NFL Playoff Schedule 2017: Wild Card TV Schedule, Live Stream and Picks

The NFL playoffs kick off Saturday at 4:35 p.m. ET when Oakland faces Houston, although the Raiders are coming into this game short-handed.

Quarterback Derek Carr was already lost for the season, but now left tackle Donald Penn, who had made 155 straight starts, will miss Saturday’s tilt as well with a knee injury, per Jimmy Durkin of the Bay Area News Group.

There’s other injury news around the league that might put serious dents in teams’ playoff hopes. Let’s take a look at all of them while providing some picks for this weekend’s action.

But first, here is the TV schedule for this week’s wild-card round and live-streaming information.

Oakland at Houston

In Oakland, the aforementioned Penn will leave a seismic hole in an otherwise stout offensive line. Rotoworld’s senior football editor (and Raiders fan) Evan Silva mentioned this on Twitter Thursday when it looked like Penn might miss the game:

PFF’s No. 1 run-blocking OT. #Texans getting back Clowney & sack leader Mercilus usually rushes on Penn’s side. https://t.co/gYB9pKuTh9

— Evan Silva (@evansilva) January 5, 2017

In his place will be Menelik Watson, who received very low scores of 43.7 and 43.2 in his first two years in the league (2013 and 2014), per Pro Football Focus. He missed last year with a torn Achilles tendon but came back this season, starting five games with a 70 PFF score.

The Raiders have a strong offensive line otherwise. In particular, left guard Kelechi Osemele, center Rodney Hudson and right guard Gabe Jackson form one of the best interior line units in the league.

However, it’s asking a lot for a backup lineman to protect the blind side of a third-string quarterback on the road in the playoffs.

Houston should win a low-scoring game.

Prediction: Houston 16, Oakland 13

Detroit at Seattle

Duane Burleson/Associated Press

As if the Lions didn’t already have a …

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