Playoff opponents are like ice cream flavors. They’re all good, each with its own distinctive strength.

The New York Giants have four potential opponents in the wild-card round of the postseason: the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks. All are dangerous. All are winning teams deserving of their playoff position.

Eli Manning will take whatever playoff matchup the Giants get, but he'd be wise to root for something other than a visit to Seattle. Al Bello/Getty Images

The Giants already have faced two, beating the Lions at MetLife Stadium late in the season and losing to the Packers at Lambeau Field early in the season. That factors into the equation of best and worst matchups for Big Blue in the opening round of the postseason. So should the current form of each team and its health.

Locked in as the No. 5 seed, the Giants are going to play the division winner with the worst record in the NFC on the road. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will play the worst division winner or the opponent that gives them the best chance to win. Matchups are everything this time of year. Some stadiums are more hostile environments than others. Seattle falls into that category.

Here is how I rank the potential opponents, in terms of which team the Giants should most want to face in their first playoff game in five years:

1. Detroit Lions: They’re the least impressive of the potential opponents by a wide margin. They aren’t great offensively. They aren’t great defensively. They don’t put a ton of points on the board, nor are they especially stingy on defense. The Lions are in contention for the NFC North because quarterback Matthew Stafford pulled off a few fourth-quarter miracles along the way. That makes the Lions a worthwhile competitor, but not one that strikes fear into the opposition, even with the game being in Detroit. The Giants handled the Lions in Week 15, albeit in a tightly contested, low-scoring game (17-6) at home. Playing in Detroit wouldn’t be easy, but it would be the least of the potential evils.

2. Atlanta Falcons: It was a tough choice here between the Falcons and Packers, if only because Atlanta’s probably the better all-around team. But the Giants, with a pesky defense that doesn’t allow a lot of points, matches up better with the Falcons. Atlanta likes to run -- which the Giants defend well -- and doesn’t have a tight end who can give them fits deep down the middle of the field. The Falcons also have a sub-par defense that allows yards (364.4) and points (24.9 ppg), which would give the Giants a chance to avoid that full quarter of three-and-outs that seems inevitable in every game against a quality defense.

3. Green Bay Packers: The Packers have Aaron Rodgers. He’s scary. He’s the only quarterback in NFL history whom people have talked about being on the decline with a better than 5:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Rodgers has thrown 36 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions with one game remaining in the regular season. He has 14 touchdowns and no interceptions in his last six games. That’s downright petrifying. The Packers would also be riding a six-game winning streak if they faced the Giants. Green Bay can get after the quarterback (tied for fifth in NFL with 38 sacks), and the Pack exposed the Giants’ weakness at offensive tackle in the previous meeting between the teams. Who is to say they wouldn't do it again? The only saving grace when facing the Packers is that their pass defense (ranked 29th) is abysmal. That secondary can be exploited.

4. Seattle Seahawks: This is a team the Giants want to avoid, for numerous reasons. The Seahawks are seasoned and built for the postseason, with a defense that allows even fewer points (17.9 ppg) than the Giants. Seattle is strong against the pass and run, and gets after the quarterback consistently. This defense would give the Giants' inconsistent offense fits. It’s hard to imagine Eli Manning and Co. moving the ball well against a top defense like Seattle’s, given the Giants' struggles through the first 16 weeks this season. It would be even more difficult to do it in one of the toughest and loudest venues in the NFL, CenturyLink Field, where the Seahawks have won seven of eight this season. It’s also worth mentioning that Manning has one touchdown and seven turnovers in his last two games (2013 and ’14) against this Seattle defense.