NFL Playoff Bracket 2012: Which Teams Will Advance to Conference Championships?

With the Wild Card Round of this season's NFL playoffs in the books, it's time to start thinking ahead to which teams are most likely to win out in the divisional round and make it to the AFC and NFC championship games.

In the AFC, the New England Patriots host the Denver Broncos on Saturday night and the Baltimore Ravens take on the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon.

Despite the Broncos' miraculous-seeming wild-card victory over the heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers, it doesn't seem as likely that they'll repeat that success when they travel to Foxboro this week.

Tebow was able to exploit the Steelers' usually strong secondary, and considering the pass defenders fielded by the Patriots, could be able to do so again this week. However, it doesn't seem likely that Tebow can pass for over 300 yards while completing fewer than half of his passes for a second consecutive week.

Further compromising the Broncos' chances this week is the Patriots offense, led by quarterback Tom Brady and his many receiving weapons.

Denver will have to score more than 30 points to defeat the Patriots this week, and I don't see it doing so on the road, meaning the Patriots will be heading to the AFC championship game when this week's contest is over.

Likely accompanying them are the Ravens, who take on the Texans at home. The Ravens have yet to lose in Baltimore, but that's not the only reason they're primed for victory this week.

Texans rookie quarterback T.J. Yates will be no match for their league-leading defense. Though he stood tall and did what was asked of him against the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, a postseason Ravens defense is a far different animal.

Look for Yates to be under significant pressure throughout the game. Only if the Ravens are unable to stop running back Arian Foster while committing a number of errors on offense themselves will they fall to Houston on Sunday.

In the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers host the New Orleans Saints on Saturday afternoon. This is easily the most intriguing matchup of the divisional round and the one that carries with it the most caveats.

The Saints have the top offense in the NFL but the Niners have the best defense in the NFC. If San Francisco can put serious pressure on Saints quarterback Drew Brees as well as force turnovers (not impossible to imagine, considering they have the most turnovers of any team in the regular season this year), they can pull out a win.

They'll have to hold the Saints below 30 points, however, if they are to win. The 49ers are one of the lower-scoring teams in this year's playoffs and quarterback Alex Smith just doesn't have the skills nor the weapons around him to match Brees completion-for-completion, score-for-score on Saturday.

I see the Saints winning this contest, but it's not a foregone conclusion. If they do, though, it's more than likely they'll be meeting the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game the following week.

Though their opponent, the New York Giants, shouldn't be underestimated, it's going to be hard for them to stop quarterback Aaron Rodgers while simultaneously putting up 30 or more points of their own by remaining relatively flawless on offense.

The Giants convincingly dispatched the Atlanta Falcons in the Wild Card Round, confounding the Falcons offense so severely that they managed to not put up any points.

There's little hope they will repeat the performance this week, but they could hold Rodgers and company to far fewer yards than anyone anticipates.

The Giants have defied expectations in the past, certainly, and they do have a great deal of postseason experience.

But it would take the Giants a far greater effort to defeat the Packers than it would take the Packers to earn a win, and thus I see the Saints and Packers meeting for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl in two weeks.