Postseason seeds and schedules

Cold, Hard Football Facts for Jan 03, 2010

Here's a look at the playoff seedings in each conference, as well as the times and dates of the wildcard games next weekend, and a quick look at the rest of the postseason schedule. The postseason includes, for the first time, the Pro Bowl being played in the week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl.

In all four wildcard games, we get a rematch of a regular-season battle. In fact, three of the wildcard games are rematches of Week 17 games. What are the odds of that?

NFC

No. 1 - New Orleans (13-3)

No. 2 - Minnesota (12-4)

No. 3 - Dallas (11-5)

No. 4 - Arizona (10-6)

No. 5 - Green Bay (11-5)

No. 6 - Philadelphia (11-5)

That gives us a pair of Week 17 re-matches (in the same arenas, too) again on wildcard weekend: Philadelphia at Dallas and Green Bay at Arizona. The Cowboys smoked the Eagles, 24-0, and the Packers shredded the Cardinals, 33-7, in their 2009 regular-season finales.

Wildcard - Philadelphia at Dallas (Saturday, 8 p.m.)

Wildcard - Green Bay at Arizona (Sunday, 4:40 p.m.)

AFC

No. 1 - Indianapolis (14-2)

No. 2 - San Diego (13-3)

No. 3 - New England (10-6)

No. 4 - Cincinnati (10-6)

No. 5 - N.Y. Jets (9-7)

No. 6 - Baltimore (9-7)

The AFC also gives us a rematch of a Week 17 battle, only this time the Jets-Bengals moves from the Meadowlands to Paul Brown Stadium. A short week, too. New York and Cincy played in primetime Sunday night (a dominating 37-0 Jets victory over the listless Bengals). They appear in the first wildcard game Saturday afternoon. Baltimore-New England is also a rematch, in this case of a Week 4 battle. The Patriots eked out a narrow 27-21 victory, with the Ravens falling just shy of a game-tying score.

Wildcard - N.Y. Jets at Cincinnati (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.)

Wildcard - Baltimore at New England (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

Divisional playoffs

(Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 16 & 17)

Lowest remaining AFC seed at Indianapolis

Lowest remaining NFC seed at New Orleans

Highest remaining AFC seed at San Diego

Highest remaining NFC seed at Minnesota

Conference title games

AFC - Sunday, Jan. 24, 3 p.m.

NFC - Sunday, Jan. 24, 6:40 p.m.

Pro Bowl