The NFL playoffs are into the divisional round and games will pick up in the AFC and NFC on Saturday and Sunday on the postseason schedule.
The matchups for the divisional round have the Kansas City Chiefs visiting the New England Patriots along with the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Denver Broncos for the AFC games. The NFC has the top seeded Panthers hosting the Seattle Seahawks, while the Green Bay Packers will venture out west to play the Arizona Cardinals. Three of the four games are rematches from the regular season apart from the Chiefs and Patriots matchup.
The divisional round starts on Saturday and the first game will be the Patriots against the Chiefs at Gillette Stadium. The start time for the game is 4:35 pm ET and will have TV coverage from CBS for the matchup. The second game on Saturday is in the NFC and has the Green Bay Packers playing against the Arizona cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The game starts at 8:15 pm ET and TV coverage will be from NBC for the matchup.
The Sunday schedule starts with the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers and that will be from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The game starts at 1:05 pm ET and will be on TV from FOX. The last game of the divisional round has the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Denver Broncos and that will be from Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The game starts at 4:40 pm ET and will have TV coverage from CBS for the game.
The Chiefs are coming into the game against the Patriots after winning 11 games in a row and they will put that to the test against the number two seed in the AFC. The Chiefs started the season 1-5, but they haven't' lost since and they come in after a dominating performance against the Houston Texans in the wild card round. The defense is playing with confidence and Alex Smith has been able to take care of the ball on a consistent basis.
The Packers beat the Redskins in the wild card round and now face off against the Cardinals for the divisional playoffs. The two teams played once this season and that was a dominating performance for Arizona, but now Green Bay will get another chance to put up a better performance. These two teams faced off in the postseason after the 2009 season and that was an epic battle that saw the Cardinals win in overtime.
The Seahawks and Panthers played this season and that game saw Carolina beat Seattle on the road after making a fourth quarter comeback. The Seahawks were able to hold on against the Vikings after a late field goal miss from Blair Walsh and now they will try and make up for their loss earlier in the season against Carolina. The Steelers beat the Broncos with Brock Osweiler near the end of the regular season, but now Peyton Manning will be back under center when the two teams face off on Sunday.