TAMPA, Fla. — When the dust settled from the final weekend of the NFL regular season late Sunday night, a funny thing happened in the state of Florida.
The Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers all made the playoffs for the first time this century. The only other time all three teams had made the playoffs was 1997 when only the Buccaneers made it past the Wild Card round.
The playoffs were expected in Tampa, with the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, leading the Bucs again this season. However, it wasn't easy for Tampa to make the playoffs. The team snuck into the playoffs with a losing record (8-9) thanks to a woefully bad NFC South division.
Down in Miami, big things looked like they were on the horizon for the Dolphins when the team jumped out to an 8-3 record with a high-flying offense. Then, the wheels came off as the Fins started having injury problems, especially at the quarterback position. Miami lost five straight games before winning an ugly 11-6 game on the final Sunday of the regular season and getting an assist from the Buffalo Bills to get into the playoffs.
But the biggest surprise was in Jacksonville.
After a terrible 2021 season saw the Jaguars finish with the worst record in football, head coach Doug Pederson led the new-look Jags to the playoffs. And while the competition hasn't been great, the Jaguars are arguably the hottest team in the NFL heading into the playoffs.
Jacksonville has won six of their last seven games, including wins over the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens.
On Wild Card Weekend, Jacksonville will play host to the San Diego Chargers on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. Then, Miami will travel to Buffalo to play a tough Bills team on Sunday. The final Florida team to play will be the Buccaneers on Monday night when they welcome the Dallas Cowboys to Raymond James Stadium.
