When Sunday's late afternoon games began, the NFL's playoff picture looked a lot like it has looked for the past couple of weeks. Three hours later, some hearts were thumping a little bit quicker at the top.
The NFC's No. 2 seed went to Tampa Bay and failed to score a touchdown, meaning the Seattle Seahawks are now looking behind them rather than in front of them, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in this thing.
The AFC's No. 1 seed blew a 17-point lead at home to a dead-looking Carolina team, saw its franchise quarterback leave the game for a minute with his pinkie pointing the wrong way, came back to win it at the end and still somehow dropped into the No.