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When Will The Patriots Play Their First Playoff Game? Now We Know

Ian Logue

January 4, 2016 at 5:30 am ET

When Will The Patriots Play Their First Playoff Game? Now We Know

(PHOTO: Mark L. Baer - USA TODAY Sports)

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The Patriots first playoff game may be two weeks away, but the league released the schedule and it looks like we now know the date and time for the AFC Divisional round.

New England will host the AFC Divisional round at Gillette Stadium on January 16th, with kickoff slated for 4:35 ET. With Wild Card Weekend set for this coming week, the Patriots will wait to find out who they play as they’ll face either the Chiefs, Bengals, or Texans.

The two games set for next week will feature No. 6 Pittsburgh (#6) traveling to No. 3 Cincinnati, while the No. 5 seed Kansas City Chiefs will visit the No. 4 Texans.

As for who the Patriots will play, there are a couple of different scenarios. Should the Bengals beat the Steelers, they’ll be New England’s opponent in the opening round. Should Pittsburgh win, the Steelers will go to Denver to take on the Broncos and the Patriots will host the winner of the Chiefs and Texans.

Here’s the full schedule:

AFC Wild Card Weekend:
Chiefs at Texans – Saturday Jan. 9th, 4:35pm ET (ESPN/ABC)

Steelers at Bengals – Saturday Jan. 9th, 8:15pm ET (CBS)

NFC Wild Card Weekend:
Seattle at Minnesota – Sunday Jan. 10th, 1:05pm ET (NBC)

Green Bay at Washington – Sunday Jan. 10, 4:40pm ET (FOX)

AFC Divisional Round:
Cincinnati/Houston/Kansas City at New England – Sat Jan. 16th, 4:35pm ET (CBS)

Houston/Kansas City/Pittsburgh at Denver – Sun Jan 17th, 4:40pm ET (CBS)

NFC Divisional Round:
Minnesota/Washington/Green Bay at Arizona – Sat Jan. 16th, 8:15pm ET (NBC)

Washington/Green Bay/Seattle at Carolina – Sun Jan. 17th, 1:05pm ET (FOX)

The AFC Championship game will be played on Sunday January 24th and will air on CBS, with a start time of 3:05pm ET, while the NFC Championship game will be played at 6:40pm ET on FOX.

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About Ian Logue

Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.