2. Derek Carr and Yeh Raider deserved better. Las Vegas shouldn't have been here, but the final month of the season saw a frantic playoff push, earned a bid and brought its positive momentum to Cincinnati. The main problem, though: Cincinnati's feel-good run was a bit strong, and the Bengals played a little cleaner on Saturday. Carr was under a lot of pressure early in the game and predictably stumbled, but the Raiders held on well enough to cut the damage, limiting Cincinnati to a field goal. This is what happened on a few occasions, with the Raiders playing a bend-but-not-break defense to keep the game within arm's reach. And as they did on several occasions in their run for Super Wild Card Weekend, the Raiders attempted one last comeback, but could not come off with a game-ceiling interception thrown by Carr. Las Vegas will look back on this game and the penalty (7), the Boyd touchdown, the promising drive that ended in a field goal, the 10 Third Down Raiders not converting, and the fact that they are going home. But he made an effort to get there, which is a significant achievement considering the enormous amount of adversity he - and interim head coach Rich Biccia - had to overcome this season.
3. Glory to the kickers. The Bengals and Raiders made history (more on that below) with their trusty boots, turning stalled drives into scoring drives with incredible stability. Daniel Carlson has been automatic since Week 10 and Saturday was no different, as the kicker drilled all four of his field-goal attempts and his lone extra-point effort for 13 of Las Vegas' 19 total points. Ewan McPherson, meanwhile, was just as good, scoring all four of his field goals and taking into account both of his extra-point efforts to account for 14 of Cincinnati's 26 points. Too often we don't focus our attention on kickers for positive results - it's usually because they've missed a kick at a terrible time. Didn't do the same here, and thus deserves praise.
4. Cincinnati left a lot on the field. Like the Raiders, the Bengals saw several promising scoring drives fail to reach the end zone. Cincinnati captured the Las Vegas area twice in the first half and could only score a field goal. Most of the disappointment came early, when Larry Ogunjobi's Carr Fumble recovery put the Bengals on 15, and Cincinnati gained two net yards before settling for a field goal. As mentioned above, both teams can thank their kickers for coming back again and again. But Burrow made it clear after the win that the Bengals are already preparing for next week's rivalry, and there is a chance they won't win if they don't fully take advantage of opportunities like these next weekend. . They may also need a put-away drive, which they can't put together today. There is scope for development, no doubt about it.
5. The NFL's longest playoff drought has been extinguished. After 31 years, the Bengals have finally won a playoff game. Relief seemed to extend well beyond Cincinnati and really feels like more than just a good story. It could be the start of something special for a young, promising Bengals team that clearly has its man in the quarterback for the next decade-plus and is gaining the enthusiasm its coach needs to chase down the championship. After losing our dear friend and colleague Chris Wesseling—a Cincinnati native who grew up a Bengals fan—to cancer in less than a year, it felt special for us in the NFL media, too. Unlike many previous years, coaches and quarterbacks, this Vestivus had a happy ending.
NFL Research: The Raiders and Bengals combined to score eight field goals tied the single-game NFL playoff record most recently in the 2015 postseason at the Steelers-Broncos Divisional Round Meeting. It was also the first playoff game in NFL history in which each team scored more than four field goals.
Next Gen Stat of the game: Cincinnati pressured Derek Carr on 10 of 23 dropbacks with Trey Hendrickson on the field, and recorded a pressure on just three of 33 dropbacks without Hendrickson, who departed early due to a concussion.