5 NFL Teams That Could Be the Next New York Giants

The New York Giants won their second Super Bowl in four years with clutch quarterback play, a group of talented and reliable wide receivers and an amazingly terrorizing offensive line, among other things. 

Which other NFL teams can be the next New York Giants in 2012 and beyond? 

Let's take a look. 

Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons have an extremely similar makeup to the New York Giants and are the team most likely to make a Giants-type run in the playoffs. 

They have a quarterback who's good and sometimes borderline great, but has yet to prove himself in the playoffs. With Roddy White, Julio Jones and Harry Douglas, they have a young and potentially electric receiving corp.

Atlanta hasn't been as successful rushing the passer as the Giants, but most teams aren't. They do have the talent along their defensive front and could improve with a legitimate pass-rusher in the draft.

The secondaries are similar too. Both have skilled cover men that ultimately depend on the pressure on the quarterback.  

Detroit Lions

This one's fairly obvious. Matthew Stafford is oozing with upside and he quietly threw for 5,038 yards with 41 touchdowns in 2011. How crazy is that?

The defensive line is young and relentless in pursuit of the quarterback. Ndamukong Suh, Cliff Avril and company registered 41 sacks in 2011, good for 10th in the NFL.

At 25 years old, Avril is a top free agent priority for Detroit's front office.

They'll also need to get more production out of receivers not named Calvin Johnson, but the similarities are striking. 

Houston Texans 

The Texans run the ball more than Giants, and with Arian Foster are far more effective on the ground. I'm zeroing in on the tremendous amount of talent on Houston's defensive line in this comparison. 

A healthy Matt Schaub, stat-wise, is comparable to Eli Manning and with the team almost assuredly looking to add one or two receivers to complement Andre Johnson, the wideout contingent could be well on its way. 

Think about the Texans' defensive line, one of the more under-appreciated groups in football. 

Connor Barwin had 11.5 sacks in 2011. Antonio Smith had 6.5 and made the Pro Bowl. Brooks Reed tallied 6.0 sacks as a replacement for, arguably, the team's best defensive player Mario Williams, who was out for the majority of the season. 

Is the next "NASCAR" group being established in Houston?

Cincinnati Bengals 

I still need to see a lot more from Andy Dalton, but he got off to quite the start as a rookie this season. He's got his go-to receiver in A.J. Green and simply needs one or two more weapons on the outside. 

The Bengals defensive line was right up there with the Giants in terms of overall ability to disrupt plays and get after the passer on a consistent basis. 

Geno Atkins is probably the best pass-rushing defensive tackle in the game and Michael Johnson, much like Jason Pierre-Paul is a freak athletically and has the potential to blossom into a star. 

With another wideout alongside Green, the young Cincinnati club can definitely become the next New York Giants. 

Follow @ChrisTrapasso