NFL Playoffs 2012: Wild Card Weekend Recap, Updated Bracket and Betting Odds

Wild Card Weekend 2012, one of the most entertaining weekends in the world of professional sports, is now over.

To recap the results:

• The New Orleans Saints defeated the Detroit Lions, 45-28
• The New York Giants defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 24-2
• The Houston Texans defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-10
• The Denver Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 29-23 (overtime)

Drew Brees was huge for the Saints in their win over Detroit. The Lions were not bad offensively but with Brees throwing for 466 yards, Detroit had little chance.

With the Giants, defense was their strong point as the entire defensive unit kept the Falcons offense from putting anything on the scoreboard. While Atlanta did get a safety in the game that was a defensive score and not really a knock against the Giants' D.

The Houston Texans earned their first playoff win in franchise history with their win over Cincinnati. Adrian Foster had over 150 yards rushing in the game to bolster his team's offense.

With the Broncos and Steelers the story of the game was the finish as Denver's Tim Tebow hooked up for an 80-yard touchdown to Demaryius Thomas. The TD pass was on the first play of overtime and it sent the Bronco crowd into a frenzy.

Looking ahead, the NFL re-seeds the second round, but in this year's playoffs, there is no consequence to that. All of the higher seeds won on Wild Card Weekend, so the updated NFL playoff bracket looks pretty normal, with the No. 4 seeds playing the No. 1 seeds and the No. 2 seeds playing the No. 3 seeds:

NFC

(3) New Orleans Saints at (2) San Francisco 49ers

• Candlestick Park, Saturday Jan. 14, 4:30 p.m. ET, FOX

(4) New York Giants at (1) Green Bay Packers

• Lambeau Field, Sunday Jan. 15, 4:30 p.m. ET, FOX

AFC

(3) Houston Texans at (2) Baltimore Ravens

• M&T Bank Stadium, Sunday Jan. 15, 1 p.m. ET, CBS

(4) Denver Broncos at (1) New England Patriots

• Gillette Stadium, Saturday Jan. 14, 8 p.m. ET, CBS

The best prices on each of the eight remaining teams are as follows (best prices according to the sportsbooks listed at OddsChecker.com):

1. Green Bay Packers, +200 (2/1) with Bodog
2. New England Patriots, +300 (3/1) with Paddy Power
3. New Orleans Saints, +400 (4/1) with Ladbrokes
4. Baltimore Ravens, +750 (15/2) with Paddy Power
5. San Francisco 49ers, +1600 (16/1) with Stan James
6. New York Giants, +1800 (18/1) with bet365
7. Houston Texans, +4000 (40/1) with bet365
8. Denver Broncos, +7500 (75/1) with bet365

Prediction: Green Bay repeats as Super Bowl champions