Seahawks, Texans advance through wild-card matchups

The formula that has led the Seattle Seahawks to unmatched success over the past five seasons returned.

A healthy dose of Thomas Rawls rumbling on the ground. A few timely throws by Russell Wilson helped by some remarkable catches. And a defence that never allowed Detroit a sniff of the end zone.

"This felt like old times. This felt great." Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman said.

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Rawls rushed for a franchise playoff-record 161 yards, Paul Richardson made one of the catches of the year for his first career post-season touchdown, and the Seahawks beat the Lions 26-6 on Saturday night in an NFC wild-card game.

"It kept the chains going," Rawls said. "We want to end like this. We want to end with a great mark running the football, which is our identity, playing tough hard-nosed Seahawks football, and that's exactly what we did."

'Walking away with nothing' 

Seattle won its 10th straight home playoff game, continuing Detroit's miserable conclusion to the season that finished with four straight losses. Detroit's long playoff history without post-season success continued: no playoff wins since 1992. 

"We're walking away with nothing," Detroit cornerback Darius Slay said.

Rawls was the workhorse as the run game the Seahawks became known for when Marshawn Lynch was in the backfield finally found consistency that was missing all season. Rawls bettered Lynch's 157 yards in the 2014 NFC championship game against Green Bay. 

Rawls capped his night with a 4-yard touchdown run that gave Seattle a 19-6 lead. He was the first player with at least 150 yards rushing in a playoff game since Lynch's performance against the Packers.

Highlight reel

Richardson filled the highlight reel with a trio of catches. None was better than his four-yard touchdown in the second quarter to give Seattle a 7-0 lead.

Richardson went horizontal reaching out with his left hand to cradle the pass as he was being interfered with by Tavon Wilson. What wasn't called on the play was Richardson's right hand yanking on the facemask of Wilson as he reached to make the catch.

Wilson finished 23-of-30 for 224 yards, while Doug Baldwin had 11 catches for 104 yards.

Texas 27, Raiders 14

​Brock Osweiler finally looked like the player Houston spent $72 million US on, throwing for a touchdown and running for another to lead the Texans to a 27-14 wild-card playoff win over the Oakland Raiders on Saturday.

Osweiler, benched on Dec. 18, got his job back this week with Tom Savage out with a concussion, and played his best game of the season to give the Texans their first playoff victory since the 2012 season.

Houston and its top-ranked defence, led by Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus, bounced back after an embarrassing 30-0 wild-card loss to Kansas City last season to advance to the divisional round next weekend.

"We've been doing it all season as a defence," Clowney said. "We'll just continue to play as a unit."

The Raiders' first trip to the playoffs since the 2002 season, when they went to the Super Bowl, ended with a thud behind the struggles of third-string rookie Connor Cook. He threw for 161 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.

"It was his first start, on the road, in a playoff game, against the No. 1-ranked defence. It was a tough draw for him," coach Jack Del Rio said. "We had hopes that we would be able to do enough around him so he wouldn't have to do as much."

'Take this loss on the chin' 

He became the first quarterback in NFL history to make his first start in a playoff game after MVP contender Derek Carr broke his leg two weeks ago, and backup Matt McGloin injured his shoulder on Sunday. His performance wasn't helped by star left tackle Donald Penn missing the game with a knee injury, which ended a streak of 160 straight starts.

"We missed Donald, he had a great year for us, " Del Rio said. "Losing a Pro Bowl tackle was a blow."

Houston (10-7) led by 13 at halftime and made it 27-7 on a 1-yard run by Osweiler early in the fourth quarter.

The Raiders (12-5) cut the lead when Andre Holmes grabbed an 8-yard touchdown reception on their next possession. Oakland got a stop after that, but Corey Moore intercepted Cook on the next possession.

Oakland cornerback David Amerson believes things would have been different if not for the team's injuries.

"I've got all the faith in Connor or Matt — any backups we've got," he said. "But they know, at full strength, ain't nobody in the league touching us, man. We're going to take this loss on the chin, and we're going to come back, for sure."

It was the first career playoff game for Osweiler and coach Bill O'Brien said he'll start again next week. Osweiler finished with 168 yards passing.