The NFL announced the dates and times of the Wildcard and Divisional rounds of the playoffs. New England will host a Divisional Playoff game at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, January 14 at 8:00pm and will play the lowest remaining seed as determined from the Wildcard playoffs.
The following is the schedule for the first two weeks of the playoffs.
SATURDAY 1/7
AFC: 4:30 PM (ET) Cincinnati at Houston (NBC)
NFC: 8:00 PM (ET) Detroit at New Orleans (NBC)
SUNDAY 1/8
NFC: 1:00 PM (ET) Atlanta at N.Y. Giants (FOX)
AFC: 4:30 PM (ET) Pittsburgh at Denver (CBS)
The Divisional weekend sites and times will be as follows:
SATURDAY 1/14
NFC: 4:30 PM (ET) New Orleans/N.Y. Giants/Atlanta at San Francisco (FOX)
AFC: 8:00 PM (ET) Denver/Pittsburgh/Cincinnati at New England (CBS)
SUNDAY 1/15
AFC: 1:00 PM (ET) Houston/Denver/Pittsburgh at Baltimore (CBS)
NFC: 4:30 PM (ET) N.Y. Giants/Atlanta/Detroit at Green Bay (FOX)
In the Divisional Playoffs, the division champion with the best record in each conference will host the lowest seeded Wild Card survivor. Once teams are seeded for the playoffs, positions do not change:
American Football Conference
1. New England (13-3, AFC East champion)
2. Baltimore (12-4, AFC North champion)
3. Houston (10-6, AFC South champion)
4. Denver (8-8, AFC West champion)
5. Pittsburgh (12-4)
6. Cincinnati (9-7)
National Football Conference
1. Green Bay (15-1, NFC North champion)
2. San Francisco (13-3, NFC West champion)
3. New Orleans (13-3, NFC South champion)
4. NY Giants (9-7) (NFC East champion)
5. Atlanta (10-6)
6. Detroit (10-6)
The AFC (CBS, 3:00 PM ET) and NFC (FOX, 6:30 PM ET) Championship Games will be played on Sunday, January 22.
The 2012 Pro Bowl (NBC, 7:00 PM ET) will be played on Sunday, January 29 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, one week before Super Bowl XLVI takes place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sunday, February 5 (NBC, 6:30 PM ET).