NFL Playoff Picture: 11 Potential Matchups That Would Be Epic

The NFL playoff matchups have been set for the wild-card weekend and there are plenty of possibilities to drool over. Nostalgia, shootouts, rematches, rivalries and a bevy of other options await us in the next month of football.

In the wild-card matchups we know we will have Ben Roethlisberger versus Tim Tebow, Matt Ryan versus Eli Manning and Matt Stafford versus Drew Brees, which only lists the quarterback headlines.

The Houston Texans host their first playoff game, ever.

The Cincinnati Bengals stumble into the playoffs with their impressive rookie duo at quarterback and wide receiver. The Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers finish their regular seasons strong as they wait to see whom their opponents are in the divisional round and prepare for a playoff run.

Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford and Drew Brees are all poised to lead their explosive offenses in what could be a wild and crazy NFL playoffs.

Tim Tebow, Andy Dalton, Alex Smith and the Houston Texans have all provided intriguing feel-good storylines in the 2011 regular season as they look to continue writing their story in the postseason.

Needless to say, the playoffs present numerous possibilities and will provide some salivating matchups for football lovers from coast to coast.

Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints

The Skinny:

Arguably the best matchup of the wild-card weekend, the Detroit Lions will travel south to face the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome next Saturday in prime time.

Detroit was handed its worst-case scenario and must face the Saints in New Orleans, where they are nearly invincible. New Orleans is undefeated at home in 2011 and boasts the league's second-best scoring offense.

Matthew Stafford, however, has a powerful weapon of his own to combat the high-scoring Saints. Calvin Johnson will see the playoffs for the first time in his career, and the Lions are hoping he transforms into a touchdown machine.

Head-to-Head History:

The Saints are ahead in the series with an all-time record of 11-9-1 versus the Lions. These two teams have never met in the playoffs prior to next week's showdown.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos

The Skinny:

Tim Tebow has easily been the story of the 2011 NFL regular season. He created a stir during the Denver Broncos' training camp and has officially taken the NFL by storm with his run of comeback games after taking over as the Denver starter.

Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers have quietly gone 12-4. Compared to their 8-8 opponents, the Steelers have received minimal national recognition considering their record.

The defending AFC champions will look to make a return to the Super Bowl by casting aside their average opponents who "don’t stand a chance." Pittsburgh will likely be favorites to win this matchup, but do not count Denver out.

The Steelers lost their horse in Rashard Mendenhall and may have lost him for the year to an ACL tear. If Denver keeps it close, we have seen that anything can happen.

Head-to-Head History:

The Denver Broncos are 16-10 all time versus the Pittsburgh Steelers and 3-3 in the playoffs. Denver is 2-2 versus Pittsburgh at home during the playoffs.

The last time these two teams faced each other in the postseason was in the 2005 AFC Championship Game. Pittsburgh beat Denver 34-17 in Denver.

Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants

The Skinny:

The New York Giants did enough to win the NFC East and earn the conference's last playoff spot in a win-or-go-home matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. NFL pundits alike will tell you the 2011 Giants could repeat the late-season heroics of the 2007 version.

The Atlanta Falcons, on the other hand, have been lost in the mix during the 2011 season. After being selected by several so-called experts as their preseason Super Bowl favorites, the Falcons finally put together a string of wins to put them in the playoffs.

Matt Ryan has emerged as one of the NFL's future marquee quarterbacks. Eli Manning has enjoyed his best regular season of his career. Watching the quarterback-wide receiver tandems go at it will be tantalizing and pure entertainment.

Matt Ryan, Roddie White and Julio Jones against Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks. Shootout, anyone?

Head-to-Head History:

The New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons have split their all-time series of games 10-10 throughout their history. The Falcons have a surprisingly stellar record versus the Giants on the road at 7-2 all time. 

These two teams have never played one another in the playoffs during their history.

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers

The Skinny:

The New York Giants were able to give the Green Bay Packers their first surreal scare in the 2011 regular season in their Week 13 showdown at the New Meadowlands. Eli Manning and the Giants will have beaten the Atlanta Falcons as they look to upset the Packers in this interesting matchup.

Aaron Rodgers and the core of Packers' starters sat during Week 17 and will be coming off three weeks of rest. Facing a reinvigorated New York team—which has essentially been playing in playoff games for the last three games—will be no easy task.

New York historically has reveled in the underdog role. Green Bay should only to look at the 18-1 New England Patriots as a reference. 

Head-to-Head History:

The Green Bay Packers lead the all-time series history 31-23. Green Bay also owns the playoff series 4-2.

The Packers are also 2-1 at home in the postseason versus the Giants.

However, the Giants did come out victorious 23-20 in the memorable overtime game at Lambeau Field in 2007 on their way to a Super Bowl victory.

New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers

The Skinny:

It seems that every time these two teams face each other that they produce an entertaining affair. The New York Giants already traveled out to the West Coast to face the new-look San Francisco 49ers.

Eli Manning played superbly for three-and-a-half quarters before throwing an errant interception to close the books in Week 10. That game was the second of a six-game stretch that tested the Giants' mettle.

San Francisco has been the second-most consistent team in the NFL, only behind the Green Bay Packers. The 49ers defense did not allow a rushing touchdown all season until Week 16 and will look to force Manning to beat them with his arm.

David Akers could end up being Jim Harbaugh's biggest weapon in this matchup, which should be a hotly contested showdown. 

Head-to-Head History:

The San Francisco 49ers are 18-17 all time versus the New York Giants. Not much has separated the two historic NFL franchises and this extends to their postseason record.

