The National Football League playoffs for the 2006 season began on January 6, 2007. The postseason tournament concluded with the Indianapolis Colts defeating the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, 29–17, on February 4, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule Under the new U.S. television broadcast contracts that took effect starting this season, NBC replaced ABC as the network televising the first two Wild Card playoff games. Fox then televised the rest of the NFC games. CBS broadcast the rest of the AFC playoff games and Super Bowl XLI.
Round Away team Score Home team Date Kickoff(ET / UTC−5) TV Wild-card round Kansas City Chiefs 8–23 Indianapolis Colts January 6, 2007 4:30 p.m. CBS Dallas Cowboys 20–21 Seattle Seahawks 8:00 p.m. NBC New York Jets 16–37 New England Patriots January 7, 2007 1:00 p.m. CBS New York Giants 20–23 Philadelphia Eagles 4:30 p.m. Fox Divisional round Indianapolis Colts 15–6 Baltimore Ravens January 13, 2007 4:30 p.m. CBS Philadelphia Eagles 24–27 New Orleans Saints 8:00 p.m. Fox Seattle Seahawks 24–27 Chicago Bears January 14, 2007 1:00 p.m. Fox New England Patriots 24–21 San Diego Chargers January 14, 2007 4:30 p.m. CBS Conference championships New Orleans Saints 14–39 Chicago Bears January 21, 2007 3:00 p.m. Fox New England Patriots 34–38 Indianapolis Colts 6:30 p.m. CBS Super Bowl XLI Indianapolis Colts 29–17 Chicago Bears February 4, 2007 6:30 p.m. CBS
Wild-card round
Saturday, January 6, 2007
AFC: Indianapolis Colts 23, Kansas City Chiefs 8
Despite quarterback Peyton Manning's three interceptions, the Indianapolis Colts out-gained the Kansas City Chiefs in total yards, 435–126, and first downs, 23–8. Indianapolis's defense forced three turnovers, four sacks, and prevented Kansas City from gaining a single first down until late in the third quarter. The game was never in question despite Manning's turnovers as Indianapolis dominated Kansas City from start to finish to earn a trip to Baltimore.
The Colts opened up the scoring on their first drive of the game with Adam Vinatieri's 48-yard field goal. The next time they had the ball, they drove 68 yards to the Kansas City 2-yard line, but had to settle for another Vinatieri field goal to give them a 6–0 lead. After another Kansas City punt, Chiefs cornerback Ty Law intercepted a pass from Manning and returned it 43 yards to the Colts 9-yard line. But Kansas City failed to get the ball into the end zone with three rushing attempts and came up empty when Lawrence Tynes' 23-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright. After another interception thrown by Manning and another Kansas City punt, the Colts increased their lead to 9–0 by driving 33 yards and scoring on Vinatieri's 50-yard field goal on the last play of the first half. The Chiefs ended the half with 16 total yards and no first downs. This was the first time in the modern era (post AFL–NFL merger) and the first time since 1960 that an NFL team had been held without an offensive first down in the first half of a playoff game.
On the Colts' opening possession of the second half, Manning threw his third interception of the game (and his second to Law), but the Chiefs could not take advantage of the turnover and had to punt. Indianapolis then drove 89 yards in 12 plays and scored with Joseph Addai's 6-yard touchdown run, giving them a 16–0 lead.
Kansas City got their first first down of the game on their ensuing possession, driving 60 yards in eight plays. Trent Green finished the drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez, and then completed a pass to tight end Kris Wilson for a successful two-point conversion to cut their deficit to within one touchdown, 16–8. However, the Colts increased their lead to 23–8 on a 71-yard, 9-play drive ending with Reggie Wayne's 5-yard touchdown reception. Indianapolis's defense forced three turnovers on the Chiefs' last three drives to clinch the victory.
This was the third postseason meeting between the Chiefs and Colts, with Indianapolis winning both times in Kansas City, the most recent being 38–31 in the 2003 AFC Divisional playoffs.
+Indianapolis leads 2–0 in all-time playoff games
NFC: Seattle Seahawks 21, Dallas Cowboys 20
Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo, a four-year veteran who earned the starting job and made the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career during the regular season, botched the hold on a potential game-winning field goal with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter, allowing the Seattle Seahawks to escape with a victory.
Taking advantage of Dallas kicker Martín Gramática's opening kickoff, which went out-of-bounds and gave Seattle the ball at their own 40, the Seahawks marched down the field on their opening drive and scored with Josh Brown's 23-yard field goal. Dallas was forced to punt on their ensuing possession, but Cowboys cornerback Anthony Henry intercepted Seattle's next pass and returned it to the Seahawks 43-yard line, setting up Gramatica's 50-yard field goal to tie the game.
Early in the second quarter, Seattle drove 54 yards and retook the lead with Brown's second field goal of the game. After an exchange of punts, the Cowboys took the lead. Aided by Jason Witten's 32-yard reception, Dallas drove 76 yards in ten plays and scored on Romo's 12-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton with only 11 seconds left in the half, giving the Cowboys a 10–6 lead. In the third quarter, Seattle drove 62 yards in 12 plays, featuring two fourth-down conversions by running back Shaun Alexander, and scored with Matt Hasselbeck's 15-yard touchdown pass to Jerramy Stevens, giving them a 13–10 lead. However, Dallas promptly took the lead right back after Miles Austin returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown.
