After an NFL season that has been very tumultuous for just about any team that has been on top of these of the power ranks, I give my salute to the Falcons, who have now been the #1 ranked team in these ranks 5 weeks in a row, and have earned the smiling “Matt Ryan is #1” draft day photo to the right. The Falcons got the blow through the horrible Panthers this week in a 1 vs. 32 showdown, but some of the other top 5 teams had tricky matchups. The Patriots blew out the Bears in snowy Chicago to remain #2, Pittsburgh took care of Cincy to remain 3, and New Orleans beat up on St. Louis to remain #4. The Packers, however, lost Aaron Rodgers and as a result, suffered an awful loss to Detroit, dropping them to #9. Replacing them in the top 5 are the Eagles, who have been lurking around the #5 spot for the past few weeks.
One thing that you may notice this week that will seem odd, is that despite winning 31-0 over Kansas City, the Chargers stayed at #13 while the Chiefs actually moved up a spot to #8. This can be explained. The teams the Chargers were trying to catch, Baltimore and Giants, also got big enough wins to stay in front of San Diego. Meanwhile, the Packers, Bears, and Jets suffered even more devastating losses than the Chiefs (based on opponent strength and/or changes to the “recent success” attribute) knocking them all behind KC.
On the bottom side of things, I had the pleasure to attend live and in person the game between #28 Denver and #31 Arizona, which was won by the Cardinals in convincing fashion. As a result, the Cardinals moved up to #29 while Denver took their spot at #31. Detroit’s win over Green Bay moved them out of the bottom 5 to #25, and they were replaced by NFC West co-leader Seattle, who fell all the way back to #28 after being humiliated by San Francisco. That forever answers the question: What’s a good sign your division sucks? When one of your teams that is tied for 1st place is ranked #28 out of 32 teams after Week 14 of the season. The Bengals and Panthers stayed ranked #30, and #32, respectively.
This weeks biggest gainers were the Ravens and 49ers, who each jumped 5 spots. The Ravens look like almost a lock for an AFC Wild Card, and the 49ers win kept them alive in the pathetic NFC West race. The biggest losers were Seattle, who fell 8 spots but in real life are still in 1st place. The Raiders also fell 5 spots as they saw their playoff hopes fade this week.
Playoff Projection:
NFC
First Round Byes: #1 Falcons, #5 Eagles
#7 Giants @ #9 Packers
#4 Saints @ #17 Rams
Top 5 Out: #10 Bears, #13 Buccaneers, #20 Cowboys, #21 49ers, #23 Redskins
AFC
First Round Byes: #2 Patriots, #3 Steelers
#11 Jets @ #8 Chiefs
#6 Ravens @ #14 Jaguars
Top 5 Out: #12 Chargers, #15 Browns, #16 Dolphins, #18 Colts, #19 Raiders
Here are the full ranks:
1. Falcons – 82.40 – Even
2. Patriots – 81.36 – Even
3. Steelers – 77.48 – Even
4. Saints – 74.24 – Even
5. Eagles – 69.24 – +3
6. Ravens – 66.77 – +5
7. Giants – 65.89 – +3
8. Chiefs – 62.92 – +1
9. Packers – 62.62 – -4
10. Bears – 62.60 – -4
11. Jets – 62.20 – -4
12. Chargers – 58.54 – Even
13. Buccaneers – 57.11 – Even
14. Jaguars – 52.04 – +3
15. Browns – 48.08 – Even
16. Dolphins – 47.65 – +2
17. Rams – 47.50 – -1
18. Colts – 46.48 – +3
19. Raiders – 43.86 – -5
20. Cowboys – 52.53 – -1
21. 49ers – 42.41 – +5
22. Texans – 39.99 – Even
23. Redskins – 38.25 – +2
24. Vikings – 38.08 – Even
25. Lions – 37.41 – +4
26. Titans – 37.27 – -3
27. Bills – 35.69 – Even
28. Seahawks – 35.00 – -8
29. Cardinals – 28.71 – +2
30. Bengals – 23.33 – Even
31. Broncos – 21.38 – -3
32. Panthers – 17.19 – Even
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