Power Rankings After Week 16
1. Green Bay 14-1 (1st)
2. New Orleans 12-3 (2nd)
3. San Francisco 12-3 (3rd)
4. Pittsburgh 11-4 (4th)
5. New England 12-3 (5th)
6. Baltimore 11-4 (6th)
7. New York Giants 8-7 (9th)
8. Dallas 8-7 (7th)
9. New York Jets 8-7 (8th)
10. Detroit 10-5 (12th)
11. Houston 10-5 (10th)
12. Atlanta 9-6 (11th)
13. Philadelphia 7-8 (13th)
14. Arizona 7-8 (14th)
15. Miami 5-10 (17th)
16. Seattle 7-8 (18th)
17. Cincinnati 9-6 (19th)
18. San Diego 7-8 (15th)
19. Denver 8-7 (16th)
20. Oakland 8-7 (20th)
21. Tennessee 8-7 (21st)
22. Carolina 6-9 (22nd)
23. Kansas City 6-9 (24th)
24. Buffalo 6-9 (25th)
25. Washington 5-10 (23rd)
26. Chicago 7-8 (26th)
27. Cleveland 4-11 (27th)
28. Jacksonville 4-11 (28th)
29. Minnesota 3-12 (30th)
30. Indianapolis 2-13 (32nd)
31. Tampa Bay 4-11 (29th)
32. St. Louis 2-13 (31st)
-Previous week’s rankings in parenthesis;
Solidly in the Top Spot. After suffering their 1st loss in a full calendar year in week 15, the Packers won easily over the Bears at home on Sunday night to get to 14-1 on the season. They have clinched the #1 seed in the NFC and the best record in the league. Although Green Bay has come back to the group a bit (pun avoided), and some of the contenders have elevated their play, the Packers are still clearly the team to beat at this point. They are my #1 team for the 14th consecutive week.
A New Low. After 8 consecutive weeks in the bottom spot, the Indianapolis Colts are moving up and we have a new #32. The Colts got their 2nd straight win on Thursday, this one even more impressive, knocking off the Texans with a last second score.
There is some chance that the Colts will end up beating 2 different AFC playoff teams this season. Either way, the Colts are clearly not concerned with the #1 pick. It looks like the St. Louis Rams may swoop in, or rather, plummet in and steal away that coveted spot.
Regardless, the Rams have earned the not-so-coveted spot (if anyone other than me knew about it) of #32 in my power rankings. The Rams got smoked by the Big Ben-less Steelers, 27-0, on Saturday, falling to 2-13 on the season. They are most definitely the worst team in football at this point and they are the new #32 team in my rankings.
Changes Slowing Down. More than half of the 32 spots in my power rankings experienced change this week but there was still less shake up than usual. 18 of 32 teams moved at least one spot up or down the rankings this week; the first time in quite a while that the number of teams changing positions was less than 20.
In addition, of the teams who did move spots this week, there were fewer teams making moves of more than 1 position. Of the 9 teams moving up in my rankings this week, 6 teams climbed more than 1 spot. However, only 4 of the 9 teams going down in my rankings this week slid more than 1 spot.
No Major Surges. There weren’t any big movers up the rankings this week. In fact, while 6 teams moved up more than 1 spot in my rankings this week, no team rose by more than 2 spots. That may be the first time it’s happened all year. I’m far too lazy to find out for sure but it may be.
No Major Dives. There really weren’t any dramatic nose dives this week either. Only 4 teams fell off more than 1 spot this week, and no team dropped more than 3 spots. Both the Chargers and Broncos fell 3 spots in the rankings this week. San Diego got beat down by the Lions and dropped 3 spots from #15 to #18. Denver steamrolled by Buffalo and fell 3 spots from #16 to #19.
Other Notes. The Packers are the only remaining 1-loss team in the NFL. There are no remaining 1-win teams in the league…The 7-8 Eagles remain my highest ranked team with a losing record at #13. The Titans 8-7 Titans are now my lowest ranked team with a winning record at #21…The Texans are my lowest ranked 10-win team at #11. The Dolphins are easily my highest ranked 10-loss team at #15.
No comments:
Post a Comment