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Stanford in the NFL: Wild Card Weekend Edition

It wouldn't be the NFL playoffs without former Stanford football standouts

By Paco Torres
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

To call this Wild Card Weekend, well, "wild" would be an understatement. It had four games of everything you could ask for: missed field goals, #Pac12AfterDark-worthy winning last-minute drives, and Vontaze Burfict screwing his team over. Card fans that we are, let's check in and see how our Stanford Football alumni fared this weekend.

Neither the Kansas City Chiefs nor the Houston Texans have members of the Stanford Football family on their rosters.

Pittsburgh Steelers 18, Cincinnati Bengals 16

Bengals fullback Ryan Hewitt ('13) did not play, and was listed as inactive due to a lingering knee injury.

Steelers guard David DeCastro ('11) continued his Pro Bowl season by tangling with an old foe: Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, formerly of Arizona State. The last time the two met this happened:

And after Burfict inflicted a season-ending hit on Pittsburgh's star running back Le'Veon Bell, DeCastro went on record declaring that he and his Steeler teammates simply do not like Burfict and the Bengals.

This setup left everyone hoping for a raucous playoff game between these two teams, and they didn't disappoint. A last-minute Steelers field goal followed two stupid Bengal penalties (one of which was committed by, you guessed it, Burfict) gave the game all the drama you could ask for in a final minute of football.

DeCastro did not disappoint in how he dealt with Burfict, either. See for yourself:

DeCastro's pancake block of the much-maligned Burfict blew up on the interwebs. His former mates chimed in cheering him on against the former Sun Devil:

Former Stanford players (for that matter, former Pac-12 players generally) were not unhappy to see Burfict cost his team:

Sometimes, the bad guys really do get what's coming to ‘em.

Green Bay Packers 35, Washington Professional Football Team 18

Packers wideout Ty Montgomery ('14) is on the injured reserve due to an ankle injury he suffered in October. He was obviously out of the game.

Trent Murphy ('14), Washington linebacker, saw a lot of action against the Cheeseheads. Some gave him praise:

But many Washington fans were less positive about his play, wishing that teammate Preston Smith saw more snaps instead. I'll spare you the (at times) vicious social media commentary.

Murphy's teammate, veteran tight end Alex Smith ('04) chipped in with a 16-yard catch, his only one of the game, to get Washington a key first down:

A nice play by one of the oldest members of #StanfordNFL, and one who has bounced around quite a bit (seven teams in ten years).

Seattle Seahawks 10, Minnesota Vikings 9

Vikings guard David Yankey ('14) did not play, concluding a rough rookie season in which he ended up a member of the practice squad after being cut.

What more can we say about Doug Baldwin ('11)? He's taken quite the step forward as a wide receiver this season, and has scored a touchdown in four of his last five games.

Indeed.

The trend continued, as Dougie continued to represent the Farm well. He made a ridiculous, circus-level one-handed catch that deservedly made the SportsCenter Top 10.

Somewhere, you know that Francis Owusu is wondering how his catch against UCLA stacks up against Dougie's feat. And that wasn't even his biggest catch of the game. He also reeled in a 3-yard Russell Wilson pass that finally put Seattle on the board after three quarters of being shut out.

Dougie finished as Seattle's leading receiver with 5 passes for 42 yards on 7 targets, and of course, the Seahawks' only touchdown.

Finally, Richard Sherman ('11), only behind Andrew Luck ('12) as #StanfordNFL's most famous member, did his usual thing: 6 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 pass defensed. He also did this:

You know, pretty normal Richard Sherman stuff. And his post-game interview attire was impeccable.

You do you, Sherm. You do you.

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