NFL Playoffs 2017: Schedule and Bracket Projections for Every Postseason Team

The 2016 regular season ended Sunday. For 20 teams, this means it’s time to go home for the remainder of the winter. For 12 others, it’s on to win-or-go-home football.

The postseason action kicks off Saturday, with the Oakland Raiders visiting the Houston Texans. We’ll get four playoff games in all on Wild Card Weekend. The New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons will spend the weekend on bye.

Today, we’re going to examine the week’s games and television schedule. We’re also going to look at some of the latest playoff buzz heading into the weekend. As a special treat, we’ll then be making our predictions for the next two rounds of playoff action, setting up our picks for the conference title games.

Opening Round

Latest Buzz

Return of Osweiler?

The Texans spent big to secure Denver Broncos spot starter Brock Osweiler in the offseason. He rewarded the team with general mediocrity at his best.

Pro Football Focus rated 71 quarterbacks during the 2016 regular season, and Osweiler ranked last.

So after Osweiler tossed a pair of early interceptions during Houston’s Week 15 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, head coach Bill O’Brien decided enough was enough. He benched Osweiler and inserted Tom Savage as the team’s starter.

Savage led a comeback in that game and then defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the following week to deliver the AFC South title. Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more like the Texans are going to have to hand the keys back to Osweiler for this weekend.

Savage is in the concussion protocol, and O’Brien made it sound like he might not wait on his being cleared.

“There’s a lot of different factors; obviously health is part of it, no question about it,” O’Brien said, per Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com. “But there’s a lot of different factors. We moved the ball well [and] Brock did a nice job when he was in there.”

The problem is that Savage cannot practice until he is cleared to do so. O’Brien may not want to delay postseason preparation when he has a quarterback who has plenty of experience with the offense.

The Houston Chronicle’s John McClain expects Osweiler to get the nod:

Cause of Tom …

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