32 things we learned from NFL divisional playoffs: Weekend signals changing of the guard at QB

PHILADELPHIA – As much as No. 1-seeded playoff teams have struggled in recent years, the second round of this year's postseason was kinder to them. Relatively.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles won Saturday, ending what had been a four-game losing streak for top seeds going back to the 2020 playoffs. Philly's previously battered players looked rejuvenated and should be primed for their pending visit from the San Francisco 49ers, who dispatched the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday for their 12th consecutive victory.

QB Patrick Mahomes' ankle injury obviously looms as a setback for the Chiefs, however, at least they won't travel to Atlanta for a neutral site AFC championship game and instead host the Cincinnati Bengals in a rematch of last year's game at Arrowhead Stadium after Cincy eliminated the Buffalo Bills. Recovering at home and avoiding an extra flight bode as well as anything for Mahomes as he desperately tries to get healthy enough to play.

Otherwise? Let's hope the NFL gives us a better script for next week after what was more or less a Super Bowl 57 quarterfinal round dud.

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Onward ...

The 32 things we learned from the 2022 NFL season's divisional playoff round:

1. The number of NFL postseason games that have been staged at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which was occupied by the Falcons in 2017.

1a. That game was Super Bowl 53, when the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3. Sorry, ATL.

1b. That figure won't change after the Bengals negated the relocation of the AFC title round, a contingency created by the league after the Damar Hamlin situation eliminated Buffalo's path to the conference's top seed. 

1c. The NFL announced Friday that more than 50,000 tickets were purchased in less than a day when a Bills-Chiefs playoff redux was viable. Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow advised the league "Better send them refunds" after Sunday's victory in Western New York.

2. Years in a row the Bengals and Chiefs have met with a Super Bowl spot on the line. Cincinnati prevailed 27-24 in overtime last season in one of Mahomes' worst postseason outings, which included a pair of second-half INTs.

3. The number of times the Bengals have beaten Mahomes in the three games where Burrow has opposed him as Cincinnati's QB1. Next Sunday will be the teams' fourth meeting in the past 13 months.

4. The Bengals are the only franchise among the NFL's version of the Final Four without a Super Bowl victory. 

5. The number of times the Bills have come up short of the Super Bowl during five playoff trips in head coach Sean McDermott's six seasons with the team. Take social media for what it's worth, but numerous members of "Bills Mafia" stepped out Sunday and openly wondered if McDermott gets too conservative in the postseason and whether Buffalo can take the next step with him at the helm. McDermott's playoff record now stands at 4-5.

6. The Eagles are trying to win their second Super Bowl in a six-season span. Their 38-7 win Saturday occurred on the five-year anniversary of their 38-7 win against the Minnesota Vikings in the 2017 NFC championship game.

7. The Giants fell to 6-9 in the divisional round, the only layer of the playoffs in which they're below .500 during the Super Bowl era (since 1966).

8. The number of times Buffalo was penalized Sunday (for 60 yards), just another area where the Bills fell short on a day when they were utterly dominated by Cincinnati.

8a. Also the number of times the Bills' Josh Allen ran the ball Sunday – most on the team and a continued indicator of what seems to be the team's over-reliance on its quarterback.

9. The number of times the 49ers and Cowboys have met in the postseason, tied for most all time (Packers-49ers, Rams-Cowboys). San Francisco improved to 4-5 against Dallas in the playoffs.

9a. Overall, the teams are 19-19-1 in 39 meetings all-time.

9b. The Niners' 36th all-time postseason victory is tied with Dallas, the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers for second most all time. Only the Patriots, with 37, have more.

10. The number of rookie quarterbacks to start in the divisional round since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the 49ers' Brock Purdy being the newest example. The most recent after Purdy? The Cowboys' Dak Prescott six years ago.

11. Prescott, 29, was the oldest quarterback to make it to this year's divisional round. The average age of the eight quarterbacks (25 years, 278 days) who started this weekend was the youngest in the divisional round since the merger, and only the second occurrence – the other being 2004 – when no QB1 north of 30 was under center.

11a. But shoutout to 37-year-old Kansas City QB2 Chad Henne, who was instrumental to the team's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars – orchestrating a Chiefs playoff record 98-yard drive, capped by a TD pass to TE Travis Kelce – while Mahomes' ankle injury was medically evaluated in the second quarter. 

12. The number of times Mahomes and Kelce have connected for a TD in the playoffs. Only Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have more (15) as teammates.

13. Next Sunday will be Mahomes' 13th playoff start – he's vowing to play through the high ankle sprain he suffered Saturday – and 11th at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, where he's 8-2.

14. Burrow is 3-0 in road playoff starts and hopes to improve to 2-0 at Arrowhead.

15. The number of playoff games that have been played at Buffalo's Highmark Stadium. Sunday was only the second one the Bills lost – and the first in more than 26 years.

16. The number of times since the merger that a team has gone 3-0 against one opponent in a single season, the Eagles being the most recent to do it (against the New York Giants).

17. Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence's 37-game winning streak in games played on Saturday – which spanned his time at Cartersville (Georgia) High School, Clemson and the previous two weekends in Duval County – ended in Kansas City. 

18. By the end of Sunday's game, the Bills were down to their fifth- and sixth-string safeties. Hamlin replaced injured Micah Hyde in September. Jordan Poyer and Dean Marlowe were hurt against the Bengals.

19. The Giants and Jaguars made this the seventh consecutive divisional round featuring at least two teams that missed the playoffs the previous season.

20. Purdy, who is one win from becoming the first rookie quarterback to start a Super Bowl, is set to become the fifth since the merger to start a championship game.

21. Dallas K Brett Maher's five missed extra points (in four playoff games and 11 attempts) are the second most in postseason history.

21a. Roy Gerela missed six of 43 attempts over the span of 15 games with the Houston Oilers and Steel Curtain Steelers.

22. San Francisco's Robbie Gould has made all 67 of his career playoff kicks, perfect on 38 extra-point attempts and 29 field goals.

23. Purdy's age.

24. Age of Eagles QB Jalen Hurts.

25. The NFC championship game will have the lowest combined age of two starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era.

26. The 49ers and Eagles have previously met just once in the postseason, a 14-0 San Francisco victory in a wild-card matchup in 1996.

26a. But Purdy and Hurts have locked horns before, Hurts' Oklahoma Sooners holding off Purdy's Iowa State Cyclones 42-41 in 2019. Each accounted for more than 330 yards of total offense and five TDs.

26b. Hurts is among nine OU alums who could be in action next weekend.

27. The number of consecutive seasons in which Dallas has failed to reach the NFC title game.

28. Last year, road teams went 3-1 in the divisional round. This year, home teams went 3-1.

29. Hurts and Giants counterpart Daniel Jones were the first opposing quarterbacks in playoff history to rush for at least 600 yards apiece in the regular season – and both eclipsed 700. They combined for 58 yards on the ground Saturday.

30. Allen and Burrow combined for 57 rushing yards Sunday.

31. Dallas' Dalton Schultz, who became the first tight end in team history with multiple TD catches in a playoff game during the wild-card round, caught another Sunday. His three TD grabs in one postseason tied the team record.

32. Your other prime-time network options Sunday – opposite Cowboys-49ers on FOX – included "Iron Man" on ABC and "Top Gun" on CBS. Tempting – "Top Gun" in particular – given the divisional round's fairly low entertainment quotient. Here's hoping "Championship Sunday" is redemptive.

32a. After all, the NFL just can't afford "Top Gun," even in all of its 36-year-old glory – yet younger than Brady and Aaron Rodgers – to be outshining its latest iteration of top guns. (Fortunately for the league, you have to pay for cable or streaming to see "Top Gun: Maverick," or else there might be real trouble afoot.)

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Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.