With the NFL playoffs getting underway, we've put together some interesting notes regarding this year's participants:
- For the tenth time since 1996, at least half the playoff field is made up of teams that failed to qualify for the postseason the previous year.
- Since realignment in 2002, 31 of the 32 NFL teams have qualified for the playoffs at least once. The lone holdout... the Buffalo Bills.
- Six of this season's 12 playoff teams have won at least one Super Bowl since 2000. Those six have also won nine of the past 11 championships.
- Three teams in this year's playoff field -- the Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons, and Cincinnati Bengals -- have never won a Super Bowl.
- Since the NFL adopted the 12-team playoff format in 1990, only nine No. 1 seeds have been crowned champions.
- The Pittsburgh Steelers have not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 17 consecutive postseason games, which is tied with the Washington Redskins for the longest current streak.
- There are seven players in the 2011 postseason who have been named Super Bowl MVP: Tom Brady, Deion Branch, Drew Brees, Ray Lewis, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Hines Ward
- This is the first postseason in NFL history to feature four Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks.
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