The Colts and Cowboys met in Week 16 in Dallas in a pivotal game with playoff implications. The Cowboys plastered the Colts in that game, and even though both teams won their division, the lingering effects of that game may still resonate in ticket prices for their playoff home openers. The Cowboys have the hottest ticket for the NFL’s Wild Card round, while the Colts playoff home opener tickets are the least expensive of Round 1.
Bengals at Colts
The Indianapolis Colts, winners of the AFC South, will host the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs with a chance to move on to face the Patriots or Broncos in a Divisional tilt.
Despite this being a huge playoff clash, Colts tickets on Razorgator.com come in at a cheap $139 on average and are just $49 to get in the door. That’s a solid discount for Colts fans considering the 2014 season average was just $153 per game. The same can be said for Cincinnati Bengals tickets, as Cincy fans get a bargain this week with the price jumping just $13 over their regular season average. With what’s on the line, fans from both sides are still getting an bargain to see these two teams duke it out for the second time this year.
Indianapolis finished the season at 11-5, led by their star quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck had his best season as a pro, throwing for 4,761 yards, 40 touchdowns to 16 interceptions, and a career-high 96.5 passer rating. He also completed a career-high 61.7 percent of his passes, which is made to look even better considering the struggles the team has had in the run game, allowing defenses to key on the passing attack. Luck spread the ball around well to receivers T.Y. Hilton, Reggie Wayne, and Donte Moncrief, as well as tight ends Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen, who each had eight touchdowns on the season.
While the Colts aren’t guaranteed the win this week, their 27-0 crushing of the Bengals earlier in the year certainly has to bode well. Indy will host at Lucas Oil Stadium once again and will look to finish the game with the same result. Luck put 344 yards passing and two touchdowns in an extremely efficient performance the last time around. With little changing, we may see Indy replicating that result, unless Andy Dalton and the Bengals can reverse their own playoff misfortunes of previous seasons.
Lions at Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys, fresh off an NFC East title-winning regular season, will look to advance to the Divisional Playoffs Round of the NFL postseason with a win over the NFC North runner-up Detroit Lions. Dallas has been playing some great football recently, lead by the incredible production from their trio of offensive stars, Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray, and Dez Bryant.
Neither the Lions nor Cowboys have instilled much faith in recent years when it comes to racking up playoff victories, but their lack of recent post-season success actually contributes to making this a huge first round battle. Naturally, Dallas Cowboys tickets on Razorgator.com come in at $330 on average ($108 to get in). That’s actually only about a $85 leap for the ‘Boys’ season average, while Detroit Lions tickets take a massive leap from their average on the year ($146).
As solid as the Lions have been this season, the Cowboys have really been even more impressive. After a string of mediocre seasons and no playoff appearances under head coach Jason Garrett, Dallas finally took their game to the next level. With a 12-4 finish, the Cowboys claimed their first NFC East title since 2009 and will shoot for their first post-season victory since that same 2009 season. If DeMarco Murray can continue his awesome 2014 season (1,835 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns), Dallas just might be able to turn the corner.
But this team will live and die by Tony Romo. Much maligned throughout his career, Romo has had perhaps his best season in 2014, even while battling injuries. He threw for 3,705 yards, 34 touchdowns to only nine interceptions and a career-best 113.2 quarterback rating. With similar positive production in this game, the Cowboys will certainly be in the driver’s seat in this NFC playoff battle.
Detroit got the last laugh in the playoffs and their most recent meeting in 1991, but these Cowboys just might be a different breed. Garrett has full control of his team for the first time ever and his Cowboys will enter this huge clash on a four-game roll. With Detroit’s struggles on the road and Dallas playing it’s best football, the odds appear to be in Big D’s favor of winning a playoff game again in 2015.
