The Colts would lose to the New England Patriots and Tom Brady in the 2003 AFC Championship Game and the 2004 divisional playoffs beginning a rivalry between the two team, and more importantly between Manning and Brady.

On November 4, 2007 the Patriots defeated the Colts 24 – 20 ; in the next matchup on November 2, 2008, the Colts won 18 – 15 in a game that was one of the reasons the Patriots failed to make the playoffs ; in the 2009 meeting, the Colts staged a spirited comeback to beat the Patriots 35 – 34 ; in the most recent 2010 game, the Colts almost staged another comeback, pulling within 31 – 28 after trailing 31 – 14 in the fourth quarter, but fell short due to a Patriots interception of a Manning pass late in the game.

In 1977 Baltimore tied for first for the third straight year ( in 1976 they tied with the now-New England Patriots ) with Miami, and this time advanced to the playoffs on even slimmer pretenses, with a conference record of 9 – 3 compared to Miami's 8 – 4, as they had split the season series.

During the 1970s, the Patriots had some success, earning a berth to the playoffs in 1976 — as a wild card-team — and in 1978 — as AFC East champions.

However, the team would come up short in the playoffs again, blowing a fourth quarter lead at home in a 24 – 21 loss to the New England Patriots.

More importantly, they went further in the playoffs than the previous year, but fell again to the New England Patriots, this time in the AFC Championship game.

The Patriots were considered a cinderella team during the 1985 season, and posted an 11-5 regular season record, but entered the playoffs as a wild card because of tiebreakers.

They posted a 13-1 regular season record before defeating the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs.

The Dolphins advanced through the special 16-team playoffs by defeating the New England Patriots, 28-13, the San Diego Chargers, 34-13, and the New York Jets, 14-0, to earn a trip to their fourth Super Bowl in team history.

Elway's ability to improvise on the fly, in part, helped Denver to make it through the playoffs, narrowly defeating the New England Patriots, 22 – 17, and the Cleveland Browns, 23 – 20, in the AFC Championship Game.

In 1998, the Jets went to the playoffs with a 12 – 4 record, which was good enough for second place in the conference and earned the Jets their third home playoff game since moving to New Jersey in 1984 ( their first home playoff game was against the New England Patriots following the 1985 season ), but lost to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.

The Patriots went on to win 11 of the 14 games Brady started, and six straight to finish the regular season, winning the AFC East and entering the playoffs with a first-round bye.

Brady and the Patriots finished the year at 9 – 7, tied with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins for the best record in the division ; however, the Jets won the division on the third tiebreaker, and the Patriots missed the playoffs.

However, Brady played much of the second half of the season with a shoulder injury, and New England head coach Bill Belichick has since indicated that if the Patriots had made the playoffs, Brady would not have been able to play in the first game due to that injury.

In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Patriots defeated the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts.

Brady threw for 3, 692 yards and 28 touchdowns, with a 92. 6 passer rating, and was voted to his second Pro Bowl .< Ref name = Stats /> In the AFC playoffs, Brady led the Patriots to victories over the Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In the playoffs, Brady led the Patriots to a 28 – 3 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wild card round ; however, on January 14, 2006, the Patriots lost 27 – 13 to the Denver Broncos at INVESCO Field.

Brady led the Patriots to a 12 – 4 record and the fourth seed in the AFC playoffs.

Despite their victory in Super Bowl XXXVI after the 2001 season, the Patriots stumbled early in the 2002 season, recorded a 9-7 regular season record, and failed to make the playoffs.

The Falcons have qualified for the playoffs three times ( 2008, 2010 and 2011 ) during this period, but lost all three in the first round

In the 1978 season, the Falcons qualified for the playoffs for the first time and won the Wild Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles 14 – 13.

From 1988 to 1996, the Eagles qualified for the playoffs during 6 out of those 9 seasons, but they won the NFC East only once, in 1988.

Even though the Cowboys finished in second place in the NFC East with a 10-4 record, they qualified for the playoffs as the NFC's wild-card team ( during that time, only one wild card team from each conference entered the playoffs ).

The Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions qualified for the playoffs despite 4-5 records, the only sub -. 500 teams to reach the NFL playoffs until the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks reached the playoffs following the 2010 season.

Despite the fact that the Lightning finished first in the conference and the Islanders qualified for the playoffs as the 8th and final seed, a few journalists had picked the Islanders to win based on their strong regular season performance against Tampa Bay.

Instead, the top four teams qualified for the playoffs.

The Thrashers qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs only once, during the 2006 – 07 season when they won the Southeast Division, but never won a game in the postseason as they were swept in the first round by the New York Rangers.

The Avalanche have won eight division titles and they qualified for the playoffs in each of their first ten seasons in Denver ; the streak ended in 2007.

Coached by Chicagoan and former NBA star Johnny " Red " Kerr, and led by former NBA assist leader Guy Rodgers and forward Bob Boozer, the Bulls qualified for the playoffs.

