NFL Playoffs 2017: Schedule, Odds and Picks for Final Wild Card Matchups

We're halfway through the opening round of the NFL postseason. The Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks have secured their tickets to the next stage of competition. Four more teams will make their cases for the divisional round on Sunday.

In the early game, we'll have the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Miami Dolphins. Later in the afternoon, we'll see the New York Giants head to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers. Both games are rematches of contests that took place during the regular season.

Here, we're going to take an in-depth look at the remaining day of action from Wild Card Weekend. We'll examine the day's schedule and the latest odds—courtesy of OddsShark.com. We'll also make our picks against the spreads and dive into some of the latest storylines regarding the day's games.

Wild Card Round, Day 2

Time (ET)	Game	Line	Prediction	National TV
1: 05 p.m.	Miami at Pittsburgh	PIT -12	MIA	CBS
4:40 p.m.	NY Giants at Green Bay	GB -5.5	GB	Fox

Latest Storylines

First Playoff Game for the Killer Bs

The Pittsburgh Steelers made the decision to sit their three best offensive players—Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown—in the regular season finale against the Cleveland Browns. The decision was made in order to ensure the three stars would be healthy entering the postseason.

This is significant because it means that the Steelers offense will be close to full strength when the Dolphins come to play in a cold, hostile environment. It is worth noting, though, that tight end Ladarius Green has been ruled out.

This will also mark the first time Brown, Bell and Roethlisberger have all been healthy and available in the same playoff game. The Steelers have played in three postseason games since Bell came into the league in 2013. However, the big three were never healthy at the same time for any one of them.

This changes in 2017.

“We've never had a healthy team together in the postseason,” Brown said, per Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “To have it now is something we're excited about.”

This is actually going to be the first playoff game for Bell, who racked up 1,884 combined rushing and receiving yards and nine touchdowns in just 12 games this season. He and the rest of the Steelers offense will face a Miami defense that is rated just 23rd in overall defense by Pro Football Focus.

This is part of the reason why the Steelers can take this game, though I'm not sure they do it by more than 10 points.

It's Going to Be Cold

Weather doesn't always affect the outcome of football games, but it can give a team an advantage. As northern teams, the Steelers, Giants and Packers are all somewhat accustomed to cold winter weather. The Dolphins? Not so much.

This is another reason why Miami could have trouble in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The Dolphins have taken some steps to prepare for the frigid conditions, placing footballs in the freezer for kicking and punting practice.

"They definitely become hard in the colder weather," Dolphins special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi explained, via the Associated Press. "But there's only so much you can do in this kind of weather to practice. We actually put balls in the freezer, believe it or not. But you bring them out, and five minutes later they've thawed out."

According to Weather.com, the high in Pittsburgh on Sunday will be around 16 degrees. The high in Green Bay is expected to be around 15 degrees, though the Giants are no strangers to playing cold games at Lambeau.

When the Giants defeated the Packers in the 2007 NFC title game—the last game Brett Favre would play as a Packer—the temperature was below zero.

Beckham Could Run Wild

Al Bello/Getty Images

We mentioned earlier that Sunday will mark the first time Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown all play in the same postseason game. Well, Sunday is also going to mark the first time Giants star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. sees a playoff field.

The former LSU standout has amassed 4,122 yards receiving in less than three full seasons, but he has never had the opportunity to play in a postseason contest. He has the potential to legitimately change the course of the game.

"I’m expecting a show," fellow Giants receiver Dwayne Harris said of Beckham, per Steve Serby of the New York Post. "Just watching him this week in practice, how focused he’s been. I’ve never really seen him this focused ever. Every day how he’s locking in to this week has just been crazy. I think that’s kind of scary."

A focused Beckham could be a terror for the Packers defense—which is rated just 30th in pass coverage by Pro Football Focus.

Green Bay isn't going to be particularly healthy in the secondary when these two teams take the field. Cornerback Quinten Rollins has already been ruled out with a concussion, and fellow quarterback Damarious Randall is listed as questionable with a knee injury.

The Packers would likely have a tough time containing Beckham at full strength. With Rollins out and Randall potentially at less than 100 percent, the challenge becomes even tougher.

The good news for Green Bay is that the offense—which averaged 30.8 points per game during the team's six-game winning streak—may have enough firepower to match what Beckham does on the field.