Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith has 12 pass touchdowns and 2 interceptions in 6 playoff games, the best postseason TD-INT ratio of any player in the Super Bowl Era (min. 200 pass attempts).

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith led the NFL with a 104.7 passer rating this season, while Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota's 79.3 passer rating is the lowest among the qualified passers to reach the playoffs this season. This marks the first playoff game since Super Bowl XLI in which the highest-rated passer among the playoff teams will start against the lowest-rated passer among the playoff teams. In that game, the highest-rated passer entering the 2006 playoffs (Peyton Manning of the Colts) defeated the lowest-rated passer (Rex Grossman of the Bears).

Both the Titans and Chiefs have true closers at the running back position. Among all players with 35+ carries when leading games in the 4th quarter, Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt led the NFL in rushing yards (400) and ranked 2nd in yards per carry (6.2). Meanwhile, Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry's 325 rushing yards in the same situation ranked 2nd in the NFL, and his 6.6 yards per carry ranked 1st.

The Rams will host a playoff game in Los Angeles for the first time since January 4, 1986 --- 20 days before Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay was born. The only current Rams players alive at the time were C John Sullivan and LT Andrew Whitworth.

Only two players in NFL history have a higher passer rating in the playoffs than Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan's 102.4 mark (min. 150 attempts), and both of them have busts in Canton: Bart Starr (104.8) and Kurt Warner (102.8).

Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman and Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley are the only players in the NFL with 3,000+ rushing yards and 30+ touchdowns over the last three seasons.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor and Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles will make their first playoff starts this week. Since 2013, quarterbacks making their first career playoff start are 1-10. The only such quarterback to win was Brock Osweiler, and he faced another quarterback making his first playoff start (Connor Cook).

Only 4 teams in the Super Bowl era have made the playoffs with a worse point differential than the 2017 Bills (-57). Strangely, all 4 of those teams won a game in the playoffs, including Tim Tebow's 2011 Broncos (most recent example).

Only one player in NFL history has more career rushing yards than Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy (10,092) without experiencing a single playoff victory: O.J. Simpson, who compiled 11,236 rushing yards but never won in the playoffs.

No quarterback in the Super Bowl era has averaged more passing yards per game in the playoffs than New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees (321.3 passing yards per game, min. 5 games). In home playoff games with the Saints, Brees is 4-0 with 10 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions.

New Orleans Saints running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara have been remarkable this season, becoming the first teammate running back duo in NFL history to each record 1,500+ scrimmage yards in the same season and the first true teammate running back duo to both make the Pro Bowl since 1975. Now, they can add one more accolade to the list. Their 3,094 combined scrimmage yards are the most by any teammate running back duo to make the playoffs in NFL history.

In 97 NFL seasons from 1920 to 2016, only one running back (Reggie Bush in 2006) recorded 80+ catches as a rookie. In 2017, two players did so, and they will meet in the playoffs: New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara and Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey.

This game features a matchup of the NFL's active passing yards leader (New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, 70,445 career passing yards) versus the NFL's active sacks leader (Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers, 154.5 career sacks). Since sacks were first tracked in 1982, there have been three such meetings in the playoffs (Peyton Manning vs Jared Allen, Brett Favre vs Michael Strahan, Joe Montana vs Lawrence Taylor). Each time, the winner of the game went on to win the Super Bowl.

Entering 2017, three players in NFL history had registered a 100+ passer rating in their second NFL season (min. 350 attempts), and all three took their team to the Super Bowl that season (Kurt Warner, Dan Marino, Russell Wilson). This season, one player will have a chance to continue the trend: Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (Philadelphia Eagles' Carson Wentz also had 100+ rating, but tore his ACL).