1981–82 NFL playoffs

The 49ers playing against the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI
Dates	December 27, 1981–January 24, 1982
Season	1981
Teams	10
Games played	9
Super Bowl XVI site	Pontiac Silverdome Pontiac, Michigan
Defending champions	Oakland Raiders (did not qualify)
Champions	San Francisco 49ers
Runners-up	Cincinnati Bengals
Conference runners-up	Dallas Cowboys San Diego Chargers
NFL playoffs ← 1980–81 1982–83 →

The National Football League playoffs for the 1981 season began on December 27, 1981. The postseason tournament concluded with the San Francisco 49ers defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, 26–21, on January 24, 1982, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.

Both conference champions had losing records the previous season, the only time this has happened. All four AFC playoff games were between teams who had never faced each other in the postseason before. This was the only time this happened in either conference since the playoffs were expanded to 10 teams in 1978.

This was also the first year that both New York City area teams, the Giants and the Jets, made the playoffs together in the same year. The Giants qualified for the first time since 1963, and the Jets for the first time since 1969.

Participants

Within each conference, the three division winners and the two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records qualified for the playoffs. The NFL did not use a fixed-bracket playoff system. The three division winners were seeded 1–3 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and received a first-round bye while the wild card teams were seeded 4 and 5, and played in the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, with the 4 seed hosting. The second round, the divisional playoffs, had a restriction where two teams from the same division could not meet: the surviving wild card team visited the division champion outside its division that had the higher seed, and the remaining two teams from that conference played each other. The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the championship round of the playoffs, was played at a neutral site, the designated home team was based on an annual rotation by conference.

Bracket

* Indicates OT victory

Schedule

In the United States, NBC broadcast the AFC playoff games, while CBS televised the NFC games and Super Bowl XVI.

This was last season that local times were considered in scheduling afternoon playoff games for the first three rounds, and not strictly in the 12:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. EST time slots.

Wild card playoffs

Sunday, December 27, 1981

AFC: Buffalo Bills 31, New York Jets 27

Bill Simpson's interception at the Buffalo 1-yard line with two seconds left in the game preserved a 31–27 victory and gave Buffalo their first playoff win since 1965. This would also turn out to be the final NFL playoff game at Shea Stadium, as the Jets moved to Giants Stadium three years later.

The Bills jumped to a 24–0 lead by the second quarter against a Jets defense that had only given up 37 first quarter points all season. First New York's Bruce Harper fumbled the opening kickoff while being tackled by Ervin Parker, and Charles Romes returned the ball 26-yards to the end zone. After a few punts, New York had a great chance to respond when Richard Todd completed a 37-yard pass to tight end Jerome Barkum on the Bills 30-yard line. On the next play, receiver Wesley Walker broke open in the end zone and Todd threw him the ball, only to watch it go right through Walker's hands. The next two plays resulted in the team being pushed back to the 35, where Pat Leahy missed a 52-yard field goal attempt. Then Buffalo drove 66 yards in three plays to score on quarterback Joe Ferguson's 50-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Frank Lewis. On the Jets next drive, Rufus Bess intercepted a pass from Todd and returned it 49 yards to the New York 12, leading to a 29-yard field goal by Nick Mike-Mayer.

Now down 17–0, New York had a good chance to get back in the game when Mark Gastineau forced a fumble from Ferguson on the Bills next drive. Gastineau got to the ball before anyone else, but wound up accidentally knocking the ball forward twice while trying to pick it up, and Buffalo lineman Ken Jones ended up recovering it. Following a missed 37-yard field goal attempt by Mike-Mayer after the fumble recovery, Todd led the Jets to the Bills 38-yard line, only to throw another interception, this one to linebacker Phil Villapiano, who returned it 18 yards to the 40. The Bills converted this turnover into a 24–0 lead as Ferguson completed a 28-yard pass to running back Joe Cribbs before hooking up with Lewis for a 26-yard scoring completion. However, New York got a big boost from receiver Kurt Sohn, who returned the kickoff 28 yards to the 48-yard line. From there, Todd led the team 52 yards in five plays to score on his 30-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mickey Shuler, Shuler's first reception of the season. After a pair of punts, Greg Buttle returned an interception from Ferguson 29 yards to the Bills 14-yard line, setting up's Leahy's 26-yard field goal that cut the score to 24–10 at the end of the half.^[1]

