NFL Playoffs 2017: Updated Divisional Round Odds and Bracket Scenarios

The great thing about the NFL postseason is that it never lacks for drama.

When teams are playing win-or-go-home football, every play, every decision and every injury matter. With just eight teams and three rounds remaining in the 2016-17 playoffs, almost every moment of these next few weeks will be important.

The next round is scheduled to get underway on Saturday afternoon when the Seattle Seahawks visit the Atlanta Falcons. By the end of Sunday, we'll be down to four teams and one matchup in each conference before Super Bowl LI.

Today, we're going to take a look at the divisional round schedule and the latest odds, courtesy of OddsShark. We'll also examine the remaining bracket scenarios in each conference and some of the latest storylines heading into Divisional Weekend.

Divisional Round

Day, Time (ET)	Game	National TV	Line
Sat. 4:35 p.m.	Seattle at Atlanta	Fox	ATL -5
Sat. 8:15 p.m.	Houston at New England	CBS	NE -16
Sun. 1:05 p.m.	Pittsburgh at Kansas City	NBC	KC -1.5
Sun. 4:40 p.m.	Green Bay at Dallas	Fox	DAL -4.5

Bracket Scenarios

AFC

If the New England Patriots defeat the Houston Texans on Saturday, they'll host the AFC title game, regardless of opponent. If the Texans win, they'll be the visitor in the title game, regardless of opponent. Therefore, the AFC Championship will be either the Pittsburgh Steelers or/Kansas City Chiefs at New England or the Texans at Pittsburgh/Kansas City.

NFC

Since both wild-card teams lost in the NFC, the situation here is very similar. If the Dallas Cowboys win over the Green Bay Packers, they host the NFC title game. If the Packers win, they're on the road in the next round. Therefore, the NFC Championship will either be Atlanta/Seattle at Dallas or Green Bay at Atlanta/Seattle.

Latest Buzz

Ezekiel Elliott Involved in Minor Accident

You might have heard that Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott was involved in a car accident on Wednesday. This is newsworthy because Elliott is such a big piece of what the Cowboys do on offense and because any injury could affect how he plays in the Divisional Round.

Well, it appears that the Cowboys—and football fans—have nothing to worry about. According to NFL Media's Kevin Patra, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett later referred to the incident as a "minor fender bender." No injuries were reported.

Elliott himself even poked fun at the incident via Twitter:

Our guess is that Wednesday's accident will have no impact on the postseason whatsoever.

Roethlisberger Practicing

It appears that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger also avoided serious injury, though his collision came in the form of an awkward tackle at the end of Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins. Roethlisberger was spotted after the game in a walking boot.

The quarterback later stated that he had just aggravated an old injury, per Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Still, it's one thing to hear a player sound confident about an injury and quite another to see him perform unobstructed. While we'll have to wait until the weekend to see how healthy Big Ben actually is, it is a good sign that he was at practice on Wednesday.

"I'm fine, thank you," Roethlisberger said of the injury, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. Fowler also reported that Roethlisberger was walking with "no noticeable limp" as of Wednesday.

This is excellent news for the Steelers, who entered last year's postseason with a number of notable injuries.

Patriots Relying on New Blood

We often think of the New England Patriots as the been-there-done-that team in the postseason. That's fair, of course, considering the team has been to six Super Bowls in the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era.

However, it's worth noting that this year's Patriots team isn't quite as full of the usual faces.

Offseason additions like wide receiver Chris Hogan, linebacker Shea McClellin and tight end Martellus Bennett have helped the team tremendously thus far. Rookies like wideout Malcolm Mitchell, guard Joe Thuney and defensive tackle Vincent Valentine have also played a big part for the Patriots this season.

Of course, this influx of new talent also means that a large chunk of this Patriots team has never been a part of the postseason before. "I've never experienced it before, so this is all new to me," Hogan explained, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com.

According to Reiss, a total of 19 Patriots players have never experienced the postseason before. This suggests that the experience edge won't be as strong for New England against the Texans as some might expect.

We don't believe, however, that this is enough to open the Patriots up for an upset this week. Against the Steelers or Chiefs in the next round, though? That's a different story.

Ground Game Springing Seahawks

The Seahawks fielded a relatively inconsistent offense for much of the regular season, but things looked completely different in their playoff game against the Detroit Lions. Seattle was able to control much of the game thanks to a physical ground attack led by running back Thomas Rawls.

Rawls finished the game with 161 yards rushing and a touchdown. His performance was very much reminiscent of vintage Marshawn Lynch.

However, Rawls himself wasn't the only reason for the Seahawks' sudden surge in the ground game. As Seattle offensive line coach Tom Cable explained, the addition of fullback Marcel Reece helped spring Rawls' big day.

"That was the plan going in—to get [Reece] a little more involved now that he’s been here a couple weeks," Cable said, per Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com. "Just normal ball for us. If you think about it, we looked more like we’ve always looked."

The Seahawks offense did indeed look a lot more like the unit that has been to two Super Bowls in the past few years. If this is the offense Seattle is going to bring into the Divisional Round, it could cause trouble for the Falcons.

Atlanta is rated just 27th in run defense by Pro Football Focus. Seattle will have an opportunity to both move the football and keep Matt Ryan and the explosive Falcons offense off the field with a strong running game.