Blowouts in the N.F.L. playoffs are rare. In the absence of an injury to a major star, teams are too good, too focused, and have too many yards of film on their opponents by this point to be overwhelmed or surprised by a breakout performance.
That has not been the case so far in the wild-card round, with the Buffalo Bills routing the New England Patriots, 47-17, Saturday night and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 31-15 dismantling of the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon. The expanded postseason field does not augur much distinction to be had in the night game between Kansas City and the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose quarterback earlier this week admitted “we don’t stand a chance.