The Spurs qualified for the playoffs for the ninth year in a row.

Led by a healthy Baron Davis, an ever-improving Jason Richardson, and future star Monta Ellis as well as Andris Biedriņš, the Warriors qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1994.

The team has qualified for the playoffs in 29 seasons of their 42-season existence, including a streak of 21 straight appearances from 1983 through 2003, the second longest streak in NBA history.

In their fourth season, 1995 – 96, with Bradley still leading the team in scoring, second-year forward Alexander Selivanov scoring a total of 31 goals, and Roman Hamrlik ( the team's first-ever draft choice except those drafted in the expansion draft two days earlier ( Wendel Young being the first ever Lightning ) in 1992 ) having an All-Star year on defense, the Lightning finally qualified for the playoffs, nosing out the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference by a single game.

Although they finished near -. 500 season in 1994, the Blackhawks again qualified for the playoffs.

The team qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 2009.

The Stars qualified for the playoffs as the sixth seed in the Western conference and squared off against the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs.

The Stars rallied to a final record of 45-30-7 and qualified for the playoffs as the fifth seed matching up with the defending champion Anaheim Ducks in the first round.

In 1998, the Mercury again qualified for the playoffs, posting a 19 – 11 record.

Still, the Hawks qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.

The Texans participated in the playoffs for the first and only time at the end of the 2011 season, after having clinched the South Division title and qualifying as the AFC's third seed.

Those against the Wild Card see it as diminishing the importance of the pennant race and the regular season, with the true race often being for second rather than first place, while those in favor of it view it as an opportunity for teams to have a shot at the playoffs even when they have no chance of a first-place finish in their division, thus maintaining fan interest later in the season.

Nonetheless, in 1960, the Browns dropped three games by a total of 10 points, finished with an 8-3-1 record and out of the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

The Rockies entered the playoffs against the Philadelphia Phillies as the NL Wild Card for the second time in three years.

The Red Wings eliminated the Nashville Predators in six games in the first round of the playoffs, which led to a second round matchup with the Calgary Flames.

In the second round, they fell behind the San Jose Sharks three games to one, before being knocked out of the playoffs in five games.

Advancing to the playoffs as winners of the second half, Houston beat Los Angeles in their first two playoff games at home, but the Dodgers took the next three in Los Angeles to advance to the NLCS.

The Colts for the second time in the Manning era would enter the playoffs with the best record in the AFC.

The debate topics ranged broadly from the usual such as abortion and foreign policy to the unusual such as an incident preceding the then-current baseball playoffs, in which Roberto Alomar, the Baltimore Orioles ' second baseman, cursed and spat on an umpire.

The Vikings became the second team in football history to miss the playoffs after getting off to a 6 – 0 start.

The Saints failed to make the playoffs in 2001 and 2002, although in the latter year they had the distinction of beating the eventual Super Bowl XXXVII champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in both of their regular season meetings, only the second team to do so in NFL history.

In the wild-card playoffs, the Eagles played against the Dallas Cowboys for the second consecutive week and lost 34 – 14.

They locked up the second seed as well as a first round bye but this served them no advantage in the playoffs as they lost at home to the Jets 17 – 14 ( the only home team with a bye to lose in the divisional round ).

Wanting to set itself up more like the NFL right before the merger, the AFL expanded the playoffs for the 1969 season, by having the second place teams from each division face the first place teams from the other division ( Western Champion vs. Eastern Runner-Up, and vice versa ).

The Vikings earned their second appearance in the Super Bowl after defeating the wild card Washington Redskins, 27-20, and the NFC Eastern Champion Dallas Cowboys 27-10, in the playoffs.

The Vikings were led by quarterback Fran Tarkenton and the Purple People Eaters defense ; they advanced to their second consecutive Super Bowl and third overall after finishing the regular season with a 10-4 record and defeating the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs.

The Cowboys earned their second trip to the Super Bowl in three years by defeating the Chicago Bears, 37-7, and the Minnesota Vikings, 23-6, in the playoffs.

With Hostetler at the helm, the Giants responded by winning their final two games to finish the regular season 13 – 3, good enough to win the NFC East and earn the second seed in the NFC playoffs.

On January 15, 1983, during the second round of the playoffs against the Minnesota Vikings, John Riggins rushed for a Redskins playoff record 185 yards, leading Washington to a 21 – 7 win and a place in the NFC Championship Game against Dallas, whom they beat 31 to 17.

Before the playoffs, Torrey made the difficult decision to trade longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and defenseman Dave Lewis to the Los Angeles Kings for second line center Butch Goring.

The Islanders were beaten in seven games by the Flyers in the second round of the playoffs.

It was the Isles ' first losing season and the first time they had missed the playoffs since their second year of existence.

During the 1994 – 95 lockout-shortened season, the Rangers lost in the second round of the playoffs by succeeding head coach Colin Campbell.