NFL Playoff Schedule 2012: Saints and Texans Are Saturday Locks

The NFL does a great job of scheduling Wild Card games, with the end of the regular season wrapping up just one week earlier. But when you look at the teams playing in the Saturday games this week, that one day is going to make a world of difference. 

The Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans will play in the first Saturday game at 4:30 p.m. EDT. Then, in prime time, the Detroit Lions will make their first playoff appearance since 1999 against the New Orleans Saints. 

The road teams are already at a disadvantage. Not only are they trying to overcome the distraction of the opposing fans, but they also have to deal with playing on a short week. We saw problems with that last year with the Saints, who were upset by the Seattle Seahawks. 

The Lions aren't even going to have much time to practice because of their short week.

According to John Kreger of CBSSports.com, head coach Jim Schwartz said that the team had a light practice on Tuesday and will have another easy day on Thursday, leaving them with one full practice today. 

Considering how bad their defense looked against Green Bay last week, there is no way that will be enough to get them to turn things around. But because they have to travel, they don't really have a choice in the matter. 

The Bengals played a physical game against Baltimore last week when they were trying to lock up their playoff berth.

They lost the game but got help from other teams to sneak in, and now they have to prepare for the Texans with one less day to get ready. 

All four teams have had the same amount of time off, so it's not unfair to have them play on Saturday. But because the Bengals and Lions have to travel, they will be forced to cut short their practice time. 

That puts them at a distinct disadvantage as we move closer to kickoff on this Wild Card Weekend.

Perhaps both the Bengals and Lions will welcome the short week—it gives them less time to think about what happened to them last week. 

AFC Wild Card Round Schedule

Jan. 7 at 4:30 p.m. EDT on NBC: Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans

Jan. 8 at 4:30 p.m. EDT on CBS: Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos

NFC Wild Card Round Schedule

Jan. 7 at 8:00 p.m. EDT on NBC: Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints

Jan. 8 at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Fox: Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants

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