NFL Playoff Scenarios: Which Dark Horses Will Make Surprising Runs?

Now that the NFL playoff picture is officially set, it's time to start projecting which teams will benefit from winnable matchups. There are several lower seeds, most notably the three teams listed below, which could end up lasting longer than people anticipate.

Atlanta Falcons

Hidden in the shadows behind the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints is a Falcons offense that is rounding into form at the right time. It took a few months before Matt Ryan got on the same page with all of his weapons, but it appears it has finally happened.

That makes them dangerous not only for a wild card round game against the New York Giants, who are still working to overcome a bunch of secondary injuries, but to all NFC contenders. If their defense can step up against elite opponents instead of coming up small, the Falcons will be around for awhile.

Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati benefited from an easy schedule and was able to back into the playoffs when most of the other hopefuls faded away. The Bengals' fortunes continued to treat them well by pairing them up with the banged up Houston Texans in the first round.

The Texans are dealing with a revolving door situation at quarterback and haven't been able to generate any consistency on offense because of it. That puts the Bengals in prime position to pull off the upset to keep their underdog dreams alive for at least another week.

Pittsburgh Steelers

It's hard to categorize a 12-4 team as a dark horse, but when you consider that the Steelers will need to win three road games to reach Indianapolis for the Super Bowl, it really is the case. Luckily for Pittsburgh, most of the team's roster is battle-tested.

Even though Rashard Mendenhall could be out, the Steelers aren't as reliant on the running game as they were in the past. Ben Roethlisberger and his dynamic pass catching duo of Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown will ensure that Pittsburgh is not an easy out, regardless of the road factor.