Every NFL Playoff Contender's Most Important Non-Division Games

For all 32 NFL teams, the most important games on each season's calendar are usually the six division games and eight home games. The theory goes, if you can win your intra-division games and lose only once or twice at home, chances are very high that you'll be playing in the postseason. 

But those games aren't always the most important. On every playoff contender's schedule, two or three other games ring out loudest in terms of importance. 

In the following slides, we run down the most important two games outside the division for each playoff contender. 

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys

At Baltimore Ravens (Week 6): Can the Dallas offensive line handle the rough and tough pass-rush of the Ravens?

New Orleans Saints (Week 16): Playoff teams have to be able to win difficult intra-conference games late in the year, especially at home. 

New York Giants

At San Francisco 49ers (Week 6): A rematch of the NFC title game. We'll get an early pulse on what kind of football team the Giants are in 2012.

Green Bay Packers (Week 12): Green Bay is still considered one of the front-runners to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

Philadelphia Eagles

At Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 5): Pennsylvania football fans will have this game circled. The Eagles can show they belong in the postseason discussion with a win. 

Cincinnati Bengals (Week 15): Four days after traveling to Tampa Bay, the Eagles return home for a Thursday nighter with Cincinnati. A win or loss here could swing the tide in the NFC East.

NFC North

Chicago Bears

At Dallas Cowboys (Week 4): An early-season win in Dallas two years helped spring the Bears' division title run in 2010. 

Houston Texans (Week 10): Leading into the season, Houston might be the team to beat in the AFC. 

Detroit Lions

At San Francisco 49ers (Week 2): The talk will center around the two coaches, but the game played on the field will tell us much more about these two clubs.

Atlanta Falcons (Week 16): With so much competition in the NFC North this season, the division will likely be decided in the last few weekends. 

Green Bay Packers

San Francisco 49ers (Week 1): There's no better test for this Packers team to start the season. Is there a Giants-loss hangover, or is this team ready to get back to the Super Bowl?

At Houston Texans (Week 6): There will be many who view this Week 6 matchup as a potential Super Bowl preview.

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons

Denver Broncos (Week 2): Tim Tebow won't be leading this Broncos offense. That No. 18 guy will give the Falcons' new secondary all it can handle. 

New York Giants (Week 15): The 24-2 beatdown New York put on this Falcons team hasn't been forgotten.  

New Orleans Saints

At Green Bay Packers (Week 4): The Saints and Packers played one of the games of the year in 2011 to kick off the season. Now, the Saints want to get on the right end of the final score. 

San Francisco 49ers (Week 12): Certainly, the Saints can't wait to introduce the 49ers' defense to the fast track in the New Orleans. 

NFC West

San Francisco 49ers

At Green Bay Packers (Week 1): It's strength vs. strength—the 49ers defense against the Packers offense. Whichever sides gives more loses the opener. 

At New England Patriots (Week 14): The 49ers couldn't ask for a more difficult late-season contest. A snowy New England could be trouble. 

Seattle Seahawks

Green Bay Packers (Week 3): Matt Flynn is likely to be the team's starting quarterback. Can he show his old masters a thing or two about playing the position, or is the protege in need of another lesson?

At Buffalo Bills (Week 15): Playing in Buffalo in December is usually dreadful. Cold, snowy and windy. But the Seahawks are going to need late wins—even on the road—to push in the postseason. 

AFC East

Buffalo Bills

At San Francisco 49ers (Week 5): We'll learn a lot about this Bills teams when it welcomes New England to Buffalo a week before. But there's just as much to learn when Buffalo makes the cross-country trip to San Fran the following Sunday. 

Tennessee Titans (Week 7): A battle of two teams who will likely be contending for an AFC wild card spot. They'll decide one potential tiebreaker in Week 7. 

New England Patriots

Denver Broncos (Week 5): The Patriots got a year off from Peyton Manning, but he returns to New England in Week 5 wearing different colors. Will the rivalry transfer from Indianapolis to Denver?

Houston Texans (Week 14): AFC Championship Game preview? These may be the two best teams in the conference. 

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens

New England Patriots (Week 3): The Ravens were one Lee Evans drop away from beating the Patriots in Foxbrough. A Super Bowl trip won't be on the line, but this one still means something. 

At San Diego Chargers (Week 14): If the Chargers are the class of the AFC West like I think they'll be, this Week 14 matchup could have playoff implications. 

Cincinnati Bengals

New York Giants (Week 10): Andy Dalton crumbled under pressure late last season. You better believe the Giants' pass-rushers will be pinning their ears back to rattle the young quarterback. 

At Philadelphia Eagles (Week 15): Nothing easy about traveling to Philly on just four days rest. But the Bengals will likely need to steal one late to get back to the postseason. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

At Denver Broncos (Week 1): Pittsburgh returns to its house of horrors from last postseason. Tebow is gone, but Peyton Manning presents even more problems for this defense. 

At Dallas Cowboys (Week 15): There's a historic feeling to any Steelers-Cowboys meet-up. But this one could have postseason implications for both squads late in the season. 

AFC South

Houston Texans

Green Bay Packers (Week 6): A prime-time Monday night game against a team that has won the Super Bowl and then 15 regular season games the last two seasons. Yeah, it's important.

At New England Patriots (Week 14): The Texans need to show they belong in the conversation as the AFC's best. There's no easier way to accomplish that then leaving New England with a December win.

Tennessee Titans

New England Patriots (Week 1): Who starts at quarterback in Week 1? Whoever it is—Jake Locker or Matt Hasselbeck—will have a tough test to open the season. 

At Green Bay Packers (Week 16): Want to get to the postseason? Go to Green Bay in the middle of December and beat the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers. 

AFC West

Denver Broncos

Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 1): Could Peyton Manning have asked for a more risky start to his 2012 season? The Steelers certainly won't "take it easy" on the fragile new quarterback of the Broncos. 

At New England Patriots (Week 4): We all know how much Manning likes to go to New England and knock off the hated Patriots. 

Kansas City Chiefs

At New Orleans Saints (Week 3): The Chiefs defense will get one of its toughest tests of the season in New Orleans, even if Bountygate has stripped that club of its mojo. 

At Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 10): A Monday night trip to Heinz Field follows two division games against Oakland and San Diego. Could be a difficult transition. 

San Diego Chargers 

Atlanta Falcons (Week 3): Are the Chargers a playoff-caliber outfit? We should have a better idea of that answer following the Falcons' trip to southern California early in the season. 

At New York Jets (Week 16): Could Tim Tebow be starting at quarterback by Week 16? The cross-country trip won't be easy either way.