Postseason football returns to historic Lambeau Field following a three-year absence this Saturday, when the resurgent Green Bay Packers begin their Super Bowl quest with a NFC Divisional Playoff showdown against the Seattle Seahawks. After missing out on the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons, the Packers reclaimed their status as one of the NFL's elite teams with a banner 2007 campaign. Green Bay raised plenty of eyebrows by amassing a 13-3 overall record, a five-game improvement over second-year head coach Mike McCarthy's debut season, and ran away with the NFC North Division en route to a bye in last week's Wild Card round. The 13 regular-season wins were the Packers' most since 1997, a year in which legendary quarterback Brett Favre claimed his third consecutive NFL MVP award and led the storied franchise to its most recent Super Bowl appearance. Favre enjoyed a renaissance as well in 2007. The future Hall of Famer rebounded from back-to-back subpar seasons by throwing for 4,155 yards, the third-highest yardage total of his 17-year career, and producing a 95.7 quarterback rating that was his best since 1996.

While that win was impressive, it also came at Qwest Field, where Seattle has gone 8-1 this year. Conversely, the Seahawks posted a 3-5 road record during the regular season, with the last two defeats coming at the hands of also-rans Carolina and Atlanta. Seattle also hasn't had much success away from home on the playoff trail. The Seahawks are 1-6 lifetime on the road in postseason games and haven't won one as the visitor since defeating Miami in an AFC Divisional matchup on December 31, 1983. The Seahawks have come close to ending that lengthy drought, though. The club's two most recent road playoff losses were in overtime, the previously- mentioned defeat to the Packers and last year's 27-24 setback to eventual NFC champ Chicago at Soldier Field. Green Bay also hasn't enjoyed a great deal of postseason success at home as of late. The Packers have dropped two of their last three playoff encounters at Lambeau, including a 31-17 upset loss to Minnesota during the 2004 campaign. Saturday's tilt will also pit Green Bay against former head coach and current Seahawks sideline boss Mike Holmgren, who directed the Pack to six straight playoff appearances and two Super Bowls during a successful seven-year run from 1992-98. Additionally, Hasselbeck spent his first three NFL seasons in Green Bay as Favre's understudy before being brought over to the Seahawks by Holmgren in a 2001 trade.

TAKE GREEN BAY PACKERS MINUS -8 POINTS

 If the Jacksonville Jaguars are truly worthy of status among the NFL elite, they'll have a chance to prove as much on Saturday night. The Jags will face arguably the tallest task in their franchise history on Saturday, when they take the Gillette Stadium field to face the mighty New England Patriots in an AFC Divisional Playoff. Though Jacksonville might remain something of a mystery to the NFL-viewing public, New England's 2007 journey has been well-chronicled. The Patriots, who have already achieved the first 16-0 regular season in league history, can on Saturday become just the second team in NFL annals to win their first 17 games of a campaign, joining the 1972 Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins. The Jaguars will be up against both that potential piece of history, and New England's record-setting offense. The Patriots set NFL marks for single-season points (589) and touchdowns (75) during 2007, while quarterback Tom Brady's 50 touchdown passes and wideout Randy Moss' 23 TD catches were also all-time records.

But, as Bill Belichick's team well knows, all of the above achievements are insignificant in a single-elimination playoff setting, and New England is undoubtedly taking Jacksonville, one of the league's hottest teams, quite seriously. The Jaguars scored their first postseason win since 1999 last Saturday, defeating the Steelers, 31-29, in a thrilling AFC First-Round Playoff. With the win, Jacksonville became the first team in NFL history to prevail in Pittsburgh twice in one season, a mark the Jaguars pulled off during a four- week span. Jack Del Rio's squad is 7-2 in its past nine games, with the only losses during that stretch a three-point setback at Indianapolis (28-25) on Dec. 2nd and a 42-28 loss at Houston in a Week 17 game during which the Jags rested many of their starters. Jacksonville has now scored 24 or more points in 11 consecutive games since a 29-7 loss to Indianapolis on Oct. 22nd.

