NFL Playoffs 2017: Odds, Schedule and Bracket Predictions for Wild Card Games

This time of year is typically bittersweet for NFL fans. The regular season is over, and 20 teams are now done playing until next preseason. In a little more than a month, the postseason will be wrapped up too.

Over the next month, though, we'll get playoff football and the excitement and intensity of win-or-go home action. That action kicks off this Saturday with Wild Card Weekend.

Today, we're going to examine the four games on this weekend's slate, along with the latest lines, courtesy of OddsShark.com. We'll be making out picks against the spreads and predicting which four teams move on to the next round.

The New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons have byes this week and will be waiting for the week's winners to emerge.

Wild Card Round

Day, Time (ET)	Game	Line	Prediction
Sat. 4: 35 p.m.	Oakland at Houston	HOU -3	HOU
Sat. 8:15 p.m.	Detroit at Seattle	SEA -7.5	DET
Sun. 1:05 p.m.	Miami at Pittsburgh	PIT -9.5	PIT
Sun. 4:40 p.m.	NY Giants at Green Bay	GB -4	GB

Games and Predictions

Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans

Saturday's game between the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Texans has the potential to be an absolute mess. The Raiders have already lost starting quarterback Derek Carr for the remainder of the season and saw backup Matt McGloin suffer a shoulder injury in the season finale.

The Texans, meanwhile, saw starting quarterback Tom Savage suffer a concussion on Sunday. His status for next week is uncertain.

Brock Osweiler returned to the starting lineup after Savage was injured and performed fairly well. He finished 21-of-40 for 253 yards with a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown and no interceptions.

"I thought he did pretty good," Texans tackle Duane Brown said of Osweiler, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. "I thought he played pretty loose. He made some big plays."

Regardless of who is under center for Houston, we believe the Texans defense can carry the day. The McGloin and Connor Cook-led Raiders mustered just six points against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Denver is ranked fourth in total defense (316.1 yards per game allowed), while the Texans are first (301.3 yards per game allowed).

Look for Houston to win a close one at home.

Detroit Lions at Seattle Seahawks

A couple of weeks ago, the Detroit Lions had an opportunity to steal the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Now they've lost three in a row and are forced to visit the Seattle Seahawks to open the postseason. Seattle also lost its shot at the No. 2 seed but at least gets to open the playoffs at home.

We believe home-field advantage is going to play a significant role here too. While the Seahawks are a flawed team, they've played a better brand of football at CenturyLink Field this season.

On the road, the Seattle offense has been wildly inconsistent. But that hasn't been the case at home. In their last three road games, the Seahawks scored five, 10 and 25 points. In their last three home games, the offense produced 40, 24 and 31 points.

This better level of offensive play at home should help offset a defense that appears to be playing differently without star safety Earl Thomas. If it doesn't, the Seahawks could have their hands full with Matthew Stafford and the rest of the Lions offense.

Detroit has already engineered eight fourth-quarter comebacks this season, and the Lions aren't likely to be intimidated by anything the Seahawks do in this game. An upset is certainly possible here, though we believe that Seahawks defense—which is ranked fourth overall by Pro Football Focus—can rally enough to win one game at home.

Don't be surprised, though, if the Lions make this one a lot closer than the odds-makers seem to anticipate. 

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers

We're not so sure that the game between the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers will be as close as the Lions-Seahawks tilt. While the Dolphins did earn a 30-15 victory over the Steelers the last time these two teams met, there will be some big differences here.

For starters, that game was in Miami. This one will be a January game in Pittsburgh. Advantage, cold-weather team.

The Steelers were also playing with a hobbled Ben Roethlisberger under center last time. He played through a torn meniscus and ended up having surgery after the game. This time around, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill is the one dealing with a knee injury. His status for the game is still unknown.

While Matt Moore has performed admirably in Tannehill's absence, we're not sure we like his chances in a shootout with a healthy Roethlisberger.

We also have to factor in the improvements made by the Steelers defense since their last meeting with the Dolphins—and the slide Miami's defense has taken. Pro Football Focus now rates the Steelers 14th in overall defense, while the Dolphins come in at 23rd.

Unless Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi goes off for his fourth 200-yard rushing performance of the year, we're guessing the Steelers will find a way to win big.

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers

This game could be the best game of Wild Card Weekend. Right now, there is no team in the NFL that is hotter than the Green Bay Packers. There is no quarterback playing better than Aaron Rodgers, who has simply dominated since predicting his team would win out six weeks ago.

However, Rodgers and Co. must host perhaps the most-improved defense in the league this season. The New York Giants are rated fifth in overall defense by Pro Football Focus and allow an average of just 17.8 points per game.

Only the New England Patriots (15.6 points per game) allow fewer points per contest.

In addition to having a stellar defense, the Giants have weapons like Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard on offense. While New York's offense hasn't always been consistent this season (just 19.4 points per game), it does have big-play ability.

As long as the playoff-proven incarnation of Eli Manning shows up for the Giants, New York is going to have a good chance in this game.

Ultimately, though, we have to stick by the white-hot Packers at home. Green Bay is beginning to find new weapons on offense, like converted running back Ty Montgomery and wideout Geronimo Allison. These guys are going to make it difficult for New York's defense to shut things down.

Expect a close game for much of the contest, with some MVP-caliber moves from Rodgers being enough to allow the Packers to pull away late.