NFL Playoff Predictions: Overrated Teams Destined for Postseason Failure

These teams come into the playoffs with Super Bowl hopes and expectations, but they are not nearly good enough to fulfill those hopes.

The following are three teams that are going to fall far short of their lofty goals.

New England Patriots

The Patriots' defense is currently being held together by Elmers Glue, thread and Bill Belichick's dark powers, and they are winning because the offense is carrying them.

These are not the ingredients to use to brew up postseason success.

To understand the state of their defense you needn't look any further than their past two games. The Patriots have given up a combined 52 points to the Colts and Redskins. Those teams are ranked 29th and 27th respectively in scoring.

The Patriots allowed each team to score a fraction less than 10 points more than their season average. At the root of their defensive woes is their pass defense. They are 32nd in the league in passing yards allowed.

Other than CB Devin McCourty, their secondary is comprised of no-name players that would struggle to make the roster of any other team, let alone play or start.

This weak secondary is going to make it far to easy for playoff teams to exploit them, and with the high-quality defenses they will face in the AFC their offense will not be able to keep up.

Predictions: Out by the second round of the playoffs

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers are nowhere near as good as their 10-3 record suggests. They only do one thing exceptionally well, and that is stop the run. This is not going to do them much good against the dominant passing teams they are going to face in the NFC playoffs.

The 49ers are 18th in passing yards allowed and 11th in yards allowed per pass. What is particularly troublesome, though, is the fact they are getting worse on pass defense. Over their past three games San Francisco has allowed 7.5 yards per pass, which would rank it 28th for the season.

It is important to keep in mind the team's last three games have been against the Cardinals, Rams and Ravens. Those are not exactly three aerial juggernauts. On the season they rank 15th, 31st and 22nd respectively.

Consider that the 49ers are staring at a second-round matchup with the vertically-prolific New Orleans Saints, it is easy to see they will not advance past the second round.

Prediction: Out by the second round of the playoffs

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens defense will not be enough to carry them to the Super Bowl. This offense does not have enough weapons to produce through the postseason.

Joe Flacco is suffering through an inconsistent season filled with questionable throws and wildly off-target passes. On the season, Flacco is hitting just 56.6 percent of his passes and has just a 79.9 passer rating.

What really hurts Flacco and the Ravens' playoff chances is the fact they do not have a consistent running game.

Ray Rice is having a tremendous season with 1,029 rushing yards, but this running game can be completely stifled by good run defenses.

Rice has had five games where he has averaged 3.5 yards or less per carry. He has had three games where he has averaged 2.8 yards or less per carry.

These weaknesses on offense are going to cost the Ravens in the playoffs. Baltimore has already beaten Pittsburgh twice, but it won't beat the Steelers a third time. For the second straight year the Ravens will be eliminated from the playoffs by the Steelers.

Prediction: Out by the AFC Championship Game