NFL Playoff Picture: Which Teams Are Most Likely to Stumble in January?

We've seen it happen to teams like the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens most notably in January, and that's stumbling in January.

Despite the luxury of making the postseason, Super Bowl rings are by which NFL teams and players are judged.

That being said, here are three teams who fail in the playoffs.

Atlanta Falcons (9-6)

Atlanta has playoff experience make no mistake about it. They were the No. 5 seed in 2008 and the NFC's No. 1 seed in 2010. Unfortunately, they lost both times are are 0-2 when it matters most.

This season, "The Dirty Birds" have clinched another playoff berth however, have yet to prove they can make a deep run. The offense can be explosive but the defense fails to get a consistent pass rush and struggles against the pass (ranks No. 19, allows 235.1 per game).

Teams like New Orleans and Green Bay as we saw last season and this season, have ate their secondary alive. And until the Falcons prove they can shutdown a potent offense for 60 minutes, they'll be lucky to win in the wild-card round.

Houston Texans (10-5)

Solely because of injuries will the Houston Texans fail in January. Their lack of postseason experience isn't the main intangible against them, because we've seen the inexperienced overcome numerous times before (but it doesn't hurt to have it).

The rush offense and their defense is arguably the best in the biz however, it's the absolute zero threat of a passing game that's going to defy them.

Regardless of WR Andre Johnson's status, no postseason defense like Baltimore or Pittsburgh is going to respect T.J. Yates' ability to throw. They will stack the box to shut down RB Arian Foster and force Yates to beat them.

And although Yates has proven he can get the job done, doing so against the Bengals and Falcons is not the same as the Patriots, Ravens or Steelers.

Denver Broncos (8-7)

Want the secret recipe for beating Denver? Have an offense that is capable of scoring more than 17 points. That's it.

The Lions, Patriots and Bills proved that with Tim Tebow under center as all three put up 40-plus points on the Broncos. The Denver defense has most definitely improved and the pass rush is solid.

Only problem, however, is that Denver can't consistently move the ball, score TDs at a high rate once inside the red zone and the defense isn't good enough yet to goose-egg opponents.

Force Tebow to beat you via aerial assault (rank No. 31, average 160 per game) while burning the Broncos susceptible pass defense (rank No. 20, allow 235.3 per game) and they're not beating anyone in January.

Follow John Rozum on Twitter @ Sportswriter27.