarter, Steelers running back Isaac Redman rushed five times for 33 yards on a 47-yard drive that ended with Suisham's 38-yard field goal, increasing the score to 6–0.
With 7:35 left in regulation, Denver running back Willis McGahee lost a fumble while being tackled by Ryan Mundy, and linebacker LaMarr Woodley recovered it at the Steelers 45-yard line.
New Orleans started off the game with a 78-yard drive to the 49ers 2-yard line, but came up empty when Donte Whitner forced a fumble from Pierre Thomas that was recovered by linebacker Patrick Willis.
A few plays into the next drive, Dashon Goldson intercepted a pass from Saints quarterback Drew Brees and returned it 41 yards to the 4-yard line, setting up Smith's touchdown completion to Michael Crabtree and giving the 49ers a 14–0 lead.
But it lasted less than two minutes before San Francisco took it back, with Smith hitting Davis for a 37-yard gain before taking the ball into the end zone himself on his career long 28-yard run, making the score 29–24 after the two-point conversion failed.
Not to be outdone, Brees matched the score with his fourth touchdown pass of the day, a 66-yard completion to Graham, and then threw the ball to Sproles for a successful 2-point conversion, giving the Saints a 32–29 lead.
On the next play, he threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Davis with nine seconds left, who managed to hang onto the ball despite a hard hit from Roman Harper while he was still in mid-air, earning San Francisco their first conference championship game since 1997.
San Francisco had another famous playoff win in the 1998 Wild Card round against the Packers on a last second touchdown pass from Steve Young to Terrell Owens known as The Catch II.
[23] New England scored on their opening drive, moving the ball 80 yards in five plays, including a 43-yard run by Aaron Hernandez, before finishing it off with Brady's 7-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker.
Denver responded with a drive to the Patriots 37-yard line, but Tebow lost a fumble while being sacked by Rob Ninkovich, and New England linebacker Brandon Spikes recovered it.
On the last play of the quarter, Tebow kept the drive going with a 12-yard completion to Demaryius Thomas on third and 3, and then Willis McGahee ran the ball into the end zone from five yards out, cutting the score to 14–7.
And after forcing a punt, Brady threw a 20-yard completion to Hernandez, and an 11-yarder to Julian Edelman on the way to his 19-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski, increasing the lead to 35–7 with just five seconds left in the half.
Their defense quickly forced a punt, but returner Jacoby Jones fumbled the ball and cornerback Jimmy Smith recovered for Baltimore on the Texans 2-yard line.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Webb recorded his second interception of the day on the Ravens 29-yard line, and Baltimore converted the turnover with a 44-yard field goal, taking a 7-point lead at 20–13.
1 seed in the NFC lost its opening game as New York topped Green Bay behind a career postseason high passing yardage day from Giants quarterback Eli Manning.
New York recovered a fumble by Kuhn with 3:37 left in the half and on the first play of the ensuing drive Manning found Nicks for a 29-yard gain to the Green Bay five-yard line.
The Patriots then drove to the Baltimore 11-yard line, aided by an illegal contact penalty on Lardarius Webb that wiped out an interception, and scored with Stephen Gostkowski's 29-yard field goal.
But New England retook the lead on their next drive, with Brady completing five of seven passes for 60 yards on the way to Gostkowski's second field goal, making the score 13–10 at the end of the half.
Then Ravens receiver LaQuan Williams – a college teammate of Smith at the University of Maryland – forced a fumble from kick returner Danny Woodhead that Emanuel Cook recovered for Baltimore at the Pats 28-yard line, setting up Cundiff's second field goal to make the score 20–16.
Brady tried to capitalize on the next play with a deep pass to the end zone, but Bernard Pollard deflected the ball and Jimmy Smith made a diving interception just before it hit the ground.
The Giants became the third team in NFL history to advance to the Super Bowl with fewer than 10 wins during a 16-game regular season, joining the 1979 Los Angeles Rams and the 2008 Arizona Cardinals.
Davis was called for an excessive celebration penalty after he climbed atop the camera tower in the back of the end zone, which forced David Akers to kick off from the 49ers' 20-yard line.
However, Chris Canty was called for a roughing the passer penalty, which added fifteen yards to the end of the play and advanced the ball to the San Francisco 45-yard line as the fourth quarter began.