2001–02 NFL playoffs

The National Football League playoffs for the 2001 season began on January 12, 2002. The postseason tournament concluded with the New England Patriots defeating the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, 20–17, on February 3, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Until the 2020 season, this was the last season that three wild card teams qualified for the playoffs in each conference, and the last time a wild card team from each conference hosted a postseason game. The addition of the Houston Texans to the league in 2002 led to a realignment to eight divisions. The number of playoff berths remained six per conference, meaning one wild card berth per conference was eliminated and there would be no more meetings between wild card teams in the first round. As was the case prior to 2002, division champions retain priority for higher seeding and home field advantage regardless of records. Under the 2002 system, the only way two wild card teams in the same conference could meet in the playoffs would be for both teams to each win two road games to advance to the conference championship game hosted by the fifth seed, which never occurred. Under the current playoff format, wild card qualifiers can meet in any playoff round except the wild card round.

Participants

Bracket

Schedule

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks led the league to postpone its September 16–17 games and play them a week after the scheduled conclusion of the regular season. This caused the playoffs and Super Bowl to be delayed by one week. This thus marked the first time in NFL history that the Super Bowl was played in February. No bye week was originally scheduled between the conference championships and the Super Bowl this season, so the NFL had to work diligently to get the final game in New Orleans rescheduled, including having alternative plans to host the Super Bowl in another city.
For the first time, the NFL scheduled prime time playoff games for the first two rounds in an attempt to attract more television viewers. Saturday wild card and divisional playoff games were moved from 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. EST to 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively. Concurrently, the league abandoned its general practice of scheduling colder, northern playoff games for daylight hours only; any stadium, regardless of evening January temperatures, could host prime time playoff games.
In the United States, ABC broadcast the first two Wild Card playoff games, then CBS broadcast the rest of the AFC playoff games. Fox televised the rest of the NFC games and Super Bowl XXXVI.

Round	Away team	Score	Home team	Date	Kickoff	TV	Viewers	TV Rating
Wild Card playoffs	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	9–31	Philadelphia Eagles	January 12, 2002	4:30 p.m.	ABC	N/A	13.1
Wild Card playoffs	New York Jets	24–38	Oakland Raiders	January 12, 2002	8:00 p.m.	ABC	22.0	13.9
Wild Card playoffs	San Francisco 49ers	15–25	Green Bay Packers	January 13, 2002	12:30 p.m.	Fox	N/A	16.8
Wild Card playoffs	Baltimore Ravens	20–3	Miami Dolphins	January 13, 2002	4:00 p.m.	CBS	N/A	16.8
Divisional playoffs	Philadelphia Eagles	33–19	Chicago Bears	January 19, 2002	4:30 p.m.	Fox	26.6	17.1
Divisional playoffs	Oakland Raiders	13–16 (	New England Patriots	January 19, 2002	8:00 p.m.	CBS	28.7	17.4
Divisional playoffs	Baltimore Ravens	10–27	Pittsburgh Steelers	January 20, 2002	12:30 p.m.	CBS	27.0	17.9
Divisional playoffs	Green Bay Packers	17–45	St. Louis Rams	January 20, 2002	4:00 p.m.	Fox	30.8	19.5
Conference Championships	New England Patriots	24–17	Pittsburgh Steelers	January 27, 2002	12:30 p.m.	CBS	33.3	21.2
Conference Championships	Philadelphia Eagles	24–29	St. Louis Rams	January 27, 2002	4:00 p.m.	Fox	37.4	22.7
Super Bowl XXXVI Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	St. Louis Rams	17–20	New England Patriots	February 3, 2002	6:30 p.m.	Fox	86.8	40.4

Wild Card playoffs

Saturday, January 12, 2002

NFC: Philadelphia Eagles 31, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9

Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb threw for 194 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 54 yards, as Philadelphia dominated Tampa Bay from start to finish. Bucs quarterback Brad Johnson was intercepted four times, twice by Damon Moore. It was the second consecutive season in which Philadelphia eliminated Tampa Bay from the playoffs during the wild card round, and two days later, Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy was fired.
On the Eagles first drive of the game, Buccaneers safety Dexter Jackson intercepted a pass from McNabb and returned it nine yards to the Eagles 36-yard line, setting up a 36-yard field goal from Martín Gramática. But McNabb made up for his mistake with a 39-yard run on third down and 5 on Philadelphia's ensuing possession, setting up a field goal for David Akers that tied the game, 3–3. In the second quarter, McNabb completed all four of his passes for 70 yards on a 73-yard drive, including a 41-yard completion to Todd Pinkston, that ended with a 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Chad Lewis. Tampa responded with a 10-play, 65-yard drive, but once again could not dent the end zone and had to settle for another Gramatica field goal, cutting their deficit to 10–6. Later in the quarter, Eagles punter Sean Landeta pinned the Buccaneers back at their own 5-yard line and Tampa Bay could not get a first down with their next drive. After receiving Mark Royals' short 28-yard punt at the Buccaneers 31-yard line, McNabb threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Duce Staley with 35 seconds left in the half. But Tampa Bay managed to respond with Gramatica's third field goal before halftime, set up by a 46-yard reception from Keyshawn Johnson, cutting their deficit to 17–9.
But Tampa Bay was completely dominated in the second half. Moore recorded his first interception from Brad Johnson at the Eagles 38-yard line on the Buccaneers opening drive of the third quarter. Later on, the Eagles drove 60 yards in six plays and scored on a 25-yard touchdown run from rookie Correll Buckhalter. Johnson tried to rally his team back with a pair of drives deep into Eagles territory, but both of them were ended with interceptions. First, cornerback Troy Vincent picked off a pass from Johnson in the end zone with 4:09 left in the third quarter. Then late in the fourth quarter, safety Brian Dawkins intercepted Johnson on Philadelphia's 3-yard line. Following a punt, Moore put the game away by recording his second interception and returning it 59 yards for a touchdown.
This was the third postseason meeting between the Buccaneers and Eagles. Both teams previously split the two prior meetings.

Tied 1–1 in all-time playoff games

AFC: Oakland Raiders 38, New York Jets 24

The Raiders defeated the Jets in a high scoring shootout, outgaining them in total yards 502 to 410, and holding them off in a wild, 36-point fourth quarter. Quarterback Rich Gannon completed 23 of 29 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns. 39-year-old wide receiver Jerry Rice had a superb performance, catching nine passes for 183 yards and a touchdown. His nine receptions tied a franchise playoff record held by Cliff Branch and Fred Biletnikoff. Running back Charlie Garner ran 80 yards for a touchdown to clinch the game with 1:27 remaining. He finished the game with 156 rushing yards on just 15 carries, along with three receptions for 26 yards. Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Curtis Martin added 106 rushing yards, while receiver Laveranues Coles caught eight passes for 123 yards.
Following a missed field goal by Jets kicker John Hall on the opening drive, Oakland kicker Sebastian Janikowski made two field goals to give his team a 6–0 first quarter lead. In the second quarter, Hall and Janikowski both made field goals before Oakland scored the first touchdown of the game on a 66-yard drive that ended with Tim Brown's 2-yard touchdown reception to make the score 16–3 with 22 seconds left in the half.
Early in the third quarter, Testaverde narrowed the score to 16–10 with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Chrebet. Later in the quarter, Raiders safety Johnnie Harris stripped the ball from fullback Richie Anderson and defensive tackle Grady Jackson recovered the ball for Oakland on their own 45-yard line. After a short run by Garner, Gannon's 47-yard completion to Rice moved the ball to the Jets 4-yard line. A few plays later, fullback Zack Crockett scored a 2-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter, giving the Raiders a 24–10 lead. But instead of putting the game away, Crockett's score set off a wild scoring explosion from both teams, who ended up combining for 36 points in the final quarter as Testaverde desperately tried to rally his team back.
The Jets responded by driving 64 yards in 10 plays and scoring with Testaverde's 4-yard touchdown pass to Anderson. But Oakland stormed back with a 68-yard, seven play scoring drive. After a 21-yard completion to Rice and a 20-yard strike to Jerry Porter on third down and 8, Gannon threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Rice with 5:53 left in regulation. Testaverde once again responded, completing a four-yard touchdown pass to Chrebet on fourth down and goal to make it 31–24 with 1:57 left. Because the Jets had two timeouts left, coach Herm Edwards decided not to attempt an onside kick. New York's defense managed to stuff running back Tyrone Wheatley on two straight plays, but on third down, Garner took off down the right sideline for an 80-yard touchdown run, the longest in Raiders postseason history.
This was the third postseason meeting between the Jets and Raiders. New York won both prior meetings.

New York leads 2–0 in all-time playoff games