2005–06 NFL playoffs: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|NFLAmerican seasonalfootball playoff gamestournament}}

The '''[[National Football League playoffs]]''' for the '''[[2005 NFL season|2005 season]]''' began on January 7, 2006. The postseason tournament concluded with the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] defeating the [[Seattle Seahawks]] in [[Super Bowl XL]], 21–10, on February 5, at [[Ford Field]] in [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]].

After scrutiny in the Wild Card and Divisional rounds, the league reversed a two-year policy, and returned to "all star" officiating crews for the Conference Championship games. Since the [[2003–04 NFL playoffs]], postseason officiating had been done by entire crews from the regular season.<ref>{{cite webmagazine|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2003/03/25/playoff_officials_ap/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030421124937/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2003/03/25/playoff_officials_ap/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 21, 2003|title=NFL to scrap all-star officiating crews for playoff|agencyvia=[[Associated Press]]|workmagazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|date=March 25, 2003|access-date=December 29, 2007}}</ref>

! Away team !! Score !! Home Teamteam !! Date !! Kickoff<br>([[Eastern Time Zone|ET]] / [[UTC−05:00|UTC–5]]) !! TV

| '''[[2005 Washington Redskins season|Washington Redskins]]''' || 17–10 || [[2005 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season|Tampa Bay Buccaneers]] || January 7, 2006 || 4:30&nbsp;p.m. || [[Monday Night Football|ABC]]

| [[2005 Jacksonville Jaguars season|Jacksonville Jaguars]] || 3–28 || '''[[2005 New England Patriots season|New England Patriots]]''' || January 7, 2006 || 8:00&nbsp;p.m. || [[Monday Night Football|ABC]]

| '''[[2005 Carolina Panthers season|Carolina Panthers]]''' || 23–0 || [[2005 New York Giants season|New York Giants]] || January 8, 2006 || 1:00&nbsp;p.m. || [[Fox NFL on Fox|Fox]]

| '''[[2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season|Pittsburgh Steelers]]''' || 31–17 || [[2005 Cincinnati Bengals season|Cincinnati Bengals]] || January 8, 2006 || 4:30&nbsp;p.m. || [[NFL on CBS|CBS]]

| [[2005 Washington Redskins season|Washington Redskins]] || 10–20 || '''[[2005 Seattle Seahawks season|Seattle Seahawks]]''' || January 14, 2006 || 4:30&nbsp;p.m. || [[NFL on Fox|Fox]]

| [[2005 New England Patriots season|New England Patriots]] || 13–27 || '''[[2005 Denver Broncos season|Denver Broncos]]''' || January 14, 2006 || 8:00&nbsp;p.m. || [[NFL on CBS|CBS]]

| '''[[2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season|Pittsburgh Steelers]]''' || [[2005 AFC Divisional playoff game (Pittsburgh–Indianapolis)|21–18]] || [[2005 Indianapolis Colts season|Indianapolis Colts]] || January 15, 2006 || 1:00&nbsp;p.m. || [[NFL on CBS|CBS]]

| '''[[2005 Carolina Panthers season|Carolina Panthers]]''' || 29–21 || [[2005 Chicago Bears season|Chicago Bears]] || January 15, 2006 || 4:30&nbsp;p.m. || [[NFL on Fox|Fox]]

| '''[[2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season|Pittsburgh Steelers]]''' || 34–17 || [[2005 Denver Broncos season|Denver Broncos]] || January 22, 2006 || 3:00&nbsp;p.m. || [[NFL on CBS|CBS]]

| [[2005 Carolina Panthers season|Carolina Panthers]] || 14–34 || '''[[2005 Seattle Seahawks season|Seattle Seahawks]]''' || January 22, 2006 || 6:30&nbsp;p.m. || [[NFL on Fox|Fox]]

| [[2005 Seattle Seahawks season|Seattle Seahawks]] || 10–21 || '''[[2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season|Pittsburgh Steelers]]''' || February 5, 2006 || 6:30&nbsp;p.m. || [[Monday Night Football|ABC]]

As of the conclusion of the 20212022 NFL season, this wasremains the RedskinsWashington's last playoff victory, and is the final playoff victory for the "Redskins", as the controversial moniker was retired in 2020.

