The New England Patriots found out Sunday night when their playoffs will begin. Who they play is another matter.

The Patriots will have a home game at 4:35 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10. The opponent will be the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts or Baltimore Ravens.

In any case, New England will have to win two home games to earn another berth in the Super Bowl.

As the NFL regular season ended Sunday, Baltimore returned to the playoffs and the Seattle Seahawks earned the right to play at home.

Baltimore made the postseason in the first five years with John Harbaugh as coach and Joe Flacco at quarterback, winning the 2012 title. They failed to get in last season, but a 20-10 victory Sunday, combined with San Diego’s 19-7 loss at Kansas City, did the trick.

The Ravens (10-6, the same record they had in their Super Bowl season), earned a wild card and will be seeded sixth in the AFC.

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“Anything can happen when you get into the playoffs,” Flacco said. “I won’t be surprised if in three weeks from now we’re still sitting here playing.”

Seattle, the defending Super Bowl champion, earned the top seed in the NFC by beating St. Louis, 20-6. The Seahawks, winners of the NFC West, were 7-1 at home at the intimidating CenturyLink Field and have a bye next week. They will play on Saturday, Jan. 10.

“Our main goal coming into the season was winning the division, but getting the No. 1 seed is just as big,” linebacker K.J. Wright said.

Green Bay won the NFC North by handling Detroit 30-20 and got the No. 2 seed in the conference and a bye. Both the Packers and Seahawks finished 12-4, with the tiebreaker Seattle’s opening victory against Green Bay.

Detroit (11-5) will play at NFC East champ Dallas (12-4) in the wild-card round next Sunday. Green Bay’s first game will be the following Sunday.

“We prefer to play here. So yeah, but this is playoff football now. Everything changes once we get going in two weeks.

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Playing at home doesn’t guarantee you anything and there are no guarantees, but this is definitely where we prefer to play,” Coach Mike McCarthy said.

Carolina (7-8-1) became the second division champion with a losing record in NFL history. Its 34-3 rout at Atlanta earned the NFC South title.

The Panthers will host injury-ravaged Arizona (11-5), which fell to San Francisco 20-17 but got the other NFC wild card. That game is next Saturday.

“The beautiful thing – record doesn’t matter,” Carolina Coach Ron Rivera said.

“That’s the best part.”

New England (12-4), the AFC East champion, will be off next weekend. Denver (12-4), the West winner, also will have a bye after defeating Oakland, 47-14. The Broncos will play next on Jan. 11.

Pittsburgh, which won the AFC North on Sunday night by defeating Cincinnati 27-17, will be home at 8:15 p.m. Saturday against Baltimore.

Cincinnati received a wild-card berth and will play Indianapolis (11-5), the AFC South champion.


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