2024 NFL wild card playoff lookahead: Opening round features Matthew Stafford heading back to Detroit

The regular season is officially in the books and the mad dash to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas is down to just 14 teams. The playoff bracket is set and we’re now looking forward to Super Wild Card Weekend in the NFL, which will kick off on Saturday. 

For the Ravens and the 49ers, they get to sit back and enjoy their hard-earned first-round bye. For the rest of the remaining playoff contenders, however, the slugfest begins now there are a ton of fantastic matchups on deck, including Matthew Stafford facing his former Lions team and Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys hosting his former Packers. 

Here’s an early look at the opening round of the NFL playoffs and some notable storylines for each matchup. 

AFC wild card round lookahead

*The Baltimore Ravens are the No. 1 seed and have a first-round bye.

Pittsburgh Steelers (7) at Buffalo Bills (2)

Sunday, Jan. 14 at 1 p.m. ET (CBS)/stream on Paramount+ (click here)

Pittsburgh finds itself in the playoff for the first time since 2021 and has notched double-digit wins for the first time since 2020. They’re in the postseason after riding a bit of a carousel of quarterbacks. Kenny Pickett got injured during the year, Mitch Turbisky came in as the initial starter, but Mason Rudolph ultimately found himself as the starter, and the offense has played well with him under center. In fact, he’s 3-0 as a starter this season and is completing 74.3% of his passes while the Steelers offense is averaging 27 points per game. He has found success with chunk plays as all three of his passing touchdowns have been for 60-plus yards, but the Steelers have also utilized their backfield well with Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. A big development for this week, however, comes on the defensive side of the ball as pass rusher T.J. Watt — who finished the year with 19 sacks — suffered an MCL sprain that could sideline him for this matchup.

As for the Bills, they are arguably the top story in the AFC. They started the year on a disappointing note, finding themselves at 6-6 heading into Week 13 bye and had fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. That break and coaching change does seem like it made a world of a difference as Buffalo then ripped off five straight victories down the stretch, including a Week 18 victory in Miami that thrust them up as AFC East champions and are now the No. 2 seed in the conference. Josh Allen has turned the ball over quite a bit this year, but his play beyond that has outweighed the interceptions and firmly has Buffalo as a dark horse Super Bowl contender. The Bills jumping up to the No. 2 seed also ensures that they’ll be at Highmark Stadium for at least two playoff games, which is a monumental development as this team is far superior at home than on the road. This season, the Bills are 7-1 at home and have outscored their opponents by an average of 14.8 points. 

Miami Dolphins (6) at Kansas City Chiefs (3)

Saturday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. ET (Peacock)

The juicy storyline here is that Tyreek Hill will make his first trip back to Arrowhead Stadium since the Chiefs traded him to the Miami Dolphins back in 2022. These two teams did play one another earlier this year and the Chiefs were technically the home team, but the game was held in Germany, so Hill — who had just 62 receiving yards in the Dolphins’ 21-14 loss — couldn’t go back to his old stomping grounds. Until now. 

Miami let the AFC East and the No. 2 seed slip through their fingers down the stretch. As Buffalo surged to a 5-0 record, the Dolphins lost three of their last five to open up the door for a dip in the standings. Part of that was due to various injuries, specifically on defense, but this has also been a pattern for Miami in recent seasons, which is noteworthy. Over the last two seasons, the Dolphins are 4-9 in December/January while they are 16-6 in the months before that. 

While we’ll monitor the Dolphins winter dip, the Chiefs are another club that hasn’t exactly looked like the team we’ve grown accustomed to under Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. The K.C. quarterback has career worsts this season in passing yards per game, yards per attempt, touchdown percentage, and interceptions. A lot of that is due to the lack of development at the wide receiver position, which has plagued the Chiefs throughout the year. Coming into Week 18. Kansas City led the NFL in drops, so it’ll be interesting to see if this unit can flip a switch now that the postseason has arrived. If so, the Chiefs have a defense that should be able to stifle even the best offenses.

Also, weather could be a factor in this game as the Saturday forecast calls for temperatures to sit at 1 degree and “feel like” -17. 

Cleveland Browns (5) at Houston Texans (4)

Saturday, Jan. 13 at 4:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

The Texans leaped to an AFC South crown thanks to a win over the Colts on Saturday and the Jaguars falling to the Titans on Sunday. They’re led by rookie QB C.J. Stroud, who seems like a lock to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and just had a tremendous game against Indianapolis, which was effectively a playoff game for Houston. On the game-winning drive, Stroud completed all seven of his passes for 82 yards, His 4,108 passing yards for the season was the third-most by a rookie all time, and he’s just the fourth rookie all time to finish the season with a passer rating of 100.0 or better. Stroud is also looking to become the youngest starting QB to win a playoff game (since 1950). Currently, that title is held by Michael Vick, who was 22 years and 192 days old when he won a playoff game in 2002. When Houston hosts Cleveland next Saturday, Stroud will be 22 years and 102 days old. The Texans are also the first team to reach the playoffs with a rookie quarterback and rookie head coach (DeMeco Ryans) since the 2012 Colts did it with Andrew Luck and Chuck Pagano. 

