NFL Playoffs 2023-24: Brackets, Schedule, Broadcast details, and more

It is that time of the year again! The NFL’s regular season has come to an end after 18 weeks of football. Now, only the strongest and best teams remain as their records reset to 0-0.

The playoffs are what the athletes train all year for. It is the biggest stage in football and is nothing less than a duel each and every game.

This season, in the AFC, the Cleveland Browns, the Houston Texans, the Miami Dolphins, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Buffalo Bills, and the Baltimore Ravens have made it into the playoff picture. In the NFC, the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Los Angeles Rams, the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the San Francisco 49ers have made it into the playoff picture.

The playoff picture works like this: the top seeds in the AFC and NFC get a bye week. Therefore, the Ravens and the 49ers will not be playing this weekend. The remaining schedule is determined as follows:

• The second seed team will host the seventh seed.
• The third seed will host the sixth seed.
• The fourth seed hosts the fifth seed.

The Wild Card Round will take place this weekend with two games scheduled on Saturday, three games scheduled on Sunday, and one game scheduled for Monday. The teams that will win the Wild Card round will progress to the Divisional Round, which will take place in the following weekend on the 20th and 21st of January.

The winners of this matchup will progress to the Divisional round, where the three winners will take on the team with the best record in their respective divisions. The two winning teams will then progress to the conference championships and then finally, the pinnacle, the game we are all waiting for, the Super Bowl.

Wild Card Round schedules and predictions:

Let’s take a detailed look at the Wild Card Round schedules and how these matchups are likely to fare!

Cleveland Browns at Houston Texans:

The Cleveland Browns will be taking on the Houston Texans on the 13th of January at 4:30 PM ET. Fans will be able to catch the game on NBC.

The storyline of this game is fascinating, a young rookie QB who is now viewed as the savior of a team that was expected to fail this season will go up against a 16-year NFL veteran who swooped in mid-season to save a franchise’s season from going to waste.

C.J. Stroud and Joe Flacco have had incredible seasons so far. The storyline would have been more interesting if Deshaun Watson was playing because he would be going up against his former team. The Texans are hungry this season and so are the Browns, so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. It is hard to predict the outcome of this game but given that Joe Flacco has been in this position before, he does wield an edge over Stroud.

Miami Dolphins at Kansas City Chiefs:

This ought to be the game of the year. The highlight of the game will be Tyreek Hill returning to Arrowhead Stadium to face off against his former team.

Hill would love to knock the Kansas City Chiefs out of playoffs. In addition to this, Tua Tagovailoa and Patrick Mahomes are young QBs who have taken over the league. Despite the former’s struggles this season, he has shown that he is clutch in the playoffs.

It will be a competitive game but the Chiefs have beaten the Miami Dolphins once in the regular season this year. In addition to that, the most concerning fact remains that the Dolphins have beaten just one team above .500 this season. Will they be able to finally show that they are legitimate contenders or will this be the end of their Super Bowl run?

The game airs at 8 PM on Peacock, DAZN, and YouTube.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills:

The Pittsburgh Steelers have made their way to the playoffs yet again. This time, they face a daunting task as they take on Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. It will be a Herculean task for Mike Tomlin and the Steelers to beat the Bills as they will be playing without their star pass rusher, T.J. Watt who is out due to a knee injury.

The Buffalo Bills will aim to make a deep playoff push this season with Josh Allen and finally make the Super Bowl.

The game airs at 1 PM ET on Saturday, the 14th of January. The game will be broadcast on CBS.

Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys:

The storyline of this game is very interesting. Mike McCarthy will be coaching against his former team with whom he won a Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers have been underdogs all season long and with a new face at QB in Jordan Love, they will look to pull off the biggest upset in the entire season.

However, it will not be easy, as Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys have never looked so formidable. With a solid defense and offense, America’s team is starving to make its way to the Super Bowl.

The game will air at 4:30 ET on FOX.

Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions:

Just when you thought the NFL scriptwriters could not come up with better storylines… The Los Angeles Rams matchup against the Detroit Lions is a must-watch.

Matthew Stafford at QB for the Rams will take on his former team, the Lions, while Jared Goff, who was traded to the Lions in exchange for Stafford, will hope to knock his former team out of the playoffs.

This year, the Detroit Lions have been special. The team has returned to the playoffs after a really long time. The last time the team was in the playoffs was seven years ago. The team will look to extend its run and make it to the Divisional Round.

The Los Angeles Rams are no scrubs either, the team’s offense has flourished with Puka Nacua, the star wideout who has managed to create history by having the most receiving yards as a rookie. Dan Campbell will prepare the Lions to their best and it will be a nail-biting game that is likely to come down to the wire.

Fans will be able to stream the game via NBC at 8 PM ET on the 14th of January.

Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

The Philadelphia Eagles went from being the best team in the NFC East to ending up fighting for a position in the Divisional round. The team will face off against Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

What makes this game interesting is the fact that the Eagles will need to redeem themselves. The team ended the season going 1-5 in their last six games.

Philadelphia has to prove that it is a team capable of winning a Super Bowl and that last season was not just a fluke. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on the other hand, will look to solidify themselves as dark horse candidates to reach the Super Bowl.

Baker Mayfield who is in contention to win the Comeback Player of the Year Award is officially back and he has had an amazing season, a deep playoff run would show that he is not a bust and that Tampa Bay has managed to find a worthy successor to Tom Brady.

Fans can catch the game at 8 PM ET on 15th of January on ABC and ESPN.

It will no doubt be an interesting weekend! Only the fittest will survive and make it to the divisional round.

In case you missed it:

• Jim Harbaugh’s Net Worth in 2024: How rich is the Michigan HC?
• Skip Bayless claims the Eagles will lose to Baker Mayfield’s Bucs in the wildcard game
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