Pairings set for wildcard weekend
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
NEW YORK: With the Green Bay Packers (133) and Kansas City Chiefs (142) earning the top seedings and firstround byes in the NFC and AFC playoffs, respectively, the other 12 teams that made the playoffs have learned where they will be headed for wildcard weekend.
In an unprecedented move for the NFL, seven teams made the postseason from each conference, only the top seed receiving a firstround bye.
In previous years, each conference sent six teams to the postseason and the top two seeds received firstround byes.
There will be three games on Sunday and three more on Monday.
In the NFC, the secondseeded and NFC South champion New Orleans Saints (124) will host the seventhseeded Chicago Bears (88), who backed into the playoffs when the Arizona Cardinals lost to the Los Angeles Rams.
The Saints and Bears will meet on Monday.
Thirdseeded and NFC West champion Seattle (124) will host the sixthseeded Los Angeles Rams (106), who punched their playoff ticket for the third time in four years with a win over the Cardinals yesterday.
Seattle and the Rams will meet on Sunday.
The teams split a pair of regularseason games, each winning on its home field, most recently the Seahawks' 209 win in week 16 that secured the division title.
Washington (79), the NFC East champion, will host fifthseeded Tampa Bay (115) on Sunday, as Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is three wins away from his seventh Super Bowl title.
Washington is just the second team to make the playoffs with a losing record — aside from the 1982 strikeshortened season — and joins the 2010 Seahawks, who went 79 en route to winning the NFC West title.
That year, Seattle defeated New Orleans in the first round before falling a week later in the divisional round at
Chicago.
In the AFC, the secondseeded and AFC East champion Buffalo Bills (133) will host the seventhseeded Indianapolis Colts (115) on Sunday.
Colts coach Frank Reich is a Buffalo great, as he quarterbacked the Bills to the biggest comeback in playoff history, rallying Buffalo from a 32point deficit against the Houston Oilers to win 4138 in overtime on January 3 1993.
The thirdseeded and AFC North champion Pittsburgh Steelers (124) will host sixthseeded Cleveland (115), which is making its first postseason appearance since 2002, in the opening weekend finisher on Monday.
The AFC North teams split a pair of meetings, each team winning on its home field.
Cleveland defeated Pittsburgh 2422 in week 17 in a game in which the Steelers rested several of their best players, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Fourthseeded and AFC South champion Tennessee (124) will host the fifthseeded Baltimore Ravens (115) on Monday.
The Titans knocked the then topseeded Ravens out of the playoffs last year in the divisional round before falling to the eventualSuper Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game.