NFL Playoffs 2012: Predicting Each Conference's Top Dark Horse Team

Every year, there are playoff teams with the tools to get the job done, but because they finished the regular season badly, didn't have an overly impressive record and/or are dealing with injuries, we don't expect them to make a deep run.

There are always dark horse teams in each conference—last year, the New York Jets were such a team in the AFC; in the NFC, it was Green Bay last season and the New York Giants in 2007.

So who has the role this January? A new team and a team that's been there before.

AFC Dark Horse: Houston Texans

Thanks to an abundance of injuries throughout the course of the season, as well as a season-ending three-game skid, the Houston Texans don't appear to be a team that can make a deep run.

Unfortunately for everyone else, they can.

Houston has arguably the NFL's best defense and most consistent rushing offense (ranks No. 2). However, because of their depletion at QB and the pesky leg injury to receiver Andre Johnson, it's easy to dismiss the Texans.

Not to mention that they have never before won the AFC South or made a playoff appearance.

No one is expecting TJ Yates to shred any playoff defense, and although Johnson played last week, we can't be sure as to how effective he'll be on Saturday. To that end, defenses will stack the box to limit Arian Foster's production and blitz Yates relentlessly.

With all those odds against them, and the fact that the NFL is an offensive-oriented league, a team like Houston—who isn't explosive but has a good defense—isn't expected to compete. Because, let's be honest, will the Texans outscore the New England Patriots or will their defense outplay Baltimore's?

Those are the invariable factors playing against Houston, which also make them the AFC's dark horse. An excellent ground game, the potential to be effective through the air and a complete defense is one recipe for success a lot of cynics neglect to acknowledge.

NFC Dark Horse: New York Giants

The Giants have been here before, as mentioned in the intro, with their 2007 team.

Coach Tom Coughlin's 2011 team really isn't much different. The Giants have a great pass rush led by Jason Pierre-Paul, and he's backed by other solid players such as Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora.

The Giants' pass defense may be weak and vulnerable, but if that pass rush gets going, no one will have the time to throw against them. Offensively, New York has one of the best passing games in the NFL, with Eli Manning almost hitting 5,000 yards this season.

Yes, Eli—not Peyton—almost hit 5,000 yards. And he did so with a lackluster ground game decimated by injuries, a new tight end in Jake Ballard and a receiving corps in which Domenik Hixon's absence was proven obsolete by the once-unknown Victor Cruz.

Now, with Ahmad Bradshaw's improving health, New York's two-back tandem of Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs is starting to roll again.

Add in New York's playoff experience, Eli's clutch performances in big games and the Giants' two-game win streak to close out the regular season, and you don't want to mess with The Big Blue Wrecking Crew in January.

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