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Aaron Rodgers, Cameron Heyward and the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t play the No. 1-seeded Denver Broncos in the AFC divisional round if they beat the Houston Texans on Monday night.
Should the Pittsburgh Steelers advance in the NFL playoffs for the first time in nine years, they won’t play the top-seeded Denver Broncos in the AFC divisional round. But everything else is still on the table.
The Buffalo Bills defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-24 in the first AFC wild card matchup of the weekend.
Entering the postseason, the Bills held the No. 6 seed. Since the NFL re-seeds, the Broncos will play the lowest seed remaining next weekend.
Because of Buffalo’s win, that can’t be the No. 4-seeded Steelers.
Nothing else, though, has been determined for the Steelers in the NFL’s divisional round. That includes whether the Steelers will even be playing at all.
Here are the scenarios as of halftime in the league’s Sunday Night matchup on wild card weekend.
Steelers Playoff Opponent: Who Could Pittsburgh Play in the Divisional Round?
It can’t be stressed enough that these scenarios are only meaningful if the Steelers defeat the Houston Texans on Monday night. The two teams will meet in the final NFL wild card matchup of the weekend.
The Steelers advancing is far from guaranteed. The Texans possess a 3-point edge with the betting line. Furthermore, the Steelers last won a postseason contest nine years ago.
Since then, they have lost six consecutive playoff games. During that time, the team is 0-2 at home in the postseason.
But should the Steelers advance, they have several intriguing potential scenarios.
If the New England Patriots defeat the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night, then the Steelers would visit the Patriots if they also win.
With a Chargers victory, either the Steelers or Texans would host the Bills.
At halftime, the Patriots led the Chargers 6-3. If the matchup is anything like the first four games of the weekend, though, the Steelers won’t know until the final seconds who they could play on divisional weekend.
The Steelers played both the Patriots and Bills during the regular season. In Week 3, the Steelers knocked off the Patriots in Foxboro 21-14.
But on November 30, the Bills embarrassed the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium 26-7.
Both opponents would be tough matchups for the Steelers. Just as the Texans will be Monday night.
NFL Playoff Schedule: Divisional Weekend
Because the matchups aren’t finalized, the official schedule for divisional weekend has yet to be released.
But the league has already announced all four divisional matchups will be on Saturday, January 17 and Sunday, January 18. The two games on January 17 will kick off at 4:30 pm ET and 8:15 pm ET.
On Sunday, the league scheduled the kickoff times for 3 pm ET and 6:30 pm ET.
If the league scheduled the winner of the Steelers-Texans matchup for Saturday, then they would only have four days to prepare. That would put them at a huge disadvantage.
As it is, the Steelers-Texans winner will have one fewer day of preparation before division weekend than the other seven teams advancing.
So, in all likelihood, the winner of the Steelers-Texans matchup will play in one of the Sunday games.
The Steelers and Texans are meeting for their first ever playoff showdown Monday night. Pittsburgh holds a 5-3 edge in the series.
Dave Holcomb is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker. More about Dave Holcomb
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