Philadelphia Eagles (9-6-1) at New York Giants (12-4), 1:00PM ET
The New York Giants defied doubters and the odds last season, getting hot late in the year and riding that momentum to a stunning Super Bowl title despite entering the NFC playoffs as the fifth seed.
The Giants should see something very familiar in this year's Philadelphia Eagles.
New York opens the playoffs Sunday with a divisional-round game against the red-hot Eagles, who despite being the last seed in the conference, should pose a formidable challenge for their NFC East rivals at Giants Stadium.
New York (12-4) stumbled somewhat at the end of the season, dropping three of its last four, although it managed to clinch the top seed in the NFC with an overtime win over Carolina on Dec. 21. That earned a much-needed first-round bye for the Giants, who opened the season 11-1 and weathered a brutal schedule while playing 13 straight games after their bye week.
The Giants have won three of the last four meetings and six of nine. The teams have only met three times in the playoffs, with the Eagles taking the most recent matchup 23-20 at home Jan. 7, 2007 in a wild-card game.
Pick: Philadelphia +4
Bet the Divisional Round Playoffs
San Diego Chargers (8-8) at Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4), 4:30PM ET
San Diego's defense hung tough when threatened by the Pittsburgh Steelers in November. That type of resiliency has given the Chargers a rematch.
Another ineffective effort on offense for the Steelers isn't likely to be good enough this time against the streaking Chargers, who have advanced to this AFC divisional playoff game Sunday at Heinz Field even though LaDainian Tomlinson is doubtful for the game.
After a bye week, AFC North champion Pittsburgh (12-4) will face San Diego (9-8) for the first time since a game that embodied all of its ongoing concerns offensively.
The Steelers beat the Chargers 11-10 at Heinz Field on Nov. 16, but didn't score a touchdown despite making three trips inside San Diego's 20-yard line. One drive ended when Mewelde Moore was dropped for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1, and Pittsburgh repeatedly hurt itself with 13 penalties.
Pick: San Diego +6