NFL Power Rankings: Week 16 Standings and Review After Sunday's Games

The Carolina Panthers moved one win closer to a perfect season, three scorching-hot wild-card hopefuls in the AFC kept up their winning ways and favorites emerged in the races for the NFC East and AFC South division titles.

It's definitely been an entertaining Week 15 so far.

Before the Detroit Lions square off against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football, let's take stock of all 32 teams in the league. We'll also be looking at the respective states of three teams that lost in Week 15 and are now eliminated (or close to being eliminated) from the playoffs.

Rank	Team	Record
1	Carolina Panthers	14-0
2	Arizona Cardinals	12-2
3	New England Patriots	12-2
4	Kansas City Chiefs	9-5
5	Pittsburgh Steelers	9-5
6	Cincinnati Bengals	11-3
7	Seattle Seahawks	9-5
8	Green Bay Packers	10-4
9	Denver Broncos	10-4
10	Minnesota Vikings	9-5
11	New York Jets	9-5
12	Washington Redskins	7-7
13	Houston Texans	7-7
14	New York Giants	6-8
15	Oakland Raiders	6-8
16	St. Louis Rams	6-8
17	Buffalo Bills	6-8
18	Philadelphia Eagles	6-8
19	Atlanta Falcons	6-8
20	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	6-8
21	New Orleans Saints	5-8
22	Jacksonville Jaguars	5-9
23	Indianapolis Colts	6-8
24	Detroit Lions	4-9
25	Dallas Cowboys	4-10
26	Chicago Bears	5-9
27	San Diego Chargers	4-10
28	Miami Dolphins	5