NFL Power Ranks: Week 15

Another very crazy week in the NFL is in the books. The Colts remained unbeaten on Thursday night and stay comfortably atop these computerized rankings for the 9th week in a row, but some interesting things happened below them. Dallas pulled off the impossible on the road (especially for them in December) and bet undefeated New Orleans. Even though they are still 13-1, the Saints have now dropped to 4th in the power rankings, falling behind the red hot Eagles, who jump 4 spots all the way to #2 and Chargers, who stay put at #3. Sure, their records aren’t as good, but they are solid both offensively and defensively and have had some dominating wins over the past few weeks, compared to New Orleans’ fading D and somewhat shaky play. We’ll see how things end up. Both the Packers and Vikings lost this week. The Pack managed to hang onto the #5 spot after their last second loss to Pittsburgh, while the Vikings dropped to #7 after being inexplicably killed by Carolina. Uh oh, I think Favre’s clock might be up…

On the bottom side of things, the Browns and Chiefs played maybe the game of the year, a 41-34 shootout where Jerome Harrison nearly broke the single game rushing record and Josh Cribbs broke the career kickoff return record. Crazy game for 2 teams that had 5 combined wins going into the game. The Browns’ win moved them up to #28, while the Chiefs fell to #30. The Bucs also won their 2nd game, over Seattle, to move to #29. Detroit got pushed back to #31 and the Rams almost got a win but lost yet again.

Not too many big moves this late in the season. The Texans jumped 5 spots to stay in the playoff hunt and I already mentioned the Eagles. The teams that fell the hardest this week were both from Florida, the Dolphins and Jaguars, who hurt their playoff chances by losing to the Titans and Colts, respectively.

So how do things look heading into the playoffs? Let’s start with the AFC. The Colts and Chargers appear to be on a collision course in the AFC Championship game but the last few weeks will be interesting in the AFC North, where Baltimore sits only 1 game back of Cincinnati, and the insane wild card race. Right now, the ranks are predicting that Baltimore catches Cincinnati but in reality all the Bengals need to do is beat Kansas City this week to clinch the division. That said, the highest non-likely division winners are the Ravens at #6 and Jets at #11. However, the ranks don’t know the Jets last 2 games, which are against Indy and Cincy. There is a chance Cincy will have nothing to play for in Week 17, but if they win this week they will likely be playing for the #3 seed to delay playing the Colts for a week in the playoffs. Because of this, I think the Jets are done. The Broncos are next. They have the edge with an 8-6 record but have to play in Philly this week.

In a totally non-ranking based prediction by looking at schedules I predict the final records of the bunched up teams will be:
Ravens 10-6
Broncos 9-7
Dolphins 9-7
Titans 8-8
Jaguars 8-8
Jets 7-9
Steelers 7-9
Texans 7-9

I think the Steelers’ win this week didn’t solve all of their problems, and I can easily see them losing to Baltimore at home and at Miami, but they can really shake things up and win the last 2 games. I’m just looking forward to sitting back and watching.

In the NFC, things are a lot more hammered down, with only the Giants still alive on the outside looking in. The Eagles appear to be the hottest team right now, and can possibly even steal a bye from the Vikings while eliminating the Cowboys from the playoffs in week 17. How ideal would that be? The Saints are going to do their thing in the playoffs, and I think the Packers could be a strong sleeper. The Cardinals are kings of the crap pile known as the NFC West and will probably make a nice victim for the Pack in the first round.

The Full Ranks:
1. Colts – 88.49 – Even
2. Eagles – 77.07 – +4
3. Chargers – 76.57 – Even
4. Saints – 75.69 – -2
5. Packers – 68.30 – -1
6. Ravens – 68.23 – +3
7. Vikings – 66.94 – -2
8. Patriots – 64.70 – -1
9. Cowboys – 61.14 – +2
10. Bengals – 59.11 – Even
11. Jets – 57.96 – -3
12. Broncos – 57.58 – Even
13. Titans – 55.55 – +2
14. Texans – 53.89 – +5
15. Giants – 53.44 – +3
16. Cardinals – 52.42 – +1
17. 49ers – 50.68 – -3
18. Falcons – 49.87 – +3
19. Dolphins – 46.21 – -6
20. Jaguars – 46.11 – -4
21. Panthers – 45.65 – +4
22. Steelers – 45.26 – +1
23. Bills – 43.74 – -3
24. Seahawks – 37.67 – -2
25. Raiders – 34.97 – +2
26. Bears – 33.40 – -2
27. Redskins – 31.20 – -1
28. Browns – 28.27 – +1
29. Buccaneers – 24.80 – +2
30. Chiefs – 24.03 – -2
31. Lions – 16.57 – -1
32. Rams – 12.12 – Even