Early in the final quarter, Dallas safety Roy Williams intercepted a pass from Hasselbeck at the Cowboys 43-yard line. Eight plays later, Gramatica kicked a 29-yard field goal to increase his team's lead to 20–13. On Seattle's ensuing drive, a pass interference penalty on Dallas's Terence Newman gave them a first down on the 1-yard line. But Seattle failed to get into the end zone with their next four plays, turning the ball over on downs at the 2-yard line. On the first Dallas play after the turnover, Cowboys receiver Terry Glenn caught a short pass, but then lost a fumble. The ball was recovered by Seattle in the end zone for a touchdown, but after a Dallas challenge the referee ruled the play a safety, cutting the score to 20–15 and giving the ball back to the Seahawks at around the 50-yard line after the ensuing free kick and return. Four plays later, Hasselbeck's 37-yard touchdown pass to Stevens gave Seattle a 21–20 lead. The Seahawks attempted a two-point conversion to give themselves a three-point lead, but Hasselbeck's pass failed.
Dallas took the ensuing kickoff and marched down to the Seahawks' 8-yard line. On third down and 7 from there, Witten caught a pass that was initially ruled a first down on the 1-yard line, but after an instant-replay challenge, officials ruled Witten had been tackled at the 2-yard line, bringing up fourth down. With 1:19 left in the game, Gramatica lined up to attempt a 19-yard field goal, but Romo dropped the ball while setting it up for a hold. Romo picked up the fumble and ran with it, trying for either a touchdown or a first down, but he was tackled at the 2-yard line by safety Jordan Babineaux, turning the ball over on downs and allowing Seattle to run the clock down to eight seconds before punting back to Dallas. On the last play of the game, Romo's Hail Mary pass fell incomplete in the end zone.
"I know how hard everyone in that locker room worked to get themselves in position to win that game today and for it to end like that, and for me to be the cause is very tough to swallow right now", Romo said after the game. "I take responsibility for messing up at the end there. That's my fault. I cost the Dallas Cowboys a playoff win, and it's going to sit with me a long time. I don't know if I have ever felt this low."
This was the final game in the Hall of Fame coaching career of Bill Parcells, who resigned his position with the Cowboys two weeks later. Parcells would later take a front office position with the Miami Dolphins but never returned to the sidelines.
This was the first postseason meeting between the Cowboys and Seahawks.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
AFC: New England Patriots 37, New York Jets 16
Tom Brady completed 22 out of 34 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns, while New England Patriots running backs Corey Dillon, Laurence Maroney, and Kevin Faulk combined for 145 rushing yards in a win over the New York Jets. Receiver Jabar Gaffney, who caught only 11 passes during the season, finished his first career playoff game with eight catches for 104 yards.
New England took the opening kickoff and drove down the field, with Gaffney catching three passes for 34 yards on a 65 yard-drive that ended with Dillon's 11-yard touchdown run. Later in the quarter, Hank Poteat recovered a fumble from Dillon on the Patriots 15-yard line, setting up Mike Nugent's 28-yard field goal to cut their deficit to 7–3. On their first possession of the second quarter, the Jets took a 10–7 lead after receiver Jerricho Cotchery (who finished with 100 receiving yards and 19 rushing yards) caught a pass from Chad Pennington and took it 77 yards for a touchdown. However, New England countered with Stephen Gostkowski's 20-yard field goal on their next drive to tie the game. Then, after forcing the Jets to punt, the Patriots marched to New York's 1-yard line. On third down with 11 seconds remaining in the half and no timeouts left, Brady took the snap, faked a handoff to Dillon, and then hit tight end Daniel Graham in the back of the end zone for a touchdown to give them a 17–10 halftime lead.
Nugent kicked a field goal on the Jets' opening drive of the second half, but New England responded with another field goal from Gostkowski to retake their 7-point lead. On the Jets' ensuing possession, linebacker Rosevelt Colvin deflected a lateral from Pennington behind the line of scrimmage. Most of the players on both teams (including Colvin) thought the lateral was an incomplete forward pass and the play was over, but New England's Vince Wilfork realized the play was still ongoing and recovered the fumble. After picking up the ball, Wilfork ran 31 yards to the Jets 15-yard line before being tackled by Cotchery, setting up Gostkowski's third field goal to make the score 23–13.
Early in the fourth quarter, Nugent kicked his third field goal to cut New York's deficit back to within a touchdown, 23–16. However, the Patriots responded with a 13-play, 63-yard drive that took 6:23 off the clock and ended with Brady's 7-yard touchdown pass to Faulk. Then on the first play of the Jets' ensuing drive, Asante Samuel put the game away by intercepting Pennington's pass and returning it 36 yards for a touchdown.
This was the Patriots' most recent win in the wild-card round until the 2025–26 playoffs.
This was the second postseason meeting between the Jets and Patriots, with New England winning the prior meeting 26–14 in the 1985 AFC Wild Card playoffs.
+New England leads 1–0 in all-time playoff games
NFC: Philadelphia Eagles 23, New York Giants 20
Philadelphia built up a 20–10 fourth quarter lead and thwarted a late Giants comeback attempt, winning on a 38-yard field goal by David Akers on the last play of the game.