The NFL Blog: 2010 Power Rankings (After Week 16)

Power Rankings After Week 16

1. New England 13-2 (1st)
2. Pittsburgh 11-4 (4th)
3. Baltimore 11-4 (5th)
4. New Orleans 11-4 (6th)
5. Philadelphia 10-5 (2nd)
6. Atlanta 12-3 (3rd)
7. Indianapolis 9-6 (8th)
8. Chicago 11-4 (9th)
9. Kansas City 10-5 (11th)
10. Green Bay 9-6 (12th)
11. New York Jets 10-5 (14th)
12. New York Giants 9-6 (10th)
13. Oakland 7-8 (15th)
14. Tampa Bay 9-6 (16th)
15. San Diego 8-7 (7th)
16. Jacksonville 8-7 (13th)
17. St. Louis 7-8 (19th)
18. Detroit 5-10 (20th)
19. Minnesota 6-9 (25th)
20. Dallas 5-10 (17th)
21. Buffalo 4-11 (18th)
22. Washington 6-9 (26th)
23. Cleveland 5-10 (21st)
24. Tennessee 6-9 (22nd)
25. Houston 5-10 (23rd)
26. Miami 7-8 (24th)
27. Cincinnati 4-11 (29th)
28. Arizona 5-10 (31st)
29. Denver 4-11 (32nd)
30. San Francisco 5-10 (27th)
31. Seattle 6-9 (28th)
32. Carolina 2-13 (30th)

-Previous week’s rankings in parenthesis;

Patriots Stand Alone. This is getting repetitive. The Patriots blew the doors off of another opponent this week, this time going to Buffalo and crushing the Bills, 34-3. They have won 7 straight and are the only remaining 2-loss team in the NFL. There may not be a truly great team this year, but the Patriots are the only team close. They remained the #1 team in my rankings and they are #1 by a very wide margin.

Late Season Shakeup. I’m not sure why it happened. Maybe it’s because I was in Montana from Thursday to Tuesday. Maybe it’s because week 16 lasted from Thursday to Tuesday. Maybe there were just a lot of unexpected results. But for whatever reason, this week’s rankings were in complete contrast to last week’s steady and placid rankings. We’re supposed to have a good idea of where teams rank at this point in the season. But there was a ton of movement in my rankings this week. In fact, the #1 Patriots were the only team that stayed in place. Each of the other 31 teams moved at least 1 spot up or down my rankings this week.

Back to the Bottom. The Carolina Panthers got pummeled by the Steelers last week and once again they are at the very bottom of my rankings. The Panthers had been out of last all month until now. With the loss to Pittsburgh, Carolina fell to 2-13 on the year, clinching the #1 pick in next year’s draft. They dropped 2 spots in my rankings from 30th to 32nd.

Rising and Falling. While every team other than the Pats moved at least 1 spot up or down this week, only a few teams made a major move up or down my rankings. Two teams rose more than 3 spots this week. The Redskins won in overtime at Jacksonville to snap a 4-game losing skid on Sunday. Washington climbed 4 spots in my rankings this week from 26th to 22nd. The Vikings made the biggest rise in my rankings this week. As I’ve said before, I do have a tendency to be a bit overly influenced by the final game of the week (usually Monday night, but in this case, Tuesday night). That being said, of the teams with losing records, the Vikings might be the most dangerous when they have Adrian Peterson. I didn’t think the Vikes had a chance to beat anybody with Joe Webb at QB, but apparently I was totally wrong. Minnesota out-manned the Eagles on the road on Tuesday night (sounds weird) and I moved them up 6 spots in my rankings from 25th to 19th.

The only team to fall more than 3 spots in my rankings this week was San Diego. There are a slew of disappointing teams this season—the Bengals, the Texans, the Titans, the Cowboys, the Redskins, the Vikings, the 49ers, and the Cardinals just to name the most obvious—but no team has been as big of a disappointment as the San Diego Chargers. They suffered yet another inexplicable loss last week, this time losing by 14 points to the Bengals (perhaps the 2nd most disappointing team in the NFL this season). The loss eliminated the Chargers from the playoffs. I dropped San Diego 8 spots in my rankings this week from 7th to 15th.