Bill Parcells, the two-time Super Bowl-winning former New York Giants head coach and a 2013 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, commonly refers to the NFL Playoffs as “ the tournament.”
It is indeed a win-or-go-home competition with little margin for error. Those details, turnovers, execution, and more, will undoubtedly determine this weekend’s winners in the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC) divisional rounds. The No. 1 seeds, the AFC’s Denver Broncos (14-3) and the NFC’s Seattle Seahawks (14-3), which had byes during the playoffs opening wild-card weekend, which concluded on Monday with the AFC’s No. 5 seed Houston Texans beating the No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6 on the road, will be back on the field in the divisional round.
The Broncos will host the No. 6 Buffalo Bills in Denver this Saturday (4:30 p.m.), and the Seahawks will face the No. 6 San Francisco 49ers at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. Decades after making it to four straight Super Bowls (1991-1994), losing all of them, including Super Bowl XXV (25) 20-19 to Parcells and the Giants, the Bills are seeking an elusive return to the game led by quarterback Josh Allen, the reigning NFL MVP.
On the other side of the AFC bracket, the Texans will travel to play the New England Patriots and their second-year star quarterback, Drake Maye, on Sunday (3:00 p.m.). The 23-year-old rising star was a Pro Bowl alternate as a rookie last season, and has leveled up this season to become one of the top two candidates for the league’s regular-season MVP award, along with the Los Angeles Rams’ 37-year-old QB Mathew Stafford.
Maye will be facing a ferocious Texans defense, a team built in the image of their adept head coach, 41-year-old DeMeco Ryans, a former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year (2006) and second-team All-Pro linebacker (2007) with the Texans, who, as their head coach since 2023, has made the playoffs each year at the helm.
“He can sling the ball, can escape the pocket. Does a great job throwing the deep ball,” Ryans said, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston. “Very aggressive at trying to take their shots. High-powered offense. His ability to escape the pocket is what we have to be aware of this time around.”
The Texans got the better of Maye and the Patriots last season in Week 6, 41-21. But that was 14 months ago. The Patriots, under veteran head coach Mike Vrabel, who is in his first-year at the controls directing the team, dramatically course-corrected and after a 4-13 campaign last season, finished this regular season 14-3.
In the other NFC game, the No. 2 seed Chicago Bears will be at home to meet the No. 5 Rams.