Who would Patriots play in next round of the playoffs? It could be the Titans or Bengals

Ryan Miller, The Providence Journal
·1 min read
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If the No. 6 New England Patriots defeat the No. 3 Buffalo Bills in a road AFC Wild-Card game Saturday they'll need to wait another day to find out who they play in the Divisional Round.

The NFL playoff bracket gets re-seeded after each round, and home field is determined by seeding number rather than a fixed bracket.

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That means the lowest remaining seed after the wild-card round travels to the No. 1 seed Tennessee Titans. The second-lowest remaining seed travels to the second-highest remaining seed.

The No. 4 Cincinnati Bengals defeated the No. 5 Oakland Raiders, 26-19, in the early game Saturday. It was Cincinnati's first playoff win since 1990.

If No. 2 Kansas City beats No. 7 Pittsburgh, the Patriots travel to Nissan Stadium to play the top-seeded Tennessee Titans. If the Steelers upset the defending AFC champions, the Patriots play the Bengals on the road.

The AFC and NFC will each have a divisional game on Saturday, Jan. 22, and Sunday, Jan. 23.

The AFC Championship Game is at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 30, on CBS. Home field goes to the highest-remaining seed in each conference. New England could only host the AFC Championship Game if it's against the Steelers.

Here are the scenarios after heading into Sunday's 8:15 p.m. game between the Chiefs and Steelers:

Kansas City wins: New England plays Tennessee

Pittsburgh wins: New England plays Cincinnati

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Patriots playoff scenarios: New England could play Titans or Bengals next