Remember how last week I mentioned how lopsided the Thanksgiving games were, at least from a power rankings point of view? Well, 5 of the 6 teams that played on Thanksgiving are either in the top 5 or bottom 5. The 3 winners, the Jets, the Patriots, and the Saints, are now ranked #2, 3, and 4, respectively, while the Lions lost pushed them back into the bottom 5 at #29, and the Bengals remained at #30. The other Thanksgiving team, the Cowboys, are #25.
I also realized that I failed to mention last week that we had a #1 vs. #2 battle when the Falcons played the Packers. The Falcons got the win, and remained as the #1 ranked team while the Packers fell all the way to #7 for losing. The Eagles also fell out of the top 5 for losing to the Bears last week, moving down to #8, while the Bears moved up to #6 (these ranks do not count the Eagles win last night).
On the bottom side, the Vikings escaped the bottom 5 by beating Washington, and were replaced by Detroit, as mentioned above. Everyone else in the bottom 5 lost and stayed put.
The biggest gainer this week were the Dolphins, who moved up 6 spots by beating the Raiders and are hanging in there for a playoff spot in the AFC. The Texans and Vikings also moved up 5 spots. The biggest losers were the Titans, who looked terrible with Rusty Smith at QB. They fell 7 spots and would be out of the playoff race if the AFC South wasn’t suddenly so mediocre. The Packers, Buccaneers, and Redskins each also dropped 5 spots.
Playoff Projections
NFC
First Round Byes: #1 Falcons, #6 Bears
#7 Packers @ #8 Eagles
#4 Saints @ #19 Rams
Top 5 Out: #12 Buccaneers, #13 Giants, #20 49ers, #23 Redskins, #24 Vikings
AFC
First Round Byes: #2 Jets, #5 Steelers
#10 Ravens @ #9 Chargers
#3 Patriots @ #15 Colts
Top 5 Out: #11 Chiefs, #14 Dolphins, #16 Browns, #17 Raiders, #18 Jaguars
Here are the full ranks:
1. Falcons – 81.56 – Even
2. Jets – 79.61 – +1
3. Patriots – 73.41 – +1
4. Saints – 71.87 – +4
5. Steelers – 71.38 – +1
6. Bears – 70.53 – +4
7. Packers – 69.76 – -5
8. Eagles – 67.93 – -3
9. Chargers – 65.93 – +4
10. Ravens – 65.16 – -1
11. Chiefs – 61.05 – +1
12. Buccaneers – 58.50 – -5
13. Giants – 53.47 – +3
14. Dolphins – 50.73 – +6
15. Colts – 49.55 – -4
16. Browns – 47.83 – +3
17. Raiders – 46.91 – -3
18. Jaguars – 46.39 – -1
19. Rams – 45.94 – +2
20. 49ers – 44.20 – +4
21. Texans – 44.17 – +5
22. Titans – 43.36 – -7
23. Redskins – 41.74 – -5
24. Vikings – 37.24 – +5
25. Cowboys – 36.54 – -3
26. Seahawks – 36.52 – -3
27. Bills – 34.11 – Even
28. Broncos – 30.74 – Even
29. Lions – 30.09 – -4
30. Bengals – 24.54 – Even
31. Cardinals – 18.82 – Even
32. Panthers – 17.90 – Even
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