NFL Playoffs 2017: Schedule and Bracket Projections for Every Postseason Team

Kristopher KnoxJan 3, 2017

The 2016 regular season ended Sunday. For 20 teams, this means it's time to go home for the remainder of the winter. For 12 others, it's on to win-or-go-home football.

The postseason action kicks off Saturday, with the Oakland Raiders visiting the Houston Texans. We'll get four playoff games in all on Wild Card Weekend. The New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons will spend the weekend on bye.

Today, we're going to examine the week's games and television schedule. We're also going to look at some of the latest playoff buzz heading into the weekend. As a special treat, we'll then be making our predictions for the next two rounds of playoff action, setting up our picks for the conference title games.

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Opening Round

Day, Time (ET)	Game	National TV
Sat., 4:35 p.m.	Oakland at Houston	ESPN
Sat., 8:15 p.m.	Detroit at Seattle	NBC
Sun., 1:05 p.m.	Miami at Pittsburgh	CBS
Sun., 4:40 p.m.	NY Giants at Green Bay	Fox

Latest Buzz

Return of Osweiler?

The Texans spent big to secure Denver Broncos spot starter Brock Osweiler in the offseason. He rewarded the team with general mediocrity at his best.

Pro Football Focus rated 71 quarterbacks during the 2016 regular season, and Osweiler ranked last.

So after Osweiler tossed a pair of early interceptions during Houston's Week 15 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, head coach Bill O'Brien decided enough was enough. He benched Osweiler and inserted Tom Savage as the team's starter.

Savage led a comeback in that game and then defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the following week to deliver the AFC South title. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like the Texans are going to have to hand the keys back to Osweiler for this weekend.

Savage is in the concussion protocol, and O'Brien made it sound like he might not wait on his being cleared.

"There’s a lot of different factors; obviously health is part of it, no question about it," O’Brien said, per Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com. "But there's a lot of different factors. We moved the ball well [and] Brock did a nice job when he was in there."

The problem is that Savage cannot practice until he is cleared to do so. O'Brien may not want to delay postseason preparation when he has a quarterback who has plenty of experience with the offense.

The Houston Chronicle's John McClain expects Osweiler to get the nod:

If the Texans were looking at the prospect of starting an inexperienced backup, they may be more inclined to wait for Savage to be cleared. As things stand, however, the team probably wants to make a decision early in the week and stick to it.

This means the Raiders, who are dealing with quarterback issues of their own, will probably get Osweiler on Saturday.

Oakland's QB Issues

DENVER, CO - JANUARY 1: Quarterback Connor Cook #8 of the Oakland Raiders throws in the second quarter of the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on January 1, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Im

Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

As you probably already know by now, Oakland's biggest issue at quarterback is that Pro Bowl starter Derek Carr suffered a broken fibula in Week 16, and the Raiders have been forced to turn elsewhere.

Heading into Week 17, that elsewhere meant fourth-year veteran Matt McGloin. This didn't seem like a worst-case scenario, because McGloin has been around the team since 2013 and has starting experience. Unfortunately, he suffered a shoulder injury against the Broncos, and the Raiders were forced to turn to rookie Connor Cook.

Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio made it clear Monday that McGloin's health will likely be a factor in his quarterback decision for this weekend.

"We'll see how the week goes," Del Rio said, per NFL.com. "Between Connor and Matt, we'll see who can get the most reps and who we feel the most comfortable putting in the game."

Del Rio added that while McGloin underwent an MRI on Monday, the Penn State product was "just sore."

A bigger concern is that the Raiders offense didn't seem effective with either McGloin or Cook under center Sunday. The Raiders mustered just 64 net passing yards and six points between the two signal-callers against Denver.

For the week, Pro Football Focus ranked McGloin 27th among 33 quarterbacks, while Cook was 30th.

Whichever quarterback the Raiders decide to roll with will be facing a Texans defense that has allowed an NFL-low 301.3 yards per game.

Can the Giants Get Their Offense Rolling?

The New York Giants are not dealing with injuries at the quarterback position. They have a healthy Eli Manning, who has delivered the franchise two Super Bowl wins, so New York is probably happy about its situation heading into the weekend.

However, that doesn't mean the Giants don't have offensive issues. They do. New York has averaged just 19.4 points per game this season (26th in the NFL) and just 15.8 points per game over the past five weeks.

New York's rushing attack, which has averaged just 88.2 yards per game (29th in the NFL), has been especially troubling.

The good news is that New York has gotten a bit of a spark from rookie running back Paul Perkins in recent weeks (he had 102 rushing yards in Week 17). However, the Giants will need to coax more out of their offense if they hope to match points with Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Green Bay has averaged 30.8 points per game during the team's recent six-game winning streak.

Yes, the Giants possess a championship-caliber defense—one that Pro Football Focus ranks fifth overall—but New York will need points to win. The last time these two teams met, the Packers put up 23 points. Can the Giants top that number? They've scored more than 23 points only four times this season.

If New York can find a way to jump-start the offense, the Giants could make a deep run in the postseason.