Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry crushed the Pittsburgh Steelers, while the Houston Texans defense delivers a warning to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs – Sky Sports NFL presenter Neil Reynolds has the final word on Wild Card weekend in the playoffs…

Let’s take a look back at Wild Card weekend in the NFL as we whittled down 14 teams to eight in the race to Super Bowl 59.

Can the Rams go all the way?

Monday night saw the Los Angeles Rams end a tumultuous week with a victory over the Minnesota Vikings, reminding me that this team believes they can beat anybody in the league – wherever they play. Sean McVay rested his starters in Week 18 and we thought that might have given them a tougher game in the first round of the playoffs against the Vikings, but it certainly didn’t.

They had to play in Arizona, McVay had to evacuate his family home in the days leading up to the 27-9 win, but they got the job done with some ease. This defense is finding its feet and coming into form at exactly the right time.

They have got key players who have won a Super Bowl in Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp, as well as other established stars now in Puka Nacua and Jared Verse on defense. This team has gone 10-3 since opening the league 1-4 – why can’t they keep it going?

Daniels stars again for Washington

This Wild Card weekend won’t go down as a classic but it did serve up another wonderful moment that suggests the Washington Commanders are in really good hands with their rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. He was inspirational in their 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, time and time again making big plays without flapping, without looking stressed, without getting over-excited.

His touchdowns came in huge moments. His first to Dyami Brown was on a third-and-goal in the first half, and the one to give Washington a 20-17 lead in the fourth quarter was on fourth down to Terry McLaurin. On both occasions you would not have even known he had thrown a touchdown pass – he was onto his next piece of work. That was massively impressive.

This team went 4-13 a year ago and just recorded their 13th victory of this season. That’s what happens when you find yourself a true star like Jayden Daniels.

Hurts and Eagles with work to do despite win

The Philadelphia Eagles advanced to the Divisional Round with a 22-10 win over the Green Bay Packers, but it was far from pretty and there is work to be done for the Eagles if they are to tidy things up before they play the Rams. They were penalised seven times, while Jalen Hurts got bogged down far too often and threw for just 131 yards on his return.

I do feel like there is more in the passing game if needed, but the reliance on Saquon Barkley is so strong they never really have to open it up. Hurts can play within himself, AJ Brown can read his books on the bench and the Eagles can rely on some strong defense as well.

As for the Packers, I think it will go down as a season where they were good but not good enough. They lost to a lot of the quality teams at the end of the year and Jordan Love didn’t really live up to the $55m-a-year contract he signed in the offseason. He has a big year ahead of him in 2025.

The complete Bills

I think Josh Allen is always going to grab the attention and create the headlines for the Buffalo Bills, but the reason I think this team is more dangerous than previous teams is the balance they have.

Allen was excellent again in beating the Denver Broncos on Sunday, completing 20 of 26 for 272 yards and two touchdowns with no picks. But the balance came with James Cook leading the way on the ground with 120 rushing yards and a touchdown; Buffalo as a team rushed for 210 yards. They made plays on defense, so I think this is a complete team now.

As for the Broncos, it was a season that delivered way more than they could have ever expected back in the summer. They have reason to feel very optimistic with Sean Payton guiding the young career of Bo Nix, who I think will be one of the NFL’s fun quarterbacks to watch.

Lamar and Henry crush Pittsburgh on the ground

Don’t let the scoreline fool you. Saturday’s 28-14 win for the Baltimore Ravens against the Pittsburgh Steelers was a brutal beat down. Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry were impossible to stop in the backfield, and this is everything we all envisioned when Derrick Henry was brought on board this year – you key up to stop Lamar Jackson, and Henry runs the ball; you key up to stop Henry, and Lamar tucks and runs.

Between them they averaged 167 yards per game during the regular season and upped it to 267 on Saturday night. Baltimore rushed for 300 yards and then took a knee to drop it to 299 at the end of the game. They crushed Pittsburgh’s souls and were a dominant force.

It has now been eight years since Pittsburgh’s last playoff win as they end the campaign with five straight losses. I think Mike Tomlin is safe for now for sure, this isn’t a knee-jerk reactionary franchise, but that is the back-drop to his 2025 season and Pittsburgh have to find a better answer at quarterback.

Herbert’s Houston nightmare

Wild Card weekend began with Houston’s 32-12 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Texans still have some issues on the offensive side of the ball, because of that pressure that gets put on CJ Stroud, who was sacked 52 times in the regular season and another three at the weekend.

But their defense makes them very dangerous, especially as they head to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs, who have had protection issues and who have had turnover issues. Houston created four sacks, intercepted Justin Herbert four times at the end of a season during which he had been picked off just three teams previously. That was a really impressive performance.

For the Chargers, there is a lot to be proud of, a lot to be pleased with after an 11-win season. They are in good shape with Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh together, but they need more offensive weapons. They need a spark and some firepower, so I would say it was an unsatisfactory end and there is work to be done.

When is the Super Bowl?

The playoffs enter the Divisional Round on Saturday January 18 and Sunday January 19, at which point the respective No 1 seeded Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions will join the action following their bye.

It is then onto the AFC and NFC Championship Games on Sunday January 26, before Super Bowl LIX takes place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on February 9.

It will be the 11th time the Super Bowl has been hosted in New Orleans, the first time since 2013, and the eighth game to be held at the Caesars Superdome.

Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar will headline the Super Bowl half-time show.