MIAMI, Jan. 10 (UPI) — Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns take on C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans in the first of six playoff games, kicking off the NFL’s wild-card weekend Saturday in Houston.
The playoff opener will be held at NRG Stadium, just five days after Michigan beat Washington in college football’s national title game there. Sports books expect the Browns-Texans game to be the closest, with the visitors 2.5-point favorites.
“Each game is its own unique challenge,” Browns quarterback Joe Flacco told reporters Tuesday. “These guys are a good football team. We are excited for the opportunity to go play a tough game.”
The dozen teams in action will vie for spots in next weekend’s divisional round. The San Francisco 49ers (12-5) and Baltimore Ravens (13-4), who earned top seeds in the NFC and AFC, respectively, are on bye until the second round.
Wild-card weekend will feature two games Saturday and three on Sunday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will host the Philadelphia Eagles in the final wild-card matchup Monday in Tampa, Fla.
Garrett will lead the top-ranked Browns defense into Houston for a matchup with Stroud. The Texans quarterback, an Offensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner, has an NFL-best 24-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
He’ll test that efficiency against the No. 1 pass defense in the league, which totaled the third-most interceptions and allowed the fewest first downs.
The No. 5 Browns (11-6) and No. 4 Texans (10-7) will kick off at 4:30 p.m. EST on NBC.
“We know we have to go put the work in and find a way to win,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans told reporters Monday. “We’ll do whatever it takes.”
Another big storyline Saturday will be wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s return to Arrowhead Stadium. The Miami Dolphins wide receiver will face the Kansas City Chiefs at 8 p.m. in Kansas City, Mo. The game will mark Hill’s first at the stadium as an opposing player since being traded to the Dolphins in 2022.
The No. 3 Chiefs (11-6), who had the NFL’s top offense in 2022 when Hill was there, declined this season to ninth. Hill, who led the NFL in receiving yards this year, led a Dolphins offense to the top spot in total offensive yards.
The Dolphins (11-6), who at one point held the top seed in the AFC, struggled late in the season and enter the postseason as the AFC’s No. 6 seed. Their defense, ranked No. 10 in yards allowed, was decimated by injuries over the last few months and could struggle to contain Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The Chiefs finished the season with the league’s No. 2 defense. They are 4-point favorites in Saturday’s nightcap, which is only available on Peacock.
The No. 2 Buffalo Bills (11-6) will host the No. 7 Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7) at 1 p.m. Sunday on CBS. The No. 2 Dallas Cowboys (12-5) will then host the No. 7 Green Bay Packers (9-8) at 4:30 p.m. on Fox.
The No. 3 Detroit Lions (12-5) will host the No. 6 Los Angeles Rams (10-7) in Sunday’s nightcap. That game will air on NBC.
The Rams-Lions game, which has the highest expected point total, will mark a reunion for the starting quarterbacks, who were traded for each other in 2021.
The Rams’ Matthew Stafford will play in Detroit for the first time as a visiting player. Jared Goff will oppose the Rams in the playoffs for the first time, after spending his first five seasons with the franchise.
The Bills are the biggest favorites (10 points) of the weekend. The Cowboys are 7.5-point favorites. The Lions are 3.5-point favorites.
The No. 5 Philadelphia Eagles (11-6) and No. 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-8) will kick off at 8:15 p.m. Monday on ESPN and ABC. The Buccaneers are 3-point underdogs in Monday’s wild-card round finale, despite playing at home.
The 49ers and Ravens will face the respective lowest-remaining seeds from the NFC and AFC in the divisional round. The other two teams from each conference to advance past the wild-card round will meet in the other divisional-round games.
Divisional-round games will be held Jan. 20 and 21. The AFC and NFC title games will be Jan. 28. The Super Bowl will be held Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
