NFL Playoff Information: Easy methods to watch the video games, bracket format and betting favorites

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The Buffalo Payments and Dallas Cowboys are using excessive after large Week 18 wins capped their common seasons. The Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles are reeling after stumbling down the stretch.

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With or with out momentum, the NFL playoffs start for 12 of the 14 postseason qualifiers throughout wild-card weekend. Video games start Saturday, when the Texans host the Browns and the Chiefs host the Dolphins.

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The No. 1 seeds — together with the AFC’s Baltimore Ravens and NFC’s San Francisco 49ers — get a bye till subsequent week’s division spherical.

Of this weekend’s six wild-card video games, a pair have significantly juicy storylines.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford, who was 0-3 within the playoffs with the Lions, goes again to Detroit as a member of the Los Angeles Rams. The Lions tied a franchise document with a 12-win common season and can search their first playoff victory since beating Dallas on Jan. 5, 1992.

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy will face his former workforce when Jordan Love leads the Packers to Dallas on Sunday. The Cowboys routed Washington 38-10 to clinch the NFC East title and can host Inexperienced Bay aiming to remain unbeaten at dwelling this season.

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Six groups — the Browns, Lions, Packers, Texans, Rams and Steelers _ are within the playoffs after lacking out final season. At the least 4 groups who did not qualify one season have reached the playoffs the subsequent yearly since 1990.

HOW TO WATCH

SATURDAY

No. 5 Browns at No. 4 Texans, 4:30 p.m. EST, NBC

No. 6 Dolphins at No. 3 Chiefs 8 p.m. EST, Peacock

(The Dolphins-Chiefs sport would be the first NFL playoff sport to be completely streamed on Peacock, an NBC subscription service. Followers within the markets of Kansas Metropolis and Miami will nonetheless be capable to watch totally free on their native NBC associates.)

SUNDAY

No. 7 Steelers at No. 2 Payments, 1 p.m. EST, CBS/Paramount+

No. 7 Packers at No. 2 Cowboys, 4:30 p.m. EST, Fox

No. 6 Rams at No. 3 Lions, 8 p.m. EST, NBC

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MONDAY

No. 5 Eagles at No. 4 Buccaneers, 8:15 p.m. EST, ABC/ESPN

THE FORMAT

That is the fourth season of the present NFL playoff format. The sector was expanded to 14 groups in 2020 when the league added a 3rd wild-card qualifier from each the AFC and NFC.

Wild-card weekend: Jan. 12-14

Divisional spherical: Jan. 20-21

Convention championships: Jan. 28

Tremendous Bowl 58 in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium: Feb. 11.

The 4 division winners in every convention routinely get the highest 4 seeds, no matter document, after which the highest three groups with the most effective document that didn’t win their division are the wild-card picks. That’s why it’s pretty frequent for a wild-card choice to have a greater document — however worse playoff seeding — than a workforce that completed as a division winner.

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The No. 1-seeded workforce in every convention will get a bye into the second spherical whereas No. 2 hosts No. 7, No. 3 hosts No. 6 and No. 4 hosts No. 5 throughout wild-card weekend.

The NFL has a re-seeding coverage after every playoff spherical. That signifies that irrespective of how the bracket began, the lowest-seeded workforce will at all times journey to the higher-seeded workforce within the AFC and NFC.

BETTING FAVORITES

Oddsmakers predict some good video games in the course of the opening spherical.

There are two highway favorites throughout wild-card weekend, in response to FanDuel Sportsbook: The Browns are a 2 1/2-point favourite over rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud and the Texans whereas the Eagles are additionally a 2 1/2-point favourite in opposition to the Buccaneers.

Not each sport is anticipated to be tight. The Cowboys are 7 1/2-point favorites over the Packers whereas the Payments have a 10-point benefit over the Steelers.

As for the Tremendous Bowl winner, the oddsmakers like the highest seeds. The 49ers are +230 to win all of it whereas the Ravens are at +350.

Really feel like betting on a longshot? The Steelers (+13000) and Packers (+10000) would convey the largest returns in the event that they win all of it.

And — as at all times — there are the prop bets. Amongst them, a wild-card weekend landing on the opening kickoff nets a +5000 payday.

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AP Professional Soccer Author Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

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