2012 NFL Playoff Predictions: 5 Players Who Will Light Up Wild-Card Round

In order to succeed in the playoffs, NFL teams need their stars to come out.

Thankfully for us all, it's pretty common for the league's brightest stars to shine in the playoffs. When they do, we immediately assign them legend status and start making grandiose proclamations about how awesome they are.

Yup, we tend to exaggerate. And rest assured, we'll be doing it again this weekend. The 2012 playoffs are going to begin, and that means awesome things are going to happen.

I would expect awesome things from the five players listed below. All you have to do is sit back, switch on your TV and take it all in

Note: It would have been too easy to include all quarterbacks on this list, so I decided to include no quarterbacks. 

5. Darren Sproles, New Orleans Saints

For my money, the most unappreciated player in the NFL this season was Darren Sproles. All he did was set a new NFL record for all-purpose yards, he led the Saints in rushing, and he finished second on the team with 86 receptions.

Put simply, outside of Drew Brees, Sproles was the most dangerous weapon the Saints had this season.

Not much is going to change against the Detroit Lions on Saturday. The Saints will continue to do their thing on offense, and they would be wise to incorporate Sproles as often as possible.

Especially when it comes to their passing attack. The Lions allowed 95 receptions to opposing running backs this season, and these receptions tended to kill them.

That's New Orleans' excuse to get Sproles the ball early and often. The Saints won't regret it.

4. Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons

I have this strange feeling that Sunday's tilt between the Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants is going to be a shootout.

In a game like that, you have to watch out for Julio Jones. He is custom-built for shootouts.

Jones had an up and down season in his rookie campaign, but he finished the year with six touchdown catches in his final four games. Matt Ryan looks to him when he's looking to throw down the field, and Jones rarely disappoints him.

If there's one way to beat the Giants, it's by putting their secondary to the test. It has been crippled by injuries, and it just isn't very capable of matching up with the league's best receivers.

If Jones isn't one of the league's best receivers already, he soon will be. He'll build his case with a monster game against the Giants.

3. Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions

Megatron went missing for a few weeks in the middle of the regular season, but he ended it the same way he started it: By dominating.

In his last three games, Megatron caught 24 passes for 560 yards and four touchdowns. There are great numbers, and there are those numbers. "Great" doesn't quite cut it.

Megatron's recent hot streak doesn't bode well for the Saints. It's not so much that Johnson is doing anything different these days. The only thing that's different is that Matthew Stafford seems to have remembered that good things will happen if he chucks it up for grabs in Johnson's general direction.

He will continue to do that against the Saints, and Megatron won't let him down.

2. Victor Cruz, New York Giants

When the Giants need a big play, they go to Victor Cruz.

That's really all there is to it. Cruz has emerged as Eli Manning's go-to guy, and he has at least one big play in him for every game that he plays in. Manning just has to find him, and Cruz will do the rest.

If Sunday's game against the Falcons does indeed turn into a shootout, Cruz will pretty much have to be the guy who balances out Julio Jones. The difference is that Cruz is a more productive and a more versatile receiver than Jones. He's billed as a deep threat, but Manning can find him for short completions as well.

Manning will use Cruz in both capacities against the Falcons. By the end of the game, Cruz's number will jump off the stat sheet.

1. Arian Foster, Houston Texans

If the Texans are going to advance past the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday, they're going to need somebody to step up and take some weight off T.J. Yates' shoulders.

Who better to do that than Arian Foster?

After bursting onto the scene to lead the league in rushing in 2010, Foster was just as good in 2011. He excelled both running and catching the football, pacing a Houston offense that finished second in the league in rushing. 

The Bengals are a team that plays the run pretty well, and they handled Foster pretty well when they played the Texans during the regular season, but that won't convince the Texans to shy away from using Foster. He's going to get the ball a lot.

Take my word for it, he's going to do great things. You get the sense that Foster is just one of these guys who is born for the postseason.