Football is weird. Seriously. You spend months analyzing advanced metrics, tracking adjusted net yards per attempt, and worrying about salary cap casualties, only for a postseason to hinge on a safety forgetting how to tackle in the final ten seconds of a divisional game. When we look back at the 2017 18 NFL playoffs, it’s easy to just see the final score of the Super Bowl. But that’s a mistake. That specific postseason was a chaotic, beautiful mess that bridged the gap between the old guard of the NFL and the high-flying, RPO-heavy league we see now.
It started with a feeling of "what if." Carson Wentz was the MVP frontrunner before his ACL gave out in Los Angeles. The Jaguars, of all teams, had a defense that was legitimately terrifying. And the Patriots? Well, they were just being the Patriots, looming over everyone like a final boss you can't quite beat.
The NFC was basically a movie script
People forget how dominant the Philadelphia Eagles looked before Wentz went down. When Nick Foles took over, the betting markets basically buried Philly. They were the first #1 seed to be home underdogs in the Divisional Round. Fans started wearing plastic underdog masks. It was a whole vibe. Honestly, it shouldn't have worked. Foles was a career backup who had considered retirement.
But then the Minnesota Miracle happened.
Stefon Diggs. Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable.
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If you were watching that game against the Saints, you know the feeling. Case Keenum hurls a "prayer" pass. Marcus Williams, a rookie who had been playing great, mistimes the hit entirely. Diggs stays upright, sprints into the end zone, and US Bank Stadium basically experiences a localized earthquake. That single play defined the 2017 18 NFL playoffs for most casual fans. It was pure, unadulterated sports logic—which is to say, it made no sense at all.
Why the Saints deserved better (but football is cruel)
Drew Brees was surgical in that second half against Minnesota. The Saints had erased a 17-0 deficit. They were seconds away from an NFC Championship appearance that might have changed Brees' late-career legacy. Instead, they became a highlight reel for the wrong reasons. This became a recurring theme for New Orleans over the next few years—shoutout to the 2018 NOLA No-Call—but this was the start of the heartbreak era.
The Jaguars almost broke the simulation in the AFC
Over in the AFC, things were getting strange. The Jacksonville Jaguars, led by Blake Bortles—yes, that Blake Bortles—went into Heinz Field and dropped 45 points on the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was jarring. The "Sacksonville" defense was flying around, Jalen Ramsey was talking trash to anyone with a pulse, and Leonard Fournette was running through tackles like they weren't there.
The Steelers had spent the whole week talking about a rematch with the Patriots. They looked right past Jacksonville. Big mistake.
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When the Jaguars met New England in the AFC Championship, they actually had the lead in the fourth quarter. They were up 20-10. Myles Jack stripped Dion Lewis and looked like he wasn't down, but the whistle blew. "Myles Jack wasn't down" is still a meme in North Florida for a reason. Tom Brady, doing Tom Brady things, eventually found Danny Amendola in the back of the end zone, and the dream died. But for about three hours, we almost lived in a world where Blake Bortles played in a Super Bowl. Think about that.
Philly Special: The night the script flipped
Super Bowl LII was essentially a track meet. No defense. Just vibes. The Eagles and Patriots combined for 1,151 yards of offense, which is an NFL record for any game—regular season or playoffs.
You've probably seen the Philly Special a thousand times. Fourth and goal. Trey Burton, a former college QB turned tight end, throwing a touchdown pass to Nick Foles. It was ballsy. Doug Pederson's willingness to go for it on fourth down changed how coaches approach the game today. You can see the direct line from that play to the way guys like Brandon Staley or Dan Campbell manage games now.
- The Strip Sack: Everyone remembers the offense, but Brandon Graham’s strip-sack on Tom Brady was the only real defensive stop of the game.
- The Yards: Brady threw for 505 yards and lost.
- The Legacy: It ended Philly's championship drought and cemented Nick Foles as a folk hero who will never have to pay for a drink in Pennsylvania again.
What we get wrong about this era
A lot of people think the 2017 18 NFL playoffs were a fluke because of the Foles factor. I disagree. This postseason was the culmination of the "Middle Class" of the NFL rising up. The Jaguars, Eagles, and Vikings weren't the traditional powerhouses.
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We also saw the beginning of the end for the "Legion of Boom" era style of play. The league was moving toward offensive innovation. The Eagles used run-pass options (RPOs) to neutralize the Patriots' disciplined defense. It was a schematic shift that the rest of the league spent the 2018 offseason frantically copying.
The officiating was also a massive talking point back then. The catch rule was a disaster. Remember Jesse James' "non-catch" against the Patriots in the regular season? That one play determined home-field advantage for the entire AFC bracket. If James is ruled to have caught that ball, the road to the Super Bowl goes through Pittsburgh, not Foxborough. The playoffs are often decided by three or four inches of turf and a referee's interpretation of a manual that's too thick for its own good.
Actionable Takeaways for the Modern Fan
If you want to understand the modern NFL, you have to study this specific postseason. It wasn't just a series of games; it was a pivot point.
- Watch the "Philly Special" Mic'd Up footage. It shows the relationship between Foles and Pederson. It highlights how much "feel" matters compared to just following a rigid playbook.
- Analyze the 2017 Jaguars defense. They proved you can build a Super Bowl-caliber team around a mediocre quarterback if your secondary is elite, though it’s a tiny window that usually slams shut within two years.
- Look at the coaching tree. Frank Reich was the OC for those Eagles. John DeFilippo was the QB coach. Their success in that run led to a massive reshuffling of coaching staffs across the league as teams tried to capture that Philly magic.
- Respect the depth chart. The 2017 18 NFL playoffs proved that your QB2 is the most important insurance policy in sports. Most teams treat the backup spot as an afterthought; the Eagles treated it as a vital asset.
The 2017 18 NFL playoffs didn't just give us a new champion. They gave us the Minnesota Miracle, the end of the Sacksonville era, and a Super Bowl that felt like a video game. It was the last time the NFL felt truly unpredictable before the Patrick Mahomes era began to settle in. If you ever find yourself bored on a Sunday, go back and watch the condensed replay of that Eagles-Patriots shootout. It's high-level execution that we rarely see, even today.