San Francisco also leads the postseason series 4-3. The 49ers are 4-1 at home versus the Giants.

New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers

The Skinny:

Both of these teams opened up the season with a post-lockout bang. Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees are the two front-runners for the league MVP trophy.

The Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints have a combined regular-season record of 28-4. Rodgers and Brees threw for a combined 91 touchdowns, 20 interceptions and 10,119 yards. Of course, Brees also broke Dan Marino's passing yards record and joined the 5,000-yards club.

If you love to see a ton of offense, this matchup is for you—a good ol'-fashioned shootout between two of the game's top gunslingers.

Whether or not the Saints can come out victorious in Green Bay remains to be seen. New Orleans are invincible at home, but away from home it's a different team.

Head-to-Head History:

The Green Bay Packers have the upper hand in the all-time series versus the New Orleans Saints with a 15-7 record.

Although these two teams have not played in the postseason, Green Bay is 9-2 at home all time versus New Orleans.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens

The Skinny:

Compared to the previous slide, this matchup lacks the offensive fire power you could be craving for. What this AFC North rivalry does not lack is defense, hard hits and heated exchanges.

Pittsburgh's No. 5 seed could be misleading, but do not be fooled by that. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens share the same 12-4 record. However, Baltimore swept the regular-season series between the two.

Baltimore has the most complete team of any in the AFC playoffs, but should be weary of facing its division rivals for a third time this season. Every game between these two teams is hard fought and goes down to the wire.

Whether or not Pittsburgh's Rashard Mendenhall is capable of coming back for the postseason could provide the Ravens with an additional slight edge.

Head-to-Head History:

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 21-14 all time versus the Baltimore Ravens.

The two rivals have met three times in the postseason and the Steelers have won all three. That said, all three victories were in Pittsburgh.

Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers

The Skinny:

Let's be honest. You and I both know the only reason I included this possible matchup is a certain altercation after Week 6's game in Detroit.

The headlines will read something like "Detroit looks to shake up San Francisco's Super Bowl dreams" or "The Handshake Part Two."

Detroit will have to overcome the undefeated New Orleans Saints at home to book a ticket to San Francisco. If it does, Matthew Stafford and the Lions could possess the guile and urgency for vengeance in order to knock out the San Francisco 49ers.

San Francisco nipped Detroit 25-19 at Ford Field in the third week of October.

Despite all the different personnel matchup possibilities, we really only care about that post-game handshake. It will be a San Francisco treat.

Head-to-Head History:

The San Francisco 49ers lead the all-time series with the Detroit Lions 36-27-1. These teams certainly have a lengthy history between each other but have only met twice during the postseason, with each team winning one.

Both games were in San Francisco, but the most recent one took place before either starting quarterback was born in 1983.

Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots

The Skinny:

The AFC's two dominant powers of the past decade could meet in either the divisional round or in the AFC Championship. Either way, the matchup would provide an incredible meeting between the two AFC stalwarts.

The New England Patriots have been winning all season by simply outscoring their opponents. Rob Gronkowski has been a big (literally) reason why the Patriots have been able to score an average of 32.2 points per game.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will look to either advance to their second consecutive AFC Championship or Super Bowl with a win in New England. Pittsburgh came out victorious in an entertaining Week 8 matchup.

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will look to end their playoff drought against their conference rivals from Pittsburgh.

Head-to-Head History:

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 15-11 in the all-time series history against the New England Patriots.

However, the Patriots are 3-1 in the playoffs versus the Steelers. New England is 1-0 at home in the postseason versus the Terrible Towels.

San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers

The Skinny:

This game provides a little bit of everything. Historic franchises, great quarterback versus solid quarterback, air attack versus ground attack, explosive offense versus shutdown defense and plenty more is offered in this matchup.

The Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers have been the two most consistent teams all season in the NFL. Green Bay ended with a 15-1 record while San Francisco finished 13-3.

This will easily be the Packers' biggest test all season. San Francisco is a tough, physical team that will have no problem thriving in the "frozen tundra" of Wisconsin.

Green Bay has shown its vulnerability in the final month of the regular season. Slow down its high-scoring offense and you will be able to score on its defense. San Francisco's ability to run the ball and utilize its stellar front seven on defense could see the 49ers upset the defending Super Bowl champions.

Head-to-Head History:

The Green Bay Packers have a slight edge in this historic series with a 34-26-1 all-time record.

In the playoffs, Green Bay owns San Francisco as well with a 4-1 edge in the series. The Packers are 2-0 versus the 49ers at home in the postseason.

Baltimore Ravens at San Francisco 49ers

The Skinny:

This matchup doesn't need too much of an explanation. The two Harbaugh brothers could face off in the Super Bowl as identical No. 2 seeds. Although John got the better of Jim on Thanksgiving Day, Jim Harbaugh has the better regular-season record.

Both teams are eerily similar. Hard-nosed defense, Pro Bowl running back, good-but-not-great quarterback and reliable place kicker could describe either team accurately.

The irony also should not be lost with the Baltimore Ravens playing for a Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

My team is out of the playoffs, so I am rooting for the Harbaugh Bowl to take place in February. The post-game hug will be the toughest gesture either Harbaugh will have to make as he congratulates his brother in outsmarting him for a Super Bowl.

Head-to-Head History:

San Francisco and Baltimore do not have much of a history between each other. The Baltimore Ravens lead the series 3-1.

They have never crossed paths in the postseason before.