NFL Playoff Schedule: Breaking Down the Divisional Matchup Possibilities

One game of Wild Card Weekend is officially in the books, as the Houston Texans downed the Cincinnati Bengals 31-10 Saturday to earn their first postseason victory in franchise history.

As the second game of today's slate gets under way in the Big Easy and in the spirit of "it's never too early to look ahead," let's take a look at next week and the potential matchups in the divisional round of the 2012 NFL playoffs.

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens

This one we know is set.

The Baltimore Ravens were likely pleased to see the Houston Texans emerge victorious Saturday, as instead of potentially seeing their hated rivals in the Pittsburgh Steelers for the third time this season they instead draw the Texans at home.

The Ravens downed the Texans 29-14 in Baltimore in Week 6, and given that Matt Schaub was under center for the Texans then, rookie signal-caller T.J. Yates will be hard-pressed to lead Houston to a victory in the rematch.

New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers

Now that the Saints have downed the Detroit Lions after a wild shootout of a football game Drew Brees and Co. will travel west to face the San Francisco 49ers in a classic matchup of the Saints prolific offense and the 49ers stingy defense.

Playing Drew Brees in your first playoff game isn't much of a reward for securing the NFC's No. 2 seed, and as good as the San Francisco defense is their offense may not be able to keep up with the Saints even if the 49ers can hold them relatively in check.

Atlanta Falcons at Green Bay Packers

New Orleans' victory on Saturday night means that the winner of Sunday's early game gets sent on an unenviable trek to Green Bay next week to duke it out with the 15-1 Packers.

Should that be the Atlanta Falcons, they'll have to do a better job of holding quarterback Aaron Rodgers in check than they did in Week 6, when Rodgers threw for nearly 400 yards in a Green Bay win.

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers

However, should the New York Giants down the Falcons Sunday they will travel to Wisconsin to face the Packers in a rematch of a wild Week 13 game won by Green Bay.

The score of that game was 38-35, and the Giants gave the Packers all they could handle in that contest, so from a fan's standpoint this matchup poses quite possibly the most intrigue of any of the NFC's divisional round possibilities as the Giants' formidable pass rush tries to slow down the Pack.

Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots

If the Pittsburgh Steelers down the Denver Broncos Sunday, not only will they spare America 94,000 more Tim Tebow stories, but they will also set up a tilt between two teams that have seen quite a bit of one another in the postseason in recent years.

The Steelers beat the New England Patriots 25-17 back in Week 8, and a rematch would likely come down to the health of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the ability of a porous New England defense to actually stop someone.

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots

It's unlikely that the Denver Broncos will get past the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, but Denver quarterback Tim Tebow has been all about unlikely this season, so...

A Broncos win would set up a rematch of a Week 15 game won 41-23 by the Patriots in Denver, and we didn't see anything in that game or since that would lead us to believe the second time around would be any different.