Buttle intercepted another pass from Ferguson on the opening drive of the third quarter, returning this one 11 yards to the Bills 44. The Jets took advantage again with another Leahy field goal to bring the team within 11 points at 24–13. Then Ferguson threw his third consecutive interception on the next drive, which Donald Dykes picked off and returned 22 yards, giving New York a first down on the Buffalo 35. But this time the Jets could not take advantage, as Simpson put an end to the next drive with an interception of his own.

The Bills next drive resulted in Ferguson's 4th consecutive interception, this one thrown to Jerry Holmes, but the Jets were forced to punt, and Lou Piccone returned Chuck Ramsey's 29-yard punt 5 yards to the New York 45-yard line. Then with just over 10 minutes left in the game, Cribbs ran for a 45-yard touchdown, increasing the Bills lead to 31–13. Todd then led the Jets 80 yards in eight plays and completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Jones. Then after forcing a punt that Harper returned 6 yards to his own 42, New York drove for another score, aided by a pass interference call against Bills defensive back Mario Clark that nullified an interception. Kevin Long finished the 58-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to cut the score to 31–27. The Jets got the ball back with 2:36 remaining and then drove 69 yards to the Buffalo 11-yard line, aided by a holding penalty that wiped out an interception by Steve Freeman. Todd also made several key completions, including a 29-yarder to Shuler and a 26-yard pass to Derrick Gaffney on third and 20. However, Simpson's interception at the 1-yard line halted New York's comeback with two seconds left.

Simpson recorded two interceptions, while Lewis caught seven passes for a franchise postseason record 158 yards and two touchdowns. Shuler caught six passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. Todd threw for 377 yards, while Ferguson threw for 268. Both quarterbacks threw two touchdowns and were intercepted four times. Simpson and Buttle each had two interceptions. Cribbs rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown, while also catching 4 passes for 64 yards.

This was the first postseason meeting between the Bills and Jets and the first NFL playoff matchup between two New York-based teams.^[2]

NFC: New York Giants 27, Philadelphia Eagles 21

Despite playing without starting quarterback Phil Simms and linebacker Brad Van Pelt, the Giants jumped to a 20–0 lead in the first quarter and withstood an Eagles comeback at the end to hold on to a 27–21 win.

In the first quarter, Eagles kick/punt returner Wally Henry fumbled a punt due to a hit from Lawrence Taylor and Beasley Reece recovered the ball for the Giants at the Philadelphia 26-yard line. A few plays later, quarterback Scott Brunner then threw a 9-yard touchdown to running back Leon Bright (the extra point attempt failed). Then after forcing a punt, the Giants drove 74 yards, including an 11-yard scramble by Brunner on 3rd and 11, to score on his 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Mistler. Henry muffed the ensuing kickoff, and as he tried to pick it up, he lost the ball while being hit by Mike Dennis. Mark Haynes recovered the ball in the end zone to give New York a 20–0 lead.^[3] After the ensuing kickoff, the first quarter ended with Giants having a 104 to 1 advantage over Philadelphia in total yards gained.

In the second quarter, New York had a chance to increase their lead with a drive into Eagles territory, but Philadelphia's defense dug in and stuffed Brunner for no gain on a 4th and 1 conversion attempt on the 35. Later on, Herman Edwards' interception of a Brunner pass gave the Eagles a first down on the New York 26-yard line, which they converted to a 20–7 score with quarterback Ron Jaworski's 15-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Harold Carmichael. However, Reece returned the ensuing kickoff 27 yards to the 38-yard line, where the Giants proceeded to drive 62 yards in 5 plays to score on Brunner's 22-yard touchdown pass to Tom Mullady, giving them a 27–7 halftime lead. The key play of the drive was a 21-yard run by Rob Carpenter on 2nd and 8 from the 40 with 2:04 left on the clock.

