NFL Playoff Schedule 2012: Why Home Teams Are Dominating Road Teams This Season

After several years where the two first rounds of the NFL playoffs were fraught with upsets and victories by road teams, the 2012 NFL playoffs have held completely to form to this point, with all six playoff games won by the home team.

This stands in direct contrast to last season, where three of four games in the Wildcard Round featured victories by the visiting team, two more road teams went on to win in the Divisional Round, and a sixth seed (the Green Bay Packers) hoisted the Lombardi trophy.

In fact, should the Baltimore Ravens and Packers emerge victorious today and run the home team's record to a perfect 8-0 in the playoff's first two rounds, it will mark the first time since the NFL expanded to its current eight division format in 2002 that that has been the case.

So why now? What makes the 2012 season so special that it would buck the trend and become the season where all David gets is torn to pieces and eaten by Goliath?

There are a few reasons why this could be the case.

First, it's really not that huge an anomaly for home teams to win in the first two rounds of the playoffs, as the home teams have won 57 percent of Wildcard Round games and 63 percent of Divisional Round games since the NFL expanded to its current format.

Second, the usual five-seed over four-seed "upset" never materialized, as the Atlanta Falcons were exposed badly against the New York Giants, while a hobbled Pittsburgh Steelers team was Tebowed in Denver by the Broncos.

Third, the highest seeds in each conference were exceptionally good at taking care of business in their home stadiums this season, with the top three seeds in the two conferences posting a stellar 43-5 combined mark in home games this year.

So, while it may seem odd that home cooking has carried so much weight to this point in the 2012 NFL Playoffs, upon further review it may not be that odd at all.

Or maybe it is, but just in reverse.