With the National Football League’s regular season coming to a close, teams have started to prepare for the upcoming playoffs.

  Teams from the AFC in the playoffs include: the New England Patriots, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Houston Texans, the Oakland Raiders, and the Miami Dolphins.  

 Teams in the NFC that are in the playoff are the Dallas Cowboys, the Atlanta Falcons, the Seattle Seahawks, the Green Bay Packers, the New York Giants, and the Detroit Lions.   

  With the Patriots, Chiefs, Cowboys and Falcons being at the top of their division, and they have gained a by-week for the first round of the playoffs.    

 The Wild Card round of the playoffs was last weekend, and each team that played left everything out on the field.

  Here are the matchups and winners of Wild Card Weekend.

  Raiders at Texans: Texans-27, Raider-14, Lions at Seahawks: Seahawks-26, Lions-6, Dolphins at Steelers: Steelers-30, Dolphins-12, Giants at Packers: Packers-38, Giants-13.   

  Looking in the divisional round which, will be happening this weekend, reporters from the NFL are expecting the Patriots, who have fourteen wins and two losses, and the Cowboys, who have thirteen wins and three losses, to be tough competitors this year.

     Junior Jade Reall thinks that the Patriots are going to win it all this year but would like the Cowboys to win this year’s Super Bowl.

  “I’m hoping the Cowboys win and not the Patriots, but I have a feeling the Patriots are going to win because they are a very good team,” said Reall.  

 Both of these teams have claimed the top of their division and by doing so have claimed what is called a home field advantage.

  Senior Joann Weichseldorfer is going to wait until later in the offseason to pick who she thinks will win the Super Bowl.

  “I like to wait till it’s farther in and who’s ever like usually not noticed as much, I like to root for the underdogs,” said Weichseldorfer.  

 A disappointment this year is that defending Super Bowl champions, the Denver Broncos, did not even make it to the first round this year.

 With star quarterback Peyton Manning having gone into retirement after winning Super Bowl L most people did not see it as a shock that the Broncos did not make it to the playoffs this year.

 Another upset is that the Baltimore Ravens did not make the playoffs as well.   

 The Ravens finished their season with a record of 8-8 and lost all chances to go to the playoffs with a loss to their historic rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

  Math teacher Steward Heikes is not surprised that his team, the Philadelphia Eagles, did not make it to the postseason this year.

“Well, it was their first year with a new quarterback and a new coach, so it was understandable why my expectations weren’t very high for the season,” said Heikes.   

 Looking ahead to the Divisional Playoffs, all the teams that won last weekend will be the away teams for this round.

 Here are the divisional matches for this weekend: Seattle at Atlanta, Houston at New England, Pittsburgh at Kansas City, and Green Bay at Dallas.