NFL Playoff Predictions: 3 Teams That Will Ride Momentum into Postseason

There are three NFL teams—the New Orleans Saints, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers—who are carrying the most momentum into the 2012 NFL playoffs:

New Orleans Saints

Since losing on Halloween weekend to the St. Louis Rams, the Saints have rattled off eight straight wins. Five of those wins came against teams with winning records, and the Saints offense scored 40 or more points a whopping four times during that stretch.

Can you really ask for anything more than beating good teams and scoring points leading into the postseason?

New Orleans also gets the opportunity to continue the momentum they've built with a first-round game at home against the Detroit Lions. Another big win could propel the Saints to a deep playoff run.  

New York Giants

A lot of people want to compare the Giants in 2011 to the team that won the Super Bowl in 2007, but I think this Giants team is more like the 2010 Packers. Just like Green Bay last season, New York held control of their own destiny over the last two games.

With wins over the Jets and Dallas Cowboys, the Giants could ensure their spot in the postseason. That's exactly what they did.

Now, after playing two de facto playoff games to end the regular season, the Giants strut into the playoffs as a team no one wants to face. Could they make another three-game run through the NFC to earn a trip to Super Bowl XLVI? Both the Giants and Packers have proven the possibility in recent seasons.    

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers are the best team in the postseason field that no one is talking about. But why? Pittsburgh lost just one game—a Monday night blackout in San Francisco where Ben Roethlisberger couldn't push off his badly injured ankle—over the last seven weeks of the season.

Now that Roethlisberger's ankle is slowly healing, the Steelers have to be among the AFC favorites. There's no doubt that this team can go into both New England and Baltimore and leave with wins.