NFL Playoff Picks: Which Wild-Card Teams Could Produce Upsets?

When the Wild Card round of the 2012 NFL Playoffs commence this upcoming weekend, which underdog teams could pull off an upset?

From a betting standpoint, the team with the higher seeding in the playoffs is the favored team. This certainly makes sense for the majority of the matchups, with the exception of one: the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Giants.

The only reason why the Giants are seeded higher than the Falcons is because they won their division. The seeding doesn't take into account the overall record, and that hurts the Falcons because they had more wins this season (New York finished with nine wins while the Falcons finished with 10).

And if you don't think that's a big deal, just take look at what the Seattle Seahawks did to the New Orleans Saints in last year's playoffs.

Here's a look at the four underdog teams who can produce an upset this weekend and their chances of doing so.

4. Denver Broncos: Highly Unlikely

The Denver Broncos received their first bit of good news on Tuesday when they learned that Rashard Mendenhall and Ryan Clark will miss the upcoming game. It will certainly help, but how much will it affect the outcome of the game is the real question.

The Pittsburgh Steelers like to run the ball and use it to set up the play-action pass and take chances down the field. Missing Mendenhall will hurt, but Issac Redman is a very serviceable backup who filled in nicely for Mendenhall when he went down in Week 17 against the Browns.

Missing Ryan Clark will also be a blow, but the Steelers, who have the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL, won't be needing their safety to shut Tim Tebow down.

The Broncos' gimmicky offense was exposed at the worst possible time of the year. The team's recipe for success is built around playing stout defense and not turning the ball over, but both have been a problem for the Broncos the last few weeks. 

The defense has surrendered 40 points twice in the past three weeks, and the offense turned the ball over nine times in the last three games.

If you like money, don't bet the mortgage on the Broncos winning this game. Although anything can happen when you have Tebow under center...

3. Detroit Lions: Possible, but Not Likely

If you are not a fan of defensive struggles and are drawn towards the fireworks of high-scoring affairs, you should watch the New Orleans Saints and the Detroit Lions play because it will not disappoint.

Even though the Lions are a little more of a defensive-oriented team, both pride themselves on their ability to score and can hang with the best of them if a shootout is in order.

With Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford at quarterback, would you expect anything else?

The Saints are the top passing team in the NFL—334.2 yards per game—and the Lions aren't too far behind—300.9 yards per game.

What the Lions have working for them, if anything, is the Saints' lack of a pass defense. The Saints' secondary ranked 30th in the league by surrendering 259.8 yards per contest.

But what this game will come down to is home-field advantage. The Saints are unbeaten in the Louisiana Superdome this season, and Brees and the rest of the offense works like a machine when playing on their own turf.

There will be plenty of points scored in this matchup, but count on Brees and the rest of the Saints to prevail.

2. Cincinnati Bengals: Slight Chance

If Matt Schaub was healthy and playing in this game, the Cincinnati Bengals wouldn't stand much of a chance in this one. And that's disregarding the fact that Mario Williams will be out and Andre Johnson won't be 100 percent.

The thing about the Houston Texans is that they have started to slump at the worst possible time of the year. T.J. Yates has done an admirable job filling in for the injured Schaub, but this offense just isn't anything special with him at quarterback.

In the last three games, the offense has only been able to muster up an average of 17 points per game. The worst part about it is that two of those games were against two of the worst scoring defenses in the NFL—the Indianapolis Colts and the Carolina Panthers.

The Cincinnati Bengals, on the other hand, are a team built for the playoffs. Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton, who is playing far beyond his years, is simply asked to manage the game and let the defense keep the score close.

With two struggling offenses, but two very talented defenses playing in this game, expect this one to be a defensive duel that goes down to the last possession.

I still expect Houston to win because of their defense, but it's their offense that makes me skeptical.

1. Atlanta Falcons: Very Possible

Why the New York Giants are favored to win this game beats me.

I believe the Atlanta Falcons are the better team of the two, as well as one of the most well-rounded teams in the NFL. They honestly don't have a weakness, although one could argue that their secondary is a little suspect.

The Falcons even finished with one more win this year than the Giants despite having the same strength of schedule in 2011.

The Giants' defense is susceptible to the pass. They rank 29th in the NFL by allowing 255.1 yards per game through the air. Now they'll have to try to cover Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez with Matt Ryan throwing passes to them.

And oh yeah, don't forget about the bowling ball, Michael Turner, running the football. 

To make matters worse, Giants defensive end Justin Tuck put the nail in the coffin when he decided to stir the pot and call out the Falcons' offensive line.

It's never a smart move to talk trash before the game because all it does is feed the opposing team and give them more valuable motivation.

Just look at the last time Tuck decided to open his mouth and call out his opponents. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith went on to have arguably the best performance of his career.