After the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day 2006, the Saints clinched a first-round playoff bye for the first time in franchise history.

After a first-round defeat by the Polish side Ruch Chorzow and another two widely unsuccessful Bundesliga campaigns, the club disappeared from the top flight again and has yet to return.

After a first-round bye, the Flyers easily swept the Toronto Maple Leafs and were presented with another New York – area team in the semifinals.

After two first-round exits at the hands of the eventual champions from Montreal in 1959 and 1960, it was expected that the Canadiens would once again beat the Hawks when they met in the semifinals in 1961.

After making his first title defense, a first-round knockout of Roger Stafford, Curry had a rematch with Starling.

After three years of first-round playoff exits, the Roughriders finally returned to prominence in 1951, winning their first WIFU regular season championship with an 8-6 record.

After qualifying to play Stephen Hendry in the first-round, White opened with a century break and uncharacteristically shrewd matchplay enabled him to open up a 7 – 0 lead with only one further break over 50.

After the season, Nash contemplated turning professional, and decided against it when he learned that he would probably not be considered as a first-round pick in the 1995 NBA Draft.

After Bergey signed a " futures contract " with the World Football League, Bengals coach Paul Brown traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for two first-round and one second-round draft picks.

After two first-round defeats in singles ( Costa do Sauípe, l. to Berlocq and Miami, l. to Grosjean ), Kuerten won his first ATP Masters Series level match in a long time, partnering Nicolás Lapentti, in Miami, against Feliciano López and Fernando Verdasco.

After a stellar junior career with Sorel and Verdun of the QMJHL, in which he was named the league's best defenseman in 1978 and 1979, Bourque was drafted 8th overall by the Bruins, with a first-round draft choice obtained from the Los Angeles Kings in a 1977 trade for goaltender Ron Grahame, whose son John would be a future teammate of Bourque's.

After receiving a first-round bye for the playoffs, the Stingrays fell in a second-round 3-game shutout to the Mississippi Sea Wolves.

After defeating the Portland Winter Hawks in seven games during a tough first-round playoff series, the Silvertips finished their second season in the WHL on a tough note by being swept by the Kootenay Ice 4-0 in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

After spending several seasons with the Bruins, Carter was dealt along with a conditional pick in the 2003 draft, a first-and a second-round pick in the 2001 draft to the Edmonton Oilers for Bill Guerin and a first-round pick in the 2001 draft.

After the especially unsuccessful 2004 campaign, the Rangers traded most of their high-priced veterans ; Leetch was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs just prior to the trade deadline for prospects Maxim Kondratiev, Jarkko Immonen, a first-round pick in the 2004 draft, which became Lauri Korpikoski, and a second-round pick in 2005, which became Michael Sauer.

After the 2004 World Championship, King became involved in a tense battle with Quinten Hann after his friend Andy Hicks eliminated Hann in a controversial first-round clash.

After Rudi Völler resigned as Germany coach in the wake of that country's first-round exit in Euro 2004, Rehhagel was considered by many to be a strong candidate for his homeland's job.

After the 2004 – 05 season, the Timberwolves traded him and a conditional first-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Marko Jaric and Lionel Chalmers.

After an FA Cup first-round win over Fylde Coast neighbours Fleetwood Town on 22 November, Ball publicly criticised the fans for allegedly not wanting the team to succeed as much as he did.

After a first-round bye in the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, he fell in the second round again to Milos Raonic, 5 – 7, 4 – 6.

After a year and a half at Dallas, during which he scored seven goals, Cerritos was traded to D. C. United for Ali Curtis and a first-round pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft.

After compiling a 40 – 28 win-loss record ( including playoffs ) in four seasons with the Raiders, Gruden replaced the fired Tony Dungy as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002, via a high-stakes trade that included Tampa Bay's 2002 and 2003 first-round draft picks, 2002 and 2004 second-round draft picks, and $ 8 million in cash.

After only two games with Buffalo he was traded by the Braves to the Houston Rockets for two future first-round draft choices.

After winning bouts over George Crain and Omar Vasquez in May and June 1997 respectively, Judah closed the year with first-round knockouts over Cesar Castro, James Salava and Ricardo Vasquez.

After finishing the 2006 and 2007 seasons with records of 8 – 8 and 7 – 9, respectively, the Panthers rebounded in the 2008 season, finishing the season with a 12 – 4 record, claiming the NFC South title and a first round bye in the playoffs.

After extensive negotiations and Quebec's withdrawal from the championship competition, it was decided that a three-team tournament would take place in Montreal, with the Ottawa team receiving a bye to the Final because they were the only road team.

After the regular season, the top team from each division has an automatic home game berth in the Division Final, and a bye week during the Division Semifinal.

After a first round bye the Nats would beat the Boston Celtics in 4 games to reach the NBA Finals for the 2nd straight season.

After a bye week giving him time to recuperate, Owens played in the following game against the Tennessee Titans, where he accounted for 88 receiving yards as well as three touchdowns.

After a draw with the Stormers and a bye, the Highlanders had gone unbeaten for eight weeks.

After receiving a bye from the quarterfinal playoff games, Birmingham beat the Western Division-winning The Hawaiians in the semifinals, 22 – 19, in front of a sparse 15, 379 at Legion Field.

After receiving a bye to the second round, she dispatched Patty Schnyder 6 – 3, 5 – 7, 6 – 4, and then Shuai Peng 6 – 1, 7 – 5, before losing in the fourth round to second seed Caroline Wozniacki 6 – 3, 3 – 6, 6 – 0.

After receiving a bye into the second round, she defeated Nadia Petrova, 7 – 5, 6 – 4, before again falling to Agnieszka Radwańska, 6 – 4, 7 – 6 ( 4 ).

After receiving a bye into the 2nd round, Fort William hammered rivals Clachnacuddin F. C.

After an initial bye in the first round, they were then defeated in the next round by Yim Bang-eun and Kim Yong-hyun of Korea.

After receiving a bye in the first round, he beat Arnaud Clément 7 – 6, 6 – 1, in the second round.

After receiving a first round bye she defeated Alisa Kleybanova 7 – 6, 6 – 1 and Tathiana Garbin to reach the semifinals where she fell in three sets to Lucie Šafářová.

After receiving a bye he defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky 2 – 6, 6 – 3, 7 – 5 in the second round, Dudi Sela 6 – 3, 6 – 0 in the third round, and Marcos Baghdatis 7 – 5, 0 – 6, 6 – 4 in the fourth round, before finally succumbing to Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals 3 – 6, 5 – 7.

After returning to the field following their first round bye, the Bears played the Carolina Panthers, with a fully healed Rex Grossman as quarterback.

After a first-round bye, she defeated homecrowd favourite Tamira Paszek in the second round, 6 – 2, 6 – 1.

After about an hour, we came into a village called Ploegsteert, at which point he came alongside with real arrogance and said ' OK, I'm back home now, so ' bye.

After a first-round bye, the Steelers defeated their division rival, the number 5 Baltimore Ravens 31 – 24, with Ben Roethlisberger's 58-yard completion to Antonio Brown on third down and 19 setting up Rashard Mendenhall's game winning 2-yard touchdown run with 1: 33 left in the game.

After receiving a first-round bye, he defeated Slovakian qualifier Martin Kližan 6 – 4, 0 – 6, 6 – 4, in the second round.

After the bye week, they handily defeated the Giants and then took the Dolphins at Landshark Stadium.