NFL Playoff Schedule 2012: Ranking the Most Exciting Games of Wild Card Weekend

Four Wild Card Round NFL playoff games are scheduled for this weekend, and all are guaranteed to be compelling in their own ways.

With the opportunity to advance and perhaps reach the Super Bowl, all eight teams involved in this week's matchups will be playing harder—and better—than they have during the regular season.

This should make for an exciting weekend of football in what is one of the most unpredictable weeks in the NFL. On paper, however, two of these games look to be the best of the bunch.

New Orleans Saints vs. Detroit Lions

The New Orleans Saints have been on fire, offensively, all season long. Thanks to quarterback Drew Brees and his accurate arm—as well as their unsung, top 10 run game—they've been putting up more yards on a weekly basis than any other team.

The Detroit Lions are an offensive powerhouse in their own right, with quarterback Matthew Stafford one of three passers with over 5,000 yards in the regular season. However, the Lions have been more inconsistent this year, and have fallen to some of the league's best teams, including the Saints in Week 13.

Ultimately, this game will come down to which offense makes fewer mistakes and which defense gives up the most points. A shootout is more than likely in what is going to be a seriously high-scoring Wild Card playoff matchup.

This won't be the last time we see two of the NFL's most productive passers face each other in the postseason, but it will be the first. It's going to be an explosive game between the Lions and Saints this Saturday night.

Denver Broncos vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

While on paper, the Denver Broncos taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs seems like a total mismatch, there are so many compelling storylines wrapped up in this game that it makes it one of the most exciting of the weekend.

Denver quarterback Tim Tebow has managed to make it to the playoffs despite the Broncos losing their final three regular season games, and his inability to make plays with his arm is a major reason for that streak.

However, even the worst teams have looked fairly competent against the Steelers at times, and this game could ultimately end much more closely than it appears at first glance.

Pittsburgh will be without starting running back Rashard Mendenhall after he suffered an ACL tear in Week 17. Though they have a solid stable of rushers to pick up the slack, losing such a major component of the offense won't do last year's Super Bowl runners-up any favors.

This game should be full of quarterback pressure by both the vaunted Steelers defense and the Broncos own strong squad.

If the Denver defense can hold down Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and thus limit the effectiveness of the Steelers' top 10 passing game, the Broncos have a chance to keep the game close, just in time for Tebow to attempt one of his trademark fourth quarter comebacks.

And besides, Tebow has been one of the most ubiquitous stories in the NFL this year; to see the polarizing quarterback in the playoffs makes this game instantly exciting, even if the highly playoff-experienced Steelers stomp the 8-8 Broncos on Sunday afternoon.