What Time Do the NFL Playoffs Start Today?
The NFL Playoffs are finally here! Check out this blog post to find out what time the action starts today.
NFL Playoffs Basics
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League’s (NFL) regular season to determine the NFL champion. From the merger with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970 up through 2013, it consisted of four rounds: the Wild Card playoffs, the Divisional playoffs, the Conference championships, and the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important American football game of the year.
How Many Teams Make the Playoffs?
In the NFL, 12 teams make the playoffs. The top seed in each conference gets a bye in the first round. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the top seed plays the lowest-seeded team remaining from the first round. The other two second-round games match up the second- and third-seeded teams and the fourth-seeded team with the fifth seed.
What are the NFL Playoff Seeding Rules?
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a separate set of tiebreakers are used to seed the teams within each conference.
The tournament brackets are made up of four rounds: the Wild Card round, Divisional round, Conference Championships, and Super Bowl (AFC vs. NFC). In each round, the lower-seeded team is required to play at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team. The only exception to this rule is for the Super Bowl, which is always played at a neutral site.
The Wild Card round consists of four games: two games in each conference. The four teams with the best record in each conference who did not win their division qualify for this round. These teams are seeded #5 and #6 in their respective conferences. In order for there to be two playoff games in each conference on Wild Card weekend, one game must be played on Saturday and one game on Sunday. The NFL determines which games will be played on what days/times by using a pre-determined schedule that is released before the start of the season.
The Divisional round consists of two games in each conference: The winners of the Wild Card games from each conference compete against the #1 and #2 seeds from their respective conference. The Divisional round games are always played on Saturday and Sunday.
The Conference Championship games are always played on Sunday afternoon. The winner of each Conference Championship game goes on to play in the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is always played on Sunday afternoon and is considered to be the biggest single-day sporting event in North America. It is watched by millions of people around the world and usually features some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities during its halftime show.
How are the NFL Playoffs Bracketed?
The NFL Playoffs are bracketed by conference, and there are four teams in each conference that make the playoffs. The two divisional winners in each conference are given the top two seeds, while the two wild card teams in each conference are given the bottom two seeds.
In the first round of the playoffs, the top seed in each conference faces off against the wild card team with the worst record. The other first round matchup features the other divisional winner against the other wild card team. In the second round of the playoffs, also known as the divisional round, the two remaining teams in each conference face off against each other.
The winners of those games then advance to their respective conference’s championship game. The NFC Championship Game and AFC Championship Game are played on consecutive Sundays, with the NFC game being played one week before Super Bowl Sunday. The winners of those games advance to Super Bowl Sunday, where they face off to crown a league champion.
NFL Playoff Schedule
The NFL Playoffs are underway, and today we have a full slate of games. The first game is set to start at 1:00pm EST between the Indianapolis Colts and the Buffalo Bills.
Wild Card Weekend
The 2020 NFL playoffs are finally here! After 17 weeks of regular-season action, the postseason is set to begin with wild-card weekend.
Four games will be played on Saturday and four more on Sunday, with the winners advancing to the divisional round next weekend.
Here’s a look at the schedule for all eight matchups, plus television information and live stream links.
Divisional Playoffs
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held every January to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL). The playoffs begin with four wild-card teams playing in two wild-card games. The winners of those games advance to the divisional playoffs, where they play the first-seeded team from each conference. The divisional winners then advance to the conference championships, with the winners of those games advancing to the Super Bowl.
Conference Championships
The NFL Conference Championship games are set, and we know who will be playing in the Super Bowl.
The AFC Championship game will be the New England Patriots vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the NFC Championship game will be the Minnesota Vikings vs. the Philadelphia Eagles.
Here’s a look at the current NFL Playoff Schedule:
Conference Championships:
AFC: New England Patriots vs. Jacksonville Jaguars – 3:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 21st
NFC: Minnesota Vikings vs. Philadelphia Eagles – 6:40 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 21st
Super Bowl LII:
New England Patriots/Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Minnesota Vikings/Philadelphia Eagles – 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 4th
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important American football game of the year. It is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), and is considered to be the cultural highlight of the NFL season. The game is usually played on the first Sunday in February, and determines the champion of the NFL for that year.
Start Times for NFL Playoff Games
The NFL playoffs start today, Saturday, January 9th. The first game is at 4:35pm EST between the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts. The second game is at 8:15pm EST between the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys.
Wild Card Weekend
The first round of the NFL playoffs, called Wild Card Weekend, will take place on Saturday, January 4 and Sunday, January 5.
On Saturday, the first game will start at 4:35 PM ET between the Indianapolis Colts and the Buffalo Bills. This will be followed by the Seahawks vs Cowboys game at 8:15 PM ET.
On Sunday, the first game will start at 1:05 PM ET between the Los Angeles Rams and the Atlanta Falcons. This will be followed by the Ravens vs Titans game at 4:40 PM ET.
Divisional Playoffs
This weekend’s slate of NFL playoff games is headlined by the divisional round. Eight teams will battle it out, four on each day, with a spot in the conference championships on the line.
On Saturday, January 12th, the Indianapolis Colts will take on the Buffalo Bills at 1:05 pm ET, followed by the Los Angeles Rams versus the Green Bay Packers at 4:35 pm ET.
Then, on Sunday, January 13th, the Seattle Seahawks will face off against the NFC’s top-seeded team, the Philadelphia Eagles, at 1:40 pm ET. The weekend will wrap up with perhaps the most highly-anticipated matchup of them all, as Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs host Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at 5:20 pm ET.
Conference Championships
This Sunday, January 24, is Conference Championship Sunday in the NFL. The AFC Championship Game will be played at 3:05 p.m. ET, and the NFC Championship Game will be played at 6:40 p.m. ET.
The conference championship games are the penultimate round of the NFL playoffs. The winners of each game will advance to the Super Bowl, which will be played on February 7 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Super Bowl
The NFL playoff schedule is here, and the road to the Super Bowl will go through Kansas City and New Orleans this season.
The top-seeded Chiefs will host the sixth-seeded Colts on Saturday at 4:35 p.m. ET, while the second-seeded Saints will welcome the seventh-seeded Eagles to town for an 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff.
Both games will be broadcast on NBC.
