The 2018 NFL wild card playoffs are well underway and already saw two games being played yesterday. Two more contests will follow today, with one of which determining who will travel to Foxboro next week to take on the New England Patriots in the divisional round. As the AFC’s number two seed, the defending conference champions will enter the contest next Sunday — the ninth straight year that the Patriots hold a first-round bye.
While it seems as if New England, to quote colleague Matthew Rewinski, simply looks at the first playoff round these days and says “Nah, we’re good”, this has not always been the case.