Only 1 week remains in the regular season, and our previous week #1, the Texans, fell again, which allows a brand new team to rise to the top spot: The Seattle Seahawks. Yes, maybe in a way to make up to the Seahawks fan who blasted Ryan for not including Russell Wilson in a story about Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, my ranks are saying that the Seahawks, led by Wilson, are the top team in the NFL. They sure have looked like it the past few weeks. They have won 4 in a row, scoring a ton of points in those wins, including hanging 42 on the 49ers, who had allowed the fewest points in the league going into last week (now the Seahawks have allowed the fewest). Late in the season like this, Seattle seems to be peaking at the right time, but you also have to wonder if it’s too early. With the 49ers still likely to win the NFC West, the Seahawks still could have 5 games left to play if they win the Super Bowl. Can they keep this dominance going for 9 straight weeks? We’ll see. Also, remember that horrible call by the replacement refs that gave Seattle the win over Green Bay early in the season? Well, because of that, if the 49ers somehow lose to Arizona and the Packers lose to the Vikings, which is possible, coupled with a Seattle win, the Seahawks get a 1st-round bye in the playoffs.
In non-Seahawks news, the Falcons stayed at #2 and the Packers jumped 5 spots to #3 after crushing the hapless Titans. Thanks to the Packers’ rise, the Broncos fell to #4, and the Patriots remained at #5. The Texans and 49ers tumbled to #7 and #8 respectively.
The bottom 7 remained unchanged this week. There is very little positive to say about any of those teams at this point.
The biggest gainers were the above-mentioned Seahawks and Packers, along with the Chargers, who jumped some mediocre-bad teams by beating the Jets. The biggest losers were the Texans, who seem to be stumbling into the playoffs, and the Giants, who had their playoff hopes basically vanish at the hands of the Ravens
Playoff Projections (Remember, these ranks are weighted on recent success, so at this point of the season some projections become unrealistic based on the current standings)
NFC
1st Round Byes: #1 Seahawks, #2 Falcons
#10 Vikings @ #3 Packers
#8 49ers @ #6 Redskins
Top 5 Out: #11 Bears, #14 Rams, #15 Panthers, #16 Giants, #17 Cowboys
AFC
1st Round Byes: #4 Broncos, #5 Patriots
#13 Colts @ #7 Texans
#12 Ravens @ #9 Bengals
Top 5 Out: #19 Dolphins, #20 Chargers, #21 Browns, #22 Steelers, #23 Jets
| Week 16 | |||
| 1 | SEA | 76.97 | 5 |
| 2 | ATL | 76.81 | 0 |
| 3 | GB | 75.31 | 5 |
| 4 | DEN | 75.20 | -1 |
| 5 | NE | 71.61 | 0 |
| 6 | WAS | 69.64 | 1 |
| 7 | HOU | 69.03 | -6 |
| 8 | SF | 65.18 | -4 |
| 9 | CIN | 62.84 | 0 |
| 10 | MIN | 58.98 | 4 |
| 11 | CHI | 58.92 | 0 |
| 12 | BAL | 56.38 | 0 |
| 13 | IND | 53.33 | 2 |
| 14 | STL | 53.25 | 3 |
| 15 | CAR | 52.86 | 3 |
| 16 | NYG | 51.84 | -6 |
| 17 | DAL | 51.83 | -4 |
| 18 | NO | 51.22 | 2 |
| 19 | MIA | 46.78 | 0 |
| 20 | SD | 45.70 | 5 |
| 21 | CLE | 44.47 | -5 |
| 22 | PIT | 40.62 | -1 |
| 23 | NYJ | 38.68 | 1 |
| 24 | TB | 37.81 | -1 |
| 25 | AZ | 37.57 | -3 |
| 26 | TEN | 30.93 | 0 |
| 27 | BUF | 30.17 | 0 |
| 28 | DET | 27.50 | 0 |
| 29 | PHI | 26.69 | 0 |
| 30 | OAK | 26.05 | 0 |
| 31 | JAX | 20.71 | 0 |
| 32 | KC | 19.65 | 0 |
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