NFL Playoff Schedule 2014-15: Bracket, TV Coverage and Super Bowl Picks

The NFL playoff schedule is set for those in the Wild Card Round, but the teams that wind up in the Super Bowl may be two of the four sitting at home thanks to first-round byes.

Despite a 3-3 start to the year, the defending champion Seattle Seahawks have soared in the second half of the season to ascend to the top of the NFC. Their home-field advantage is as significant as any other team's, and they'll be a tough out no matter who they meet next.

Then there are the New England Patriots reigning supreme in the AFC, followed by last year's conference champion, the Denver Broncos. With another potential quarterback clash between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to decide the conference title, this postseason figures to be epic yet again.

Below is an updated look at what the playoff picture looks like along with TV coverage for the first round and predictions as to who will wind up squaring off for the Lombardi Trophy.

Date	Time	Matchup	TV	Stream
Saturday, Jan. 3	4:35 p.m. ET	Arizona at Carolina	ESPN	Watch ESPN
Saturday, Jan. 3	8:15 p.m. ET	Baltimore at Pittsburgh	NBC	NBC Sports Live Extra
Sunday, Jan. 4	1:05 p.m. ET	Cincinnati at Indianapolis	CBS	CBSSports.com
Sunday, Jan. 4	4:40 p.m. ET	Detroit at Dallas	FOX	Fox Sports Go

Super Bowl Picks: New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks

Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

Not much suspense based on that introduction as to who the two projected Super Bowl teams would be. What a bore to go with both of the No. 1 seeds, right?

That doesn't mean it's wrong. As varying as results are on a weekly basis in the NFL, no one has been as consistent or great as New England and Seattle down the stretch.

Since middle linebacker Bobby Wagner returned to the field, the Seahawks haven't lost amid a six-game winning streak.

Wagner appeared confident following a physical 20-6 victory over St. Louis that his team could hold court in the Emerald City, via Pro Football Talk's Curtis Crabtree:

Seattle's biggest threat in the NFC figures to be the Green Bay Packers, a team that's 23rd in the league versus the run, 4-4 away from home and has a hobbled quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. The Dallas Cowboys are a perfect 8-0 on the road, yet they're mediocre at best at keeping opponents off the scoreboard.

The Carolina Panthers don't have a winning record but will probably find themselves advancing since they host Arizona, a playoff team quarterbacked by Ryan Lindley. That will make the road through the NFC even easier.

Defense wins championships, and the Seahawks have that in spades.

But so do the Patriots, thanks to Darrelle Revis' addition to the secondary. New England has a plus-11 turnover ratio while Seattle is at plus-9. Both marks are in the top five in the league.

Just about every other AFC team has a potential fatal flaw. Let's run through them quickly.

Denver has a noodle-armed quarterback in Manning who's amazing but is limited at this point in his career. It's hard to imagine him winning in Foxborough. Rotoworld's Adam Levitan weighed in on the phenomenon:

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a beat-up defensive backfield that lacks experience and depth to best the league's superior passing offenses.

Andrew Luck is the Indianapolis Colts' only real hope at making a deep run, and he's hampered by a penchant for turnovers. Indy's first-round opponent, Cincinnati, has a QB in Andy Dalton who owns an 0-3 playoff record and has a history of poor performances in the most important games.

The AFC North had the privilege of facing the lowly NFC South this year. That inflated all their records and masked the fact that none of them, save for a closer-to-full-strength Pittsburgh, are truly any good—certainly not formidable enough to topple the Patriots.

And with the much-deserved hype the Seahawks will generate with their home venue, check out how formidable New England has been at Gillette Stadium, per ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss:

The Week 17 loss to Buffalo added a blemish to the above record, but the point is still sharp.

Just about any pure football fan would have to love Seattle going for back-to-back championships in an era rife with parity against the New England dynasty that hasn't quite gotten to the top in a decade.

Manning couldn't solve the "Legion of Boom" in the last Super Bowl, and Brady would get his shot to further cement himself as an all-time great.

The incentive for the close-knit Seahawks to stick together would be at an unprecedented high. New England could use another ring as leverage to continue upgrading the roster and building momentum as Brady continues to bound toward the end of his career.