The Texans, Saints and Giants join the Broncos as winners during this weekend's wild-card round. But while those teams are likely flying high right now, the road only gets tougher from here. Crazier things have happened, though, and it wouldn't be too surprising to see one — or more — upsets in the divisional round.
The Patriots, Ravens, Packers and 49ers are the teams that were fortunate enough to receive a first-round bye in the postseason this year. The Patriots and Packers were the No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences, meaning the roads to the Super Bowl go through New England and Green Bay.
The Pats will take on the Broncos on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium in a rematch of Week 15, when the Pats downed Denver, 41-23, in the Mile High City. New England erased a nine-point deficit in that game, but the Broncos will be enter Saturday's matchup on the heels of a magical win over the defending AFC champions. Perhaps the Broncos' defense will have learned something from the Dec. 18 matchup and be able to give the Pats a run for their money.
The second-seeded Ravens will host the Texans, who are fresh off a 31-10 rout of the Bengals, on Sunday at 1 p.m. It'll be a tall task for the Texans, though, as they've never defeated the Ravens. Baltimore defeated Houston, 29-14, in their last matchup on Oct. 16. And while Texans quarterback T.J. Yates will face his toughest task yet, Houston also boasts a rather daunting defensive unit.
Over in the NFC, the Packers will begin their playoff run against the Giants on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Lambeau Field. It's a rematch of the 2007 NFC championship game, when the G-Men took down Brett Favre's Packers in overtime to set up a date with the Pats in the Super Bowl (during which we all know what happened). These are obviously much different teams now, but the Giants are coming off an impressive 24-2 win over the Falcons, and they gave the Packers fits in Week 13 before Green Bay pulled out a 38-35 win.
Then, there's the surprising 49ers, a tough team that plays smashmouth football. Their first postseason tilt will be against the New Orleans Saints, who put on an offensive clinic against the Lions on Saturday. It'll be interesting to see whether offense or defense wins out, but certainly the San Francisco fans will be ready for an intense battle. That game will commence at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
