The AFC was left off of Saturday's schedule for Wild Card weekend, but the conference finally got their postseason underway on Sunday afternoon at EverBank Stadium, with the No. 3 seed Jacksonville Jaguars hosting the No. 6 seed Buffalo Bills.
It was the Bills who prevailed by a score of 27-24, sending them to the Divisional Round for the sixth consecutive season.
Neither one of next weekend's two AFC Divisional Round matchups have been set quite yet, since the Bills' win did not officially guarantee who will leave Wild Card weekend as the team with the lowest remaining seed and therefore head to Denver to take on the No. 1 seed Broncos.
However, Buffalo's victory made things crystal clear for the Houston Texans heading into Sunday night's game between the No. 7 seed Los Angeles Chargers and the No. 2 seed New England Patriots.
Houston's next potential opponent becomes crystal clear
Entering the weekend, the No. 5 seed Texans had four potential Divisional Round opponents with a win on Monday night over the No. 4 seed Pittsburgh Steelers. Two of those teams are no longer on the table.
The Jaguars are obviously off the table since they lost on Sunday afternoon, and now the Broncos are off the table as well. Why? Because due to the Bills' win, the Texans-Steelers winner has no way of possessing the lowest remaining seed in the AFC.
If the Patriots win tonight, it would guarantee that the Texans-Steelers winner heads to New England next weekend.
If the Chargers win tonight, it would guarantee that they are the team that possesses the lowest remaining seed in the AFC, sending them to Denver. As a result, the Texans-Steelers winner would host the Bills.
ESPN FPI gives the Patriots a 54.7% chance to prevail over the Chargers this evening. NBC and Peacock are set to provide live coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. CT.
Of course, the Texans need to take care of business themselves, and they are 0-6 all-time in road playoff games. However, they have never played a road Wild Card game, with all eight of their previous playoff appearances having come as AFC South champions.
ESPN FPI gives the Texans a 53.9% chance to defeat the Steelers on Monday night. That game is set to be shown live on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 beginning at 7:00 p.m. CT.