New York was shut out in the second half, while the Eagles opened the third quarter by marching 82 yards in 15 plays on a drive that consumed 7:58 and ended on running back Wilbert Montgomery's 6-yard rushing touchdown. Late in the fourth quarter, New York drove inside the Eagles 20 and had a chance to put the game away, only to have Joe Danelo miss a 32-yard field goal attempt. Philadelphia then drove 80 yards, 44 of them coming from 3 Giants penalties, in 9 plays to score on Montgomery's 1-yard touchdown run, cutting their deficit to 27–21 with 2:51 left in the game. But the Giants were able to run out the rest of the clock, picking up gains of six, three, and five yards on runs by Carpenter for a key first down. It marked the Giants' first postseason victory since the 1958 playoffs and their first ever road postseason win.

Brunner completed only nine of 14 passes for 96 yards, but threw three touchdowns and only one interception. Most of the Giants offense came from Carpenter, who had 33 carries for 161 yards and four receptions for 32. This game marked a disappointing end to a promising season for the Eagles, who had started out 9–2, but then lost all but one of their remaining games.

This was the first postseason meeting between the Giants and Eagles.^[2]

Divisional playoffs

Saturday, January 2, 1982

NFC: Dallas Cowboys 38, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0

The Cowboys crushed the Buccaneers, limiting them to 24 rushing yards and 222 total yards. Bucs quarterback Doug Williams threw four interceptions (three of which resulted in touchdowns), committed two intentional grounding penalties, and was sacked four times.^[4]

After the first quarter was scoreless, Dennis Thurman's 19-yard interception return to the Bucs 47-yard line set up Danny White's 9-yard touchdown pass to receiver Tony Hill. Tampa Bay responded with a 59-yard drive to the Cowboys 21-yard line. But on second down and 6, Dallas lineman Ed "Too Tall" Jones plowed through a block attempt by Charley Hannah and chased Williams all the way back to the 49-yard line before he grounded the ball with a desperate throw. The lost yardage on the grounding penalty pushed the Buccaneers out of field goal range and they ended up punting. Cowboys kicker Rafael Septién later added a 32-yard field goal to give the Cowboys a 10–0 halftime lead. A key aspect that had worked against Tampa Bay in the first half was starting field position. Their first half drives started from the 21, 20, 8, 20, 8 and 19-yard lines. Cowboys coach Tom Landry twice rejected long field-goal attempts from the 34 and 37, and each time White (who also played punter) punted the ball out of bounds at the 8.^[5]

Dallas took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched 80-yards, including a 25-yard gain on a screen pass reception by Tony Dorsett, to score on running back Ron Springs' 1-yard rushing touchdown. Then rookie free safety Michael Downs picked off a pass from Williams and returned it 21 yards to the Tampa Bay 33, leading to Dorsett's 5-yard score that put the team up 24–0. On the next drive, defensive tackle John Dutton deflected Williams' pass into the arms of Ed "Too Tall" Jones for an interception on the Bucs 25-yard line, and the Cowboys scored another touchdown with a 5-yard run by James Jones. In the fourth quarter, Williams completed a 75-yard pass to Jimmie Giles on the Cowboys 5-yard line, but the Buccaneers were still unable to get any points on the drive. On second and 8, Williams was sacked by Harvey Martin for a 9-yard loss, and then turned the ball over with consecutive incompletions. Later on, a pass interference penalty in the end zone against Tampa Bay defensive back Cedric Brown set up the final score of the game on Timmy Newsome's 1-yard run.

White completed 15 of 26 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown. Dorsett was the top rusher of the game with 85 yards and a touchdown, while also catching four passes for 48 yards. Thurman had two interceptions and 50 return yards.

This was the first postseason meeting between the Buccaneers and Cowboys.^[2]

AFC: San Diego Chargers 41, Miami Dolphins 38 (OT)