One play after the punt, an interception by Pittsburgh safety [[Troy Polamalu]] was overturned by [[instant replay]] (a reversal that the league would later admit was a mistake).<ref>{{cite webnews|url=httphttps://sportswww.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs05/news/story?id=2294309|title=NFL: Polamalu overturned interception the wrong call|agency=[[Associated Press]]|work=[[ESPN.com]]|date=January 17, 2006|access-date=January 9, 2010}}</ref> Taking advantage of his second chance, Manning completed a 9-yard pass to Clark, a 20-yard pass to [[Marvin Harrison]], and a 24-yard pass to [[Reggie Wayne]], moving the ball to the Steelers 3-yard line. Running back [[Edgerrin James]] finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, and then Manning threw a pass to Wayne for a successful 2-point conversion, cutting the Colts deficit to 21–18. The Steelers were forced to punt on their ensuing drive. But with 1:20 left in the game, Manning was sacked on fourth and 16 at the Colts' 2-yard line, and the ball was turned over to the Steelers on downs.

At this point, the game appeared to be over. However, the Steelers were forced to advance the ball towards another score instead of taking a [[quarterback kneel]] because the Colts still had three timeouts remaining. But on Pittsburgh's first play, in which Bettis tried to punch it in for an insurance touchdown, he fumbled for the first time all season when linebacker [[Gary Brackett]] popped it from Bettis' hands with his helmet. Indianapolis defensive back [[Nick Harper (American football)|Nick Harper]] recovered the ball and appeared to be on his way for an Indy touchdown that would have given the Colts the lead when Roethlisberger barely made a season saving tackle at the Colts' 42-yard line, recovering from getting spun around to grab Harper's ankle, which brought him down. Eventually, the Colts then advanced to the Pittsburgh 28-yard line, but Vanderjagt, who had been perfect at home in the playoffs, missed a 46-yard game-tying field goal attempt wide right with 17 seconds left, and the Steelers ran out the clock.

After the second half kickoff, a 24-yard run by Bears halfbackrunning back [[Thomas Jones (American football)|Thomas Jones]] moved the ball to the Panthers 41-yard line. Then Grossman went to work, completing two passes to [[Bernard Berrian]] for 29 yards before finishing the drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end [[Desmond Clark]]. But after an exchange of punts, Delhomme threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Smith, and the Panthers retook their 9-point lead.

Early in the fourth quarter, Chicago's [[Jason McKie]] scored a 3-yard touchdown run to cut their deficit to 23–21. But Delhomme led the Panthers right back, completing five passes for 45 yards and scoring with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end [[Kris Mangum]]. After an exchange of punts, the Bears drove into Carolina territory, but defensive backcornerback [[Ken Lucas (American football)|Ken Lucas]] put the game away by intercepting a pass from Grossman on the Panthers 22-yard line.

Pittsburgh scored on their opening drive, moving the ball 62 yards in 12 plays and ending it with a [[Jeff Reed (American football)|Jeff Reed]] field goal. Three plays after the kickoff, Broncos quarterback [[Jake Plummer]] lost a fumble while being sacked by [[Joey Porter]] and Steelers linemannose tackle [[Casey Hampton]] recovered it at the Denver 39-yard line. Four plays later, Roethlisberger's 12-yard touchdown pass to Wilson increased the Steelers lead to 10–0 on the first play of the second quarter. The Broncos responded by driving 55 yards and scoring with a field goal from [[Jason Elam]]. But Pittsburgh stormed right back, marching 80 yards in 14 plays and scoring with Bettis' 3-yard touchdown run to take a 17–3 lead. Then on the first play after the ensuing kickoff, defensive back [[Ike Taylor]] intercepted a pass from Plummer on the Broncos 39-yard line. Four plays later, a Bettis touchdown run was called back because of a penalty on Ward. But Ward made up for his mistake by catching a touchdown pass on the next play, giving the Steelers a 24–3 lead with seven seconds left in the half.

*CAR – [[Steve Smith Sr.|Steve Smith]] 59-yard punt return ([[John Kasay]] kick), 9:05. ''Seahawks 17–7.'''''