The NFL Blog: Power Rankings (After Week 12)

Power Rankings After Week 12

1. New York Giants 10-1 (2nd)
2. New York Jets 8-3 (NR)
3. Tennessee 10-1 (1st)
4. Pittsburgh 8-3 (4th)
5. Tampa Bay 8-3 (5th)
6. Indianapolis 7-4 (6th)
7. Baltimore 7-4 (8th)
8. Dallas 7-4 (NR)

-Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis;

Out: Carolina (3rd), Arizona (7th);

Explanation: Okay, so this week’s power rankings are a lot more interesting than last week. Tennessee’s 8 week stay in 1st place finally ended this week after they lost for the first time in week 12. The Titans jumped from unranked to 1st in my rankings back in week 4 and they had remained in that top spot until now. Obviously, the team that now takes Tennessee’s place at the top of the rankings is the New York Giants, who won at Arizona in week 12 without Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress to get to 10-1. The Giants have been in my rankings for 11 straight weeks and they’d been ranked 2nd for the last 4 weeks. I finally moved the defending Super Bowl champs up to the top this week, moving them up one spot to #1. To be honest, the Giants could have and maybe should have been in the #1 spot earlier but I wasn’t going to drop the Titans as long as they kept winning. And I’ll admit it, I didn’t think they would lose for a while. I expected them to be 14-0 going into their final 2 game stretch against Indy and Pittsburgh. I was wrong about the Jets too. Everybody had been talking the up for weeks and I wasn’t buying it, as you can tell from their complete absence in my power rankings until this week. The Jets make their debut in my rankings this week at #2. It might seem ridiculous to move a team from unranked all the way to 2nd this late in the year but let’s be real: they got a huge win this weekend. They went into Tennessee and smoked the Titans for their 5th straight win and they’ve now won 7 of 8. The Titans are now 10-1 and they fell 2 spots in my rankings from 1st to 3rd. Carolina had occupied the #3 spot in my rankings for the last 2 weeks but I decided to drop the Panthers all the way out of my top 8 after they got beat in Atlanta in week 12. I know they’re 8-3 but I hadn’t been impressed with them for weeks. Basically until this week I thought it was Tennessee, the Giants, and then everyone else. If Carolina had continued to win I wouldn’t have dropped them below 4th even if they did keep winning ugly but the Falcons beat them decisively last Sunday. I kind of think the Panthers are a bit of a fraud. They’ve been lucky and they’ve had an easy schedule. There are probably 12 teams I would favor over Carolina right now in a head to head matchup. The rest of my top 8 looks similar to the way it did the week before. The Steelers beat the Bengals last Thursday to go to 8-3 and they remain 4th in my rankings for the 3rd straight week. Pittsburgh’s been in my top 5 for 7 weeks in a row now. The Bucs struggled with another bad team this week, falling behind 17-0 against the Lions, but they stormed back to win 38-20 to go to 8-3 and stay in 5th in my rankings. The Colts remain in the #6 slot in my rankings this week after they won in San Diego on a late field goal on Sunday night to get to 7-4 with their 4th win in a row. Arizona had been in the number 7 spot in my rankings last week but I decided to boot them out of my top 8 this week even though they were competitive against the G-Men on Sunday. This was the 7th time in the last 8 weeks that 6 of my top 8 teams remained in the power rankings and 2 teams dropped out. I moved the Ravens up a spot from 8th to 7th this week after they spanked the Eagles 36-7 in week 12. The Ravens have now been in my top 8 for 4 straight weeks. Finally in the last spot in my top 8 you will find those Dallas Cowboys after they won easily over San Francisco in week 12 to go to 7-4. They are a different team with Tony Romo at QB. They may not be a truly great team even with Romo, but they’re definitely a top 8 team. The Boys had been absent from the power rankings for 5 straight weeks since falling out of my top 8 in week 7. There were a handful of teams I considered for the 8th spot. New England, Arizona, Atlanta, Carolina, and Washington were all candidates along with the Boys. I ended up going with Dallas because when I thought about who I would favor in a head to head matchup on a neutral field I realized I would take the Cowboys over any of the other teams I considered.