A total of 14 teams progress to the NFL play-offs, seven from each Conference, in which 12 knockout games are played over three weekends to decide who will reach the Super Bowl.
Teams from each Conference are kept apart until the Super Bowl and, in each round, the highest seed remaining plays at home to the lowest seed.
The top seed in each Conference earns a bye for the first round, known as wildcard weekend, when six games are played featuring seeds two to seven.
The winners then join the top seeds in the divisional round, and the four winners there meet in the Conference Championships -effectively the Super Bowl semi-finals – as the two winners earn the right to represent their Conference in the big game.
This year it promises to be some show as it will be the first Super Bowl to be played in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium, completed in 2020 for the Raiders’ relocation to ‘Sin City’.
Results from wildcard weekend