NFL Playoff Bracket 2012: Who Are Most Likely Opponents for Texans, Saints?

With the Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints winning their respective Wild Card Round contests on Saturday, it's not hard to extrapolate just which teams they'll be facing next.

The New Orleans Saints will travel West to take on the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday, Jan. 14.

If they win, they'll travel to Green Bay to face the defending Super Bowl champion Packers, should Green Bay defeat the winner of the Atlanta Falcons-New York Giants contest scheduled for this Sunday afternoon.

But there's no guarantee that they'll leave San Francisco with their playoff hopes still alive. The 49ers boast the best defense in the NFC and the only consistently high-performing defense in that conference's playoffs.

The Saints haven't met a defense as strong as San Francisco's all season, and they might find themselves in for quite a surprise as Drew Brees' passes are intercepted and balls are punched out of the carrier's hands.

No team is as productive at forcing turnovers as the Niners, and it's something they're likely seeking to continue into the postseason with so many explosive offenses their likely playoff opponents.

The Niners are tough, but they aren't unbeatable. Should the Saints build themselves a big enough lead, there's little chance that San Francisco's conservative offense can match them score for score.

That means the Saints would go on to play the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game, scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 22. Though the Packers will host the winner of this Sunday's contest between the Falcons and Giants in the divisional round, I don't see them losing.

This rematch of the 2011 season opener will be as unpredictable, high-flying and high scoring as the two team's first meeting.

It's hard to say if the Packers will repeat as NFC champions this year but they have a very good chance of doing so. At the same time, the Saints have just as good a shot at winning a game likely to come down to which team has possession—and a score—at its end.

The Texans will play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Jan. 15, in their AFC divisional round matchup.

Houston proved that even with rookie third-string quarterback T.J. Yates under center, wins can still be big and convincing, dispatching the sixth-seed Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday, 31-10.

Houston will need more of that impressive play to best the Ravens and their league-leading defense next week. Baltimore has yet to lose at home and have already defeated the Texans during the regular season, in Week 6.

However, the Texans are a very different squad now than they were in Week 6—indeed, they look quite removed from the team we saw in Week 17 of the regular season. They're playing inspired football, with their excellent run game appearing unstoppable and their defense in proper playoff form.

It will be a battle of attrition against the Ravens next week, but should the Texans win out they will find themselves in the AFC championship game, just one step removed from a franchise-first Super Bowl appearance.

But to do that, they will either have to travel to Foxboro to take on the top-seeded New England Patriots or host a game against the venerable Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers head to New England next week in the divisional round. Pittsburgh has already beaten the Patriots and if they can replicate that effort they could definitely win again, sending them to the AFC championship for the second time in as many years.

They'll either face the Ravens or Texans in that game, but if the Texans can out-Ravens the Ravens, it's Houston that will be hosting the championship.

The Texans defeated the Steelers in Week 4, but both teams have changed so much since then, and the playoff iteration of any team is generally harder to beat. The Texans will be up for quite the test against such a strong defense, and it's going to be fairly exhausting considering they faced the Ravens just a week prior.

If Houston takes on New England, however, they're going to struggle. Unless they can stop quarterback Tom Brady and effectively cover his many receiving weapons, it doesn't seem likely that Yates can put up the kinds of numbers necessary to best them.

The Patriots do have a terrible secondary—the worst in the league—and the rest of their defense isn't so great either. Running back Arian Foster can certainly exploit their weaknesses and surely make a game of it.

It's not impossible for the Texans to find themselves in the Super Bowl, but unlike the Saints, it's a long shot.

Houston and New Orleans both have some venerable opponents ahead and in the playoffs, anything can happen. Perhaps the two teams will meet in Indianapolis come February.