TAKE THE OVER 49.5 POINTS

 The San Diego Chargers will have an opportunity to reach their first AFC Championship since 1994 on Sunday afternoon, but will have to get through the reigning world champions in order to make it there. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts will be the team standing in the Chargers' way at the RCA Dome in Sunday's AFC Divisional Playoff, and Indy has significantly more experience with that type of white-hot spotlight than does San Diego. With a win over the Bolts, Indy will have reached its third AFC Championship in the past five years, and will have notched its eighth playoff win in head coach Tony Dungy's six years on the job. By comparison, the Chargers have eight postseason victories in their 48-year franchise history, and one of those came in last Sunday's 17-6 triumph over depleted Tennessee in an AFC First-Round tilt.

Still, San Diego has ample reason to come into Sunday's game as a confident bunch. The Chargers have now won seven straight games since starting the year a disappointing 5-5, and also have a positive recent history against the team they will be facing at the RCA Dome. San Diego was a 23-21 home winner when it hosted Indianapolis back on Nov. 11, a game in which Manning threw a career-high six interceptions. The Chargers also scored a 26-17 road upset in their most recent visit to Indianapolis, in Week 15 of the 2005 season, a game that knocked the then-13-0 Colts off of their perfect pedestal. Indianapolis comes off a First-Round playoff bye, a game that was preceded by a 16-10 Week 17 loss to Tennessee. The Colts, who saw their six-game winning streak go by the wayside in that contest, rested many of their key players for large stretches of that game.

TAKE THE OVER 45.5 POINTS

 The New York Giants were able to end a lengthy playoff losing streak last week. Now, the Dallas Cowboys will be the ones attempting to break out of a long postseason drought when these two rivals square off this Sunday in an intriguing NFC Division Playoff matchup at Texas Stadium. It's been more than 11 years since the Cowboys' last playoff victory, a 40-15 home triumph over Minnesota in the Wild Card round on December 28, 1996. Dallas has lost five consecutive postseason games and gone through four different head coaches since that win, which came under the regime of Barry Switzer. Then again, the Cowboys haven't had a team as successful as this one over the last decade. Dallas' 13-3 record entering Sunday's showdown tied a franchise record for wins in a regular season, matching the mark of the 1992 squad which captured Super Bowl XXVII. Dallas earned the top seed in this year's conference playoffs and handled the Giants in each of the two earlier meetings between the NFC East inhabitants in 2007. However, New York has been the more impressive of the clubs as of late.

The Cowboys closed out the regular season with losses in two of their final three games and haven't played at a championship level since recording a 37-27 decision over NFC North champion Green Bay in Week 13. In the team's most recent outing, a usually-potent Dallas offense mustered season lows of 147 yards and seven first downs in a 27-6 setback at Washington on December 30. Dallas played that game without the services of star wide receiver Terrell Owens, who suffered a high ankle sprain in a Week 16 triumph at Carolina and could be sidelined for this pivotal encounter as well. If the game-changing All-Pro cannot play on Sunday, it would be a serious blow to the Cowboys, as Owens burned the Giants for a pair of touchdowns in each of Dallas' two victories over New York during the regular season. While the Cowboys sputtered down the stretch, the fifth-seeded Giants have proven their playoff worth with a string of strong outings. After securing a postseason berth with a hard-fought win at Buffalo on December 23, New York delivered an inspired showing during a narrow 38-35 loss to unbeaten New England in the regular-season finale, then disposed of NFC South champ Tampa Bay in last week's opening round of the playoffs.

The Giants' 24-14 victory over the Buccaneers was led by a sound defensive effort and an extremely efficient performance under center from Eli Manning. The highly-scrutinized quarterback completed 20-of-27 passes for 185 yards and a pair of touchdowns to help Big Blue snap a four-game skid in postseason play. Prior to last Sunday's breakthrough, New York had not won a playoff game since a 41-0 rout of Minnesota in the 2000 NFC Championship. The win was also the eighth in a row on the road for the Giants, who haven't lost as the visiting team since a 45-35 setback to the Cowboys at Texas Stadium in the 2007 season opener. Dallas also came through with a 31-20 verdict over New York at the Meadowlands in November, but has never defeated a foe three times in the same season. The Cowboys swept a home-and-home series with Arizona in 1998, but the Cardinals turned the tables with a 20-7 upset win in Dallas during that year's NFC Wild Card Playoffs. The Cowboys do have history on their side, however. Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, teams with an opportunity to earn a three-game sweep of an opponent have succeeded on 11 of those occasions.

TAKE NEW YORK GIANTS PLUS +7.5 POINTS