NFL Playoff Schedule 2017: Full Postseason Dates, TV Info, Live Stream and More

The beginning of the 2016-17 NFL postseason has finally arrived. For the next few weeks, football fans can forget all about the 20 teams that failed to make the playoffs and focus on the 12 teams that still have a shot at reaching Super Bowl LI.

The postseason action kicks off on Saturday afternoon when the Houston Texans host the Oakland Raiders. Six other teams will play on Wild Card Weekend, while the New England Patriots, Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs are all on bye.

The latter group of teams—along with the rest of us, really—await the winners from this weekend. By late Sunday evening, only eight teams will remain in the title hunt.

Now, we're going to take an in-depth look at the full postseason schedule. We'll examine the dates, times, programming notes and latest lines—courtesy of OddsShark—where applicable. In addition, we'll look at some of the latest playoff-related storylines heading into the opening round.

NFL Postseason Schedule

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#Packers have officially ruled CB Quinten Rollins out for Sunday.

— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) January 6, 2017"

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Raiders Far from Full Strength

The Raiders managed to win 12 games during the regular season, while the Texans only won nine. However, the Texans are the favorites for the playoffs' opening matchup because of one big reason—injuries.

You probably know by now that the Raiders are without starting quarterback Derek Carr, who suffered a broken fibula in Week 16. You probably also know that the team is without backup quarterback Matt McGloin, who suffered a shoulder injury in the season finale.

That means the Raiders are relying on rookie quarterback Connor Cook—who is making his first NFL start, by the way—to lead them against Houston and hopefully further into the playoffs.

Unfortunately, quarterback isn't the only position that has been hit by injuries.

Starting left tackle Donald Penn has been ruled out with a knee injury, and defensive lineman Mario Edwards is a recent addition to the injury report with an illness, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport:

Date, Time (ET)	Game	National TV	Live Stream	Line
Wild Card Round
Divisional Round
Conference Championships
Super Bowl LI
Saturday at 4:35 p.m.	Oakland at Houston	ESPN	WatchESPN	HOU -4
Saturday at 8:15 p.m.	Detroit at Seattle	NBC	NBC Sports Live	SEA -8
Sunday at 1:05 p.m.	Miami at Pittsburgh	CBS	CBS Sports Live	PIT -10.5
Sunday at 4:40 p.m.	NY Giants at Green Bay	Fox	Fox Sports Live	GB -5.5
Jan. 14 at 4:35 p.m.	NFC high seed at Atlanta	Fox	Fox Sports Live	TBD
Jan. 14 at 8:15 p.m.	AFC low seed at New England	CBS	CBS Sports Live	TBD
Jan. 15 at 1:05 p.m.	AFC high seed at Kansas City	NBC	NBC Sports Live	TBD
Jan. 15 at 4:40 p.m.	NFC low seed at Dallas	Fox	Fox Sports Live	TBD
Jan. 22 at 3:05 p.m. ET	NFC vs. NFC	Fox	Fox Sports Live	TBD
Jan. 22 at 6:40 p.m.	AFC vs. AFC	CBS	CBS Sports Live	TBD
Feb. 5 at 6:30 p.m.	AFC vs. NFC	Fox	Fox Sports Live	TBD

Edwards' potential absence doesn't seem as big on the surface considering the team played 14 games without him in the regular season due to a hip injury. Still, it never helps to have a quality defender stuck on the sideline.

The bigger issue is that two key pieces of the Raiders offense—which was rated eighth overall in the regular season by Pro Football Focus—are absent.

* UPDATE: Edward is active for Saturday's game, according to Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com.

Saturday's Game Could Be O'Brien's Last in Houston

If the Raiders do manage to knock off the Texans on Saturday, it could mean the end of the road for head coach Bill O'Brien in Houston.

CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported earlier this week that the Texans and O'Brien could mutually decide to part ways when their postseason run comes to an end—even if that end doesn't come against Oakland.

"Even if the Texans beat the Raiders—who are starting rookie Connor Cook for the first time—and then end up with their usual lopsided defeat to a top seed like the Chiefs or the Patriots, league sources believe a change is not out of the question," La Canfora wrote.

The leaguewide perception that O'Brien could be on his way out in Houston has grown so strong that other teams are already considering him for coaching vacancies.

Rapoport reported on Saturday that some teams are waiting to learn O'Brien's status before moving in other directions. Here's some of what Rapoport had to say:

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A coach trade is possible. As is a mutual parting of the ways. As is the Texans simply deciding three years is enough; time to go in a different direction. A win would at least prolong the wait or push the topic of his future to 2017, depending on who you ask. Perhaps just as important is that teams with vacancies believe O'Brien could be available.

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O'Brien seems like a strong candidate for offensive coordinator positions or for teams looking to add an offensively driven head coach. While the Texans may not be happy with what he has accomplished, it's important to remember that O'Brien has produced three consecutive 9-7 seasons with guys like Brock Osweiler, Brian Hoyer, Case Keenum and Ryan Fitzpatrick under center.

Packers Hurting in the Secondary

A lot has been made of the Green Bay Packers offense during the team's six-game winning streak, and rightfully so. The Packers won those six games in large part because of the offense scoring an average of 30.8 points per game. 

This has led to plenty of questions about how the New York Giants defense is going to handle the resurgent Packers offense. However, it might be more important to wonder how the Packers defense is going to handle talented Giants receivers like Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard.

New York, after all, boasts a defense that is rated fifth overall by Pro Football Focus. Green Bay's defense is rated 17th overall by PFF and isn't going to be at full strength.

Starting cornerback Quinten Rollins suffered a concussion last week against the Detroit Lions and has already been ruled out of Sunday's game against the Giants.

The Packers could also potentially be without cornerback Damarious Randall, who is listed as questionable with a knee injury. The good news, at least, is that Randall did practice this week. The Packers would certainly love to have him in the game, especially with Rollins out.

"I thought Randall practiced well," Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. "Randall played well in the first game against the Giants. Yeah, obviously it would be great to have him ready, so he's got some more work to do."

While Green Bay seems to have the firepower to match points with anyone in the postseason this year, they can't afford to make every game a shootout. However, a shootout is exactly what might occur if the team's banged-up secondary cannot contain the Giants pass-catchers.