Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest ; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2-3 ; they finished 10-6 and won the NFC East title, but were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs 26-17 by the second-year Carolina Panthers.

Once the playoffs started, Meola had healed, but Oshoniyi was still in goal.

Just months after reaching the playoffs for the first time, the Thrashers started the 2007 – 08 season off 0 – 6.

The Sixers started the season with an uninspiring 3 – 13 mark, but started turning things around, going 37-23 to go on to a 40-36 record, but a depressing 1-5 finish doomed them to a 7th seed in the playoffs with a 41-41 record.

In the playoffs the Hawks started to show improvement, pushing the eventual NBA Champions, Boston Celtics, to a Game 7 before losing in a blowout in Boston.

They started the playoffs strongly by sweeping the Winnipeg Jets in the Smythe Division semifinals.

As his career just started going, however, Howe sustained the worst injury of his career, fracturing his skull after an attempt to check Toronto Maple Leafs captain Ted Kennedy into the boards went awry during the 1950 playoffs.

During the 2003 playoffs the Battalion started what would eventually become a rivalry with the Barrie Colts defeating the Colts in the first round in six games.

The closest he came was in 2001, when his team started 6-3 but would end the season on an 0-5 skid to just barely miss the playoffs.

The Lynx saw similar results in 2008 ... started with a good run ( 7 – 3 ), but lost many key games, including a horrific six-game losing streak, and finished 14 – 20, out from the playoffs for the fifth straight season.

They started with a sweep of the Sparks, the team that previously knocked them out of the playoffs every time they met.

The 1997 season started out 1 – 7 after 8 games, but they went 15 – 9 for the rest of the season to qualify for the playoffs.

Despite the departures of key players such as Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler, the Bobcats started their season hoping to once again make the playoffs.

Before the season started Brad Banister promised the fans the playoffs and they were successful in achieving this goal.

The playoffs started the week after the completion of the regular season, and typically ended in mid-October.

Gooden was the Mets ace going into the playoffs, and his postseason started promisingly.

In 2006, the Packers started with a 4-8 record, but managed to win their last four games to finish the season 8-8, ending with a win against their archrival Chicago Bears, but missing the playoffs for the second straight year.

The Capitals qualified for the playoffs, and Huet started every game in their first round series against the Philadelphia Flyers.

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.

Stevens started his career with the Capitals, where he helped the team make the playoffs for the first time.

The 2005 – 06 season started with Barnet leading League Two after four games, but this form did not continue and the club finished the season 5 places and 5 points above the relegation zone, yet only 12 points out of the playoffs, with only 1 win in the first 12 games of 2006.

Because there cannot be a tie in the playoffs, the teams switched ends of the field and started additional 15-minute overtime periods until one side scores.

He finished the season with a passer rating of 97. 4, started all sixteen games for the Dolphins and helped to lead them to an 11-5 record and the third seed in the playoffs with an AFC East Championship.

He started all 16 games in 1993, being one of only seven quarterbacks to do so, and led the Giants to a resurgent 11 – 5 season including a victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs.

The next week, their dream season ended at home with a loss to the Cowboys 30 – 27 in the divisional playoffs.

After 1993, it was implemented for good when Major League Baseball restructured each league into three divisions, but their next playing was in 1995 due to the cancellation of the 1994 playoffs.

After 1993, it was implemented for good when Major League Baseball restructured each league into three divisions, but their next playing was in 1995 due to the cancellation of the 1994 playoffs.

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.

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.

The two teams met twice a year ( interrupted in 1982 by a player strike ) 1970 – 2001 ; with the move of the Colts to the AFC South the two teams ' rivalry actually escalated, as they met three times in the playoffs in the South's first nine seasons of existence ; the Jets crushed the Colts 41 – 0 in the 2002 Wild Card playoff round ; the Colts then defeated the Jets 30 – 17 in the 2009 AFC Championship Game ; but the next year in the Wild Card round the Jets pulled off another playoff upset of the Colts, winning 17 – 16 ; it was Peyton Manning's final playoff game with the Colts.

The inaugural season featured many of the players who would lead Jacksonville into the playoffs in the team's next four seasons, including quarterback Mark Brunell ( acquired in a draft day trade from Green Bay ), offensive lineman Tony Boselli ( drafted with the 2nd pick overall in the 1995 NFL Draft ) running back James Stewart ( also drafted in 1995 ), and wide receiver Jimmy Smith ( signed as a free agent ).

That win, and the win the next day, by the Brewers kept the Padres from advancing to the playoffs.

With the emergence of star player Pablo Sandoval alongside a dominant pitching staff, the Giants looked forward to making the playoffs next year for the first time since 2003.

The next season, Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's career goal-scoring record and won the scoring title, but the team began a long slide, and despite numerous player and coaching moves, they failed to qualify for the playoffs again until 1998.

They advanced to the playoffs in the next two seasons.

The next season, the Devils once again slipped below. 500 and missed the playoffs.

The next year, in 1988, the Islanders captured another division title, but were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the upstart New Jersey Devils.

The next year, the team finished well out of the playoffs after winning only 25 games.

The Rangers remained a mark of futility in the NHL for most of the remainder of the Original Six era, missing the playoffs in 12 of the next 16 years.

The next season the Penguins finished five games out of the playoffs with a 21-37-20 record, the fourth worst record in the league.

The next year, the club secured the regular-season Adams Division title, only to fall to the Nordiques in six games in the first round of the playoffs.

The Heat lost Game 1 at home but won the next four to oust the Nets from the playoffs for the second year in a row.

" Bill Walton said at the time that Nets-Celtics was the " beginning of the next great NBA rivalry " during the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002 with the Nets advancing to the NBA Finals, though New Jersey would go on to sweep Boston in the 2003 playoffs.

However, in an eerie repeat of the 2005 playoffs, the Spurs bounced back to sweep the next four, as the Nuggets were eliminated in the first round in five games for the fourth straight year.

In the next seven seasons, plagued by injury including to Sampson who would be traded in 1988, they lost in the first round of the playoffs five times, until finally advancing in 1993 past the L. A. Clippers and battle the rival Seattle SuperSonics to the bitter end before falling short in an overtime Game 7.

) In the playoffs, the Spurs would get a surprisingly tough test from the Sacramento Kings in the first round as they need an overtime win in Game 2 to win the first two games at home, before losing the next two on the road.

The Clippers won 12 of their next 14 games, including road wins over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks and the Western-Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, clinching only their fifth playoff birth since their 1976 conference semi-finals loss to the Boston Celtics ( the last time they made the playoffs as the Buffalo Braves ) before a dominating home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 16, 2012.

In the playoffs, they defeated the Indianapolis Olympians in three games but lost to the Rochester Royals in the next round.

Although they had losing records the next two seasons, they made the playoffs each year.