The entire season has seen some incredible story lines from the triumpant return of Peyton Manning in Denver, to Adrian Peterson's incredible season in Minnesota. Of course rookies also dominated the headlines as Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson each brought their teams to the top of the NFL this season.
The AFC playoff picture is virtually the same as last season, with the only exception being that Pittsburgh is not in the playoffs. There will be some familiar faces at the top of the conference with Manning and Tom Brady holding onto the top two seeds in the AFC, thanks in part to the collapse of the Houston Texans and the fantastic second half run by Denver and New England.
With the Patriots and Broncos off until the divisional playoffs, the wild card playoff picture is as follows: Cincinnati (10-6) @ Houston (12-4) at 4:30 on Saturday January 5. Indianapolis (11-5) @ Baltimore (10-6) at 1:00 on Sunday January 6.
This will be the second consecutive year Cincinnati will visit Houston in the wild card round. This time, however, the Bengals come into this game red hot having won out to get to the playoffs, while the Texans have stumbled.
In the NFC, the Falcons are the number 1 seed, but are probably considered the weakest one seed in quiet some time since the Falcons, in the Matt Ryan era, are 0-2 in the playoffs.
The 49ers, in spite of a quarterback controversey are the two seed at 11-4-1, while the Packers loss to Minnesota will force a rematch in the wild card round. The Vikings (10-6) visit Green Bay (11-5) on Saturday night at 8 p.m. on NBC.
Finally, the Washington Redskins, with fellow Rookie of the Year candidate Robert Griffin III ride a seven game winning streak into a wild card match with the red hot Seattle Seahawks at 4:30 on Sunday.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Cincinnati @ Houston - 4:30 NBC
Minnesota @ Green Bay - 8:00 NBC
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Indianapolis @ Baltimore - 1:00 CBS
Seattle @ Washington - 4:25 FOX
Let the games begin!
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