As for the Browns, they’ve gone through a rollercoaster ride at quarterback. In all, the franchise has started five different QBs this season but has found a winning formula with veteran Joe Flacco. He joined the team back in November and has casually gone 4-1 in his starts, logged a 902 passer rating, and is averaging over 300 passing yards per game. With the offense finding a groove under center, it complements a defense that is among the very best in the NFL and led by Myles Garrett. They’ve allowed a league-low 4.5 yards per play this season and are the best in the league on third down, allowing opponents to move the chains just 29.3% of the time. The one question will be how Cleveland’s unit plays on the road. This season, they’ve been far better at home (13.9 points per game) than they have been on the road (29.4 points per game). 

NFC wild card round lookahead

*The San Francisco 49ers are the No. 1 seed and have a first-round bye.

Green Bay Packers (7) at Dallas Cowboys (2)

Sunday, Jan. 14 at 4:30 p.m. ET (Fox)

The NFC is loaded with juicy matchups and we certainly have one here between the Cowboys and Packers. Of course, the side story that many will be talking about is Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy going up against his former team in Green Bay. McCarthy coached the Packers from 2006 to 2018 and led the franchise to a Super Bowl XLV title during the 2010 season. 

As for the matchup, the Cowboys have continued to flex as arguably the top dog in the NFC, especially when they are at home which they will be for this game. At AT&T Stadium, Dallas is 8-0 and has demolished teams in the process, logging an average margin of victory of 21.5 at home. The Cowboys will be a tough challenge for the Packers, who are the youngest playoff team since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978. This playoff berth also marks quite the turnaround for Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur. Green Bay is just the 10th team all time to make the playoffs after a 3-6 or worse start. 

Rams (6) at Lions (3)

Sunday, Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. ET (NBC)

This is arguably the most highly anticipated matchup of the wild card slate. Could you ask for anything better? The Detroit Lions are enjoying their first home playoff game ever at Ford Field and are looking to win their first playoff game since 1992. And they’ll have to do it by taking on their old friend Matthew Stafford and the Rams. Of course, these two teams are linked to one of the more highly impactful trades of the last few years when Detroit dealt Stafford to Los Angeles in 2021, getting Jared Goff and a collection of draft picks in return. 

Stafford and L.A. went on to win Super Bowl LVI the following season, but the trade also worked out for the Lions. Goff has been a stable presence under center and they have a foundation that has won the division for the first time since 1993. It’s poised to be an emotional scene for Stafford heading back to the city he called home for the first 12 years of his career, and it should be an opportunity for Goff to enact some revenge on his former team for replacing him. This is also the first quarterback matchup in playoff history where both QBs face their former team.

Meanwhile, the matchup could be high-flying as both of these offenses have tremendous skill position players on top of the high-level quarterback play, including Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua for the Rams and Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs for the Lions. Detroit rookie tight end Sam LaPorta’s status will be worth monitoring leading up to this game as he suffered a hyperextended knee in Week 18 which could sideline him for this game, per NFL Media.

Eagles (5) at Buccaneers (4)

Monday, Jan. 15 at 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN, ABC)

This matchup may not have the same off-field narratives as the others in the NFC, but it’s going to be fascinating to see how the Eagles perform in this playoff game. The defending NFC champions looked poised to make another deep playoff run midway through this season, but the floor has since fallen out below them. Philadelphia was 10-1 after Week 12 but lost five of its final six games to fall out of the NFC East lead and are now traveling on the road as a wild card entry to these playoffs. No team has ever won a playoff game after losing five or more regular-season games in December or later. It’s also worth noting that Jalen Hurts injured a finger in his throwing hand in Week 18, while A.J. Brown exited the game with a knee injury as well, so Philly may not even be 100% for this game. 

As for the Bucs, they’ve had almost the polar opposite season to the Eagles. They had a relatively sluggish start and were 4-7 after Week 12. Since then, they’ve won five of their last six to win the NFC South. Baker Mayfield also seemed to get into a groove over that stretch, but the Bucs QB has since been hobbled, so both of these teams could be banged up coming into this playoff showdown. 

These teams met back in Week 3 and the Eagles were able to pull off a 25-11 victory, but these are two entirely different clubs at this stage, so anything is possible in this next matchup at Raymond James Stadium.