What We Learned in the N.F.L.’s Wild-Card Round

Over the course of two days, the N.F.L. saw its playoff field upended, with the No. 3 seed in both conferences being sent home by the No. 6 seeds, while each game was decided by a single score. It was a wild-card weekend that delivered on its name, and it set up a divisional round for next weekend that looks far different than most people predicted.

Here’s what we learned:

• Running backs are cool again. The passing game seems to get more important every season, but the most valuable player of the weekend was Tennessee’s Derrick Henry. The supersize back rumbled over the Patriots to the tune of 204 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, helping make up for quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s no-show. “When you can run it when the other team knows you’re gonna run it, that says a lot about your running game,” Coach Mike Vrabel said of Henry, whose big performance came on his 26th birthday.

  Henry was not alone in reminding people of the impact a good running back can make. Dalvin Cook played a huge role in Minnesota’s upset over the Saints, totaling 130 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Devin Singletary, a rookie out of Florida Atlantic, had 134 yards from scrimmage for Buffalo, yet lost thanks to a thrilling Houston comeback in which Duke Johnson provided two key blocks on a 2-point conversion, and then reeled off an 18-yard catch-and-run, on a 3rd-and-18 play, that kept a drive alive long enough for Deshaun Watson to win the game.

Top Passer: Deshaun Watson

It was not the most exciting weekend for quarterbacks, with a grand total of six touchdown passes thrown in the four wild-card games — one of which was thrown a wide receiver. Watson, however, stole the show by refusing to go down on a game-saving play in overtime in which he spun out of two potential sacks before finding Taiwan Jones for a 34-yard catch-and-run, setting up a game-winning field goal in overtime. DeAndre Hopkins said it all when asked about the play. “I hope everyone watched this today, but he’s amazing,” Hopkins told reporters. “You can’t put too many words on it.”

Top Runner: Derrick Henry

Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook scored one more touchdown, and Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch had a throwback game, but Henry, who was the N.F.L.’s leading rusher this season, gets the nod as he was a one-man show in Tennessee’s upset over New England. In the second half of the game, when the Titans needed him most, Henry seemed to take the ball on every play, and the Patriots never found an answer for him.

Top Receiver: D.K. Metcalf

Minnesota’s Adam Thielen had one of the prettier catches you will ever see — and it set his team up to win in overtime — but Metcalf ended up with a slightly better game thanks to an edge in receiving yards, and a wild touchdown in which he made the heads-up decision to get up and run before anyone touched him after he fell down making a catch near the end zone.

Next Week’s Schedule

Like the wild-card round, the divisional games are split up over two days.

Saturday

No. 6 Vikings at No. 1 49ers, 4:35 p.m., NBC

Early line: 49ers -7

No. 6 Titans at No. 1 Ravens, 8:15 p.m., CBS

Early line: Ravens -10

Sunday

No. 4 Texans at No. 2 Chiefs, 3:05 p.m., CBS

Early line: Chiefs -9.5

No. 5 Seahawks at No. 2 Packers, 6:40 p.m., Fox

Early line: Packers -3.5

One* Sentence About the Wild-Card Games

*Except when it takes more.

Texans 22, Bills 19 Josh Allen beat himself up quite a bit in the aftermath of Buffalo’s loss, but the second-year quarterback may want to keep something in mind: According to Pro Football Reference, he was just the third player in N.F.L. history to have 250 or more passing yards and 90 or more rushing yards in a playoff game — so the loss might have something to do with his teammates as well.

Titans 20, Patriots 13 Derrick Henry’s running and Tennessee’s defense were enough to get the Titans past New England, but if they are to have a prayer against Baltimore next weekend, they will need a lot more from quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who completed just eight passes for 72 yards, and wide receiver A.J. Brown, who had one catch for 4 yards.

Vikings 26, Saints 20 It was trumped up a bit because it came against New Orleans, but tight end Kyle Rudolph appeared to commit something akin to offensive pass interference on his game-winning touchdown catch, which could not have felt good for Saints fans. “There is contact by both players, but none of that contact rises to the level of a foul,” Al Riveron, the N.F.L.’s senior vice president of officiating, said when asked about the play. “This is consistent with what we’ve done all year long — we left the ruling on the field. We let it stand.”

Seahawks 17, Eagles 9 The disappointment in Philadelphia was palpable, as Carson Wentz, who missed the previous two postseasons with injuries, was forced to leave with a concussion after attempting just four passes. Josh McCown gave it his best effort, but he could not keep up with Russell Wilson and Seattle.

While some Eagles players believed that Jadeveon Clowney’s hit on Wentz was a dirty play, the defensive end tried to make it clear that there was no intention to cause injury. “It was a bang-bang play,” he told reporters. “I don’t intend to hurt anybody in this league, let me just put that out there. I’ve been down the injury road; it’s not fun. My intention was not to hurt him. I was just playing fast.”