NFL Playoff Picture 2024: Postseason Scenarios and Wild-Card Bracket
Hollywood could not have written it any better.
Matthew Stafford, the gutsy quarterback so long the heart and soul of the Detroit Lions, returns to the city he once called home with the Los Angeles Rams team that he led to a Super Bowl victory following the 2021 season, for a showdown with the organization that drafted him.
The Sunday night showdown, a reunion of epic proportions, is just one of the intriguing match-ups that will take place during the NFL's Super Wildcard Weekend.
Which other superstar players and coaches will encounter teams from their pasts as they attempt to look to the future and a date with the Lombardi Trophy?
Find out with this look at the conference brackets, Wildcard round match-ups, and some of the intriguing stories to keep an eye on next weekend.
NFC Wildcard Bracket and Schedule
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Schedule
Sunday, January 14: No. 7 Green Bay Packers at No. 2 Dallas Cowboys (4:30 p.m., FOX)
Sunday, January 14: No. 6 Los Angeles Rams at No. 3 Detroit Lions (8:00 p.m., NBC/Peacock)
Monday, January 15: No. 5 Philadelphia Eagles at No. 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8:15 p.m., ESPN/ABC)
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy coached the Packers for 13 seasons, including a Super Bowl victory following the 2010 season.
Their showdown pits a team in Dallas that is much better than Green Bay at this point but given the home team's struggles in the postseason over the year, no one would be that surprised if first-year starter Jordan Love finds a way to upset the No. 2 seed.
Doing so would send Green Bay to San Francisco for a showdown with the top-seeded 49ers in the divisional round.
That reunion may kick off the NFC side of things, but it merely sets the table for Saturday's headliner.
Matthew Stafford played 12 years in Detroit as its heart and soul before a trade before the 2021 season sent him to the Los Angeles Rams and brought Jared Goff to the Lions. Since then, Stafford has won a Super Bowl with his new team while Goff captained Detroit to its first NFC North title since 1993.
The return of Stafford to Ford Field will be rife with emotion for both the player and the fans who previously rooted him on, but it will be nothing compared to what may very well be the most offensively explosive game of the Wildcard round.
The Philadelphia Eagles, last year's NFC Champions, have been anything but explosive.
Finishing the season 1-5, they look like the worst team in the postseason and will be faced with trying to turn things around against a gutsy Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, led by resilient quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Can the Eagles do it? Absolutely, but a rash of injuries and a defense that is leaking like a sieve may prove too costly for a team that had bigtime expectations entering the season but have faltered mightily entering the postseason, with no signs of a switch to be flipped.
AFC Wildcard Bracket and Schedule
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Schedule
Saturday, January 13: No. 5 Cleveland Browns at No. 4 Houston Texans (4:30 p.m., NBC)
Saturday, January 13: No. 6 Miami Dolphins at No. 3 Kansas City Chiefs (8:00 p.m., Peacock)
Sunday, January 14: No. 7 Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 2 Buffalo Bills (1:00 p.m., CBS)
After a devastating Week 18 loss that cost the Miami Dolphins the AFC East crown and a home playoff game, star wideout Tyreek Hill returns to Kansas City to battle his former team, the Chiefs, in what should be an ultra-competitive (and bitterly cold) game.
The Chiefs defense has been one of the team's strong suits in 2023, particularly the play of cornerback L'Jarius Sneed, who will be tasked with containing the explosive wideout.
The biggest question mark: how will the cold, forecasted to be significantly below freezing, affect the game?
Joe Flacco will lead the Cleveland Browns to Houston to battle Texans rookie sensation CJ Stroud in the playoff opener Saturday afternoon, the same Browns team that traded a king's ransom to Houston for Deshaun Watson a season ago.
How ironic would it be for the team to defeat the AFC South champs with a veteran quarterback that it quite literally signed off the street after giving up all that it did to acquire the much-maligned Watson from Houston?
One of the most intriguing games on the entire slate is Pittsburgh vs. Buffalo, particularly since the Steelers looked to be well out of the playoff hunt entering the final month of the season.
The offense was playing horrendously, thanks to the struggles of Kenny Pickett and Mitchell Trubisky at the quarterback position. Enter Mason Rudolph, who lit a fire under the offense and has it looking like one of the more trendy teams to do some damage and advance beyond expectations, especially against a Bills team that has been far too up and down this season.
An upset over Josh Allen and Co. would set the Steelers up for a divisional round match-up against hated foes (and No. 1 seed) Baltimore, whom Pittsburgh swept in the regular season.
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