The Thursday Night Football schedule for the season is now over and now that it's 2014 and the playoffs, there is no game on TV tonight from the NFL Network and with NFL games finished, it means that the divisional playoffs start this weekend and there are some great postseason matchups coming with the Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots and Denver Broncos playing after their bye.
The last game on the Thursday night football schedule was the Denver Broncos playing the San Diego Chargers in Colorado and now that is a rematch that will go down on Sunday in the playoffs. The two teams are from the same division and will be playing for a third time this season and that game on Thursday helped the Chargers get into the playoffs, as they won that game in Week 15 to stay alive and now they are into the divisional round after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in the wild card game last week. Philip Rivers and Peyton Manning will duel again and this comes after the Chargers showed they can win in the cold and the game on Sunday will be the final game of the weekend, airing on CBS and starting up at 4:40 pm.
The playoffs have a number of rematches from the season, including the Carolina Panthers playing the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks playing the New Orleans Saints. The Hawks won at home against the Seahawks on a Monday night football matchup earlier in the year, while the Panthers went on the road and won an exciting game 10-9 against the Niners at Candlestick Park and now the two teams will face off in the east coast.
The Saints and the Seahawks played three years ago in the playoffs in the game that saw Marshawn Lynch break out and now after getting their first ever playoff win on the road against the Eagles, the team visits CenturyLink Field again and will try to make it two in a row. Drew Brees and Russell Wilson face off in a game that puts the number six seed against the number one and this could end up being the best game of the week. In the other matchups, the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots play on CBS at 8:15 on Saturday and that comes after the Seahawks-Saints game on FOX at 4:35 pm in the afternoon.
The Patriots and the Colts are playing in New England and this game is very intriguing, as both teams have shown they can come back from large deficits and after the way Andrew Luck played last week against the Chiefs, Indy could be a team of destiny. If Peyton Manning wins against the Chargers, he will face off against the winner of this game and both are very interesting, as battles with Tom Brady may be running out and the Colts are of course his former team and he also happened to lose to them this season as well. The Colts are a dark horse team, as they have already won over the Seahawks, Broncos and the 49ers this season.
Check here for more on the NFL playoffs schedule and standings.