Плей-офф НФЛ сезона 2006 года

NFL seasonal playoff games

The National Football League playoffs for the 2006 season began on January 6, 2007. The postseason tournament concluded with the Indianapolis Colts defeating the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, 29–17, on February 4, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo, a four year veteran who earned the starting job and made the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career during the regular season, botched the hold on a potential game winning field goal with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter, allowing the Seattle Seahawks to escape with a victory. Taking advantage of Dallas kicker Martín Gramática's opening kickoff, which went out of bounds and gave Seattle the ball at their own 40, the Seahawks marched down the field on their opening drive and scored with Josh Brown's 23 yard field goal. Dallas was forced to punt on their ensuing possession, but Cowboys cornerback Anthony Henry intercepted Seattle's next pass and returned it to the Seahawks 43 yard line, setting up Gramatica's 50 yard field goal to tie the game. Early in the second quarter, Seattle drove 54 yards and retook the lead with Brown's second field goal of the game. After an exchange of punts, the Cowboys took the lead. Aided by Jason Witten's 32 yard reception, Dallas drove 76 yards in ten plays and scored on Romo's 12 yard touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton with only 11 seconds left in the half, giving the Cowboys a 10–6 lead. In the third quarter, Seattle drove 62 yards in 12 plays, featuring two fourth down conversions by running back Shaun Alexander, and scored with Matt Hasselbeck's 15 yard touchdown pass to Jerramy Stevens, giving them a 13–10 lead. However, Dallas promptly took the lead right back after Miles Austin returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. Early in the final quarter, Dallas safety Roy Williams intercepted a pass from Hasselbeck at the Cowboys 43 yard line. Eight plays later, Gramatica kicked a 29 yard field goal to increase his team's lead to 20–13. On Seattle's ensuing drive, a pass interference penalty on Dallas's Terence Newman gave them a first down on the 1 yard line. But Seattle failed to get into the end zone with their next four plays, turning the ball over on downs at the 2 yard line. On the first Dallas play after the turnover, Cowboys receiver Terry Glenn caught a short pass, but then lost a fumble. The ball was recovered by Seattle in the end zone for a touchdown, but after a Dallas challenge the referee ruled the play a safety, cutting the score to 20–15 and giving the ball back to the Seahawks at around the 50 yard line after the ensuing free kick and return. Four plays later, Hasselbeck's 37 yard touchdown pass to Stevens gave Seattle a 21–20 lead. The Seahawks attempted a two point conversion to give themselves a three point lead, but Hasselbeck's pass failed. Dallas took the ensuing kickoff and marched down to the Seahawks' 8 yard line. On third down and 7 from there, Witten caught a pass that was initially ruled a first down on the 1 yard line, but after an instant replay challenge, officials ruled Witten had been tackled at the 2 yard line, bringing up fourth down. With 1:19 left in the game, Gramatica lined up to attempt a 19 yard field goal, but Romo dropped the ball while setting it up for a hold. Romo picked up the fumble and ran with it, trying for either a touchdown or a first down, but he was tackled at the 2 yard line by safety Jordan Babineaux, turning the ball over on downs and allowing Seattle to run the clock down to eight seconds before punting back to Dallas. On the last play of the game, Romo's Hail Mary pass fell incomplete in the end zone. "I know how hard everyone in that locker room worked to get themselves in position to win that game today and for it to end like that, and for me to be the cause is very tough to swallow right now", Romo said after the game. "I take responsibility for messing up at the end there. That's my fault. I cost the Dallas Cowboys a playoff win, and it's going to sit with me a long time. I don't know if I have ever felt this low." This was the final game in the Hall of Fame coaching career of Bill Parcells, who resigned his position with the Cowboys two weeks later. Parcells would later take a front office position with the Miami Dolphins but never returned to the sidelines. This was the first postseason meeting between the Cowboys and Seahawks.

Tom Brady completed 22 out of 34 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns, while New England Patriots running backs Corey Dillon, Laurence Maroney, and Kevin Faulk combined for 145 rushing yards in a win over the New York Jets. Receiver Jabar Gaffney, who caught only 11 passes during the season, finished his first career playoff game with eight catches for 104 yards. New England took the opening kickoff and drove down the field, with Gaffney catching three passes for 34 yards on a 65 yard drive that ended with Dillon's 11 yard touchdown run. Later in the quarter, Hank Poteat recovered a fumble from Dillon on the Patriots 15 yard line, setting up Mike Nugent's 28 yard field goal to cut their deficit to 7–3. On their first possession of the second quarter, the Jets took a 10–7 lead after receiver Jerricho Cotchery (who finished with 100 receiving yards and 19 rushing yards) caught a pass from Chad Pennington and took it 77 yards for a touchdown. However, New England countered with Stephen Gostkowski's 20 yard field goal on their next drive to tie the game. Then, after forcing the Jets to punt, the Patriots marched to New York's 1 yard line. On third down with 11 seconds remaining in the half and no timeouts left, Brady took the snap, faked a handoff to Dillon, and then hit tight end Daniel Graham in the back of the end zone for a touchdown to give them a 17–10 halftime lead. Nugent kicked a field goal on the Jets' opening drive of the second half, but New England responded with another field goal from Gostkowski to retake their 7 point lead. On the Jets' ensuing possession, linebacker Rosevelt Colvin deflected a lateral from Pennington behind the line of scrimmage. Most of the players on both teams (including Colvin) thought the lateral was an incomplete forward pass and the play was over, but New England's Vince Wilfork realized the play was still ongoing and recovered the fumble. After picking up the ball, Wilfork ran 31 yards to the Jets 15 yard line before being tackled by Cotchery, setting up Gostkowski's third field goal to make the score 23–13. Early in the fourth quarter, Nugent kicked his third field goal to cut New York's deficit back to within a touchdown, 23–16. However, the Patriots responded with a 13 play, 63 yard drive that took 6:23 off the clock and ended with Brady's 7 yard touchdown pass to Faulk. Then on the first play of the Jets' ensuing drive, Asante Samuel put the game away by intercepting Pennington's pass and returning it 36 yards for a touchdown. This remains the Patriots' most recent victory on Wildcard Weekend. This was the second postseason meeting between the Jets and Patriots, with New England winning the prior meeting 26–14 in the 1985 AFC Wild Card playoffs. The Colts' win came after the Patriots had eliminated the Colts from the playoffs twice in the previous three seasons. Midway through the first quarter, the Patriots drove 71 yards to the Colts' 4 yard line, featuring a 35 yard run by Corey Dillon. On third down, running back Laurence Maroney fumbled a handoff, but the ball rolled into the end zone where Patriots guard Logan Mankins recovered it for a touchdown. The Colts responded by driving 56 yards and scoring with Adam Vinatieri's 42 yard field goal to cut their deficit to 7–3. On their ensuing drive, the Patriots drove to a fourth down on the Colts' 34 yard line. Rather than attempt a 52 yard field goal, New England decided to go for it and Tom Brady completed a 27 yard pass to Troy Brown. On the next play, Dillon scored on a 7 yard touchdown run. Then, two plays after the ensuing kickoff, cornerback Asante Samuel intercepted a pass from Peyton Manning and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown, giving New England a 21–3 lead. Later in the quarter, Indianapolis drove 80 yards in 15 plays, with Vinatieri finishing the drive with a 26 yard field goal, cutting the score to 21–6 with 11 seconds left in the half. On the opening drive of the second half, the Colts drove 79 yards in 15 plays and scored with a 1 yard run by Manning. Then, after forcing a punt, a 25 yard reception by Dallas Clark and a 19 yard run by Dominic Rhodes moved the ball to the Patriots' 32 yard line. Following a pass interference penalty on Ellis Hobbs in the end zone, Manning threw a 1 yard touchdown pass to defensive tackle Dan Klecko, who had lined up at the fullback position on the play. Then, receiver Marvin Harrison caught a 2 point conversion pass to tie the game at 21. Hobbs returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards to the Colts' 21 yard line. Four plays later, Brady threw a 6 yard touchdown pass to receiver Jabar Gaffney, who made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone. Although he landed out of bounds, officials ruled that he was pushed out while in the air, and the Patriots took a 28–21 lead. Rhodes started out the Colts' next drive with two receptions for 23 yards and a 9 yard run. Then, Clark caught a 23 yard pass at the 9 yard line. Three plays later, Rhodes fumbled the ball at the 1 yard line, but Colts center Jeff Saturday recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown to tie the game. Mankins and Saturday's touchdowns marked the first time in NFL playoff history in which more than one offensive lineman scored a touchdown in the same game. After an exchange of punts, New England kicker Stephen Gostkowski made a 28 yard field goal to give them a three point lead. The Colts responded with a 36 yard field goal by Vinatieri, set up by Clark's 52 yard reception, to tie the game at 31. Hobbs returned Vinatieri's kickoff 41 yards to the Patriots' 46 yard line. Then, Brady completed a 25 yard pass to tight end Daniel Graham. Indianapolis managed to halt the drive at their 25 yard line, but Gostkowski kicked a 43 yard field goal to give the Patriots a 34–31 lead with 3:49 left in the game. New England's defense subsequently forced a punt, but the Patriots ended up punting back to the Colts after running only a minute off the clock. Manning started off the drive with three nonconsecutive completions for 58 yards, with a roughing the passer penalty on the third play adding another 12, moving the ball 70 yards in a span of 19 seconds and bringing up a first down at the Patriots' 11 yard line. Three plays later, Joseph Addai's 3 yard touchdown run gave the Colts their first lead of the game with only one minute remaining. Brady responded by leading his team to the Colts' 45 yard line. But cornerback Marlin Jackson intercepted Brady's next pass with 17 seconds left, ending the game, and sending the Colts to their third Super Bowl in team history (first as the Indianapolis Colts). The Colts were the first #3 seed since the NFL expanded the playoffs in 1990 to host a conference championship game and the first overall since the Washington Redskins did so in 1987. It was also the first time since said season where a team hosted a championship game after playing a road game in the divisional round, and was also the first conference championship game in which neither team had the first round bye and had to play three rounds to get to the Super Bowl. Hobbs set a Patriots franchise record with 220 kickoff return yards, the second highest total in NFL postseason history. The game was featured as one of the NFL's Greatest Games as Peyton's Revenge. For the Patriots, it was their last road playoff loss until the 2013 AFC Championship Game at Denver (whom Manning had joined after leaving Indianapolis). This was the third postseason meeting between the Patriots and Colts. New England won the previous two meetings in consecutive years, with New England's most recent victory by a score of 20–3 in the 2004 AFC Divisional playoffs.

This was the first Super Bowl meeting between the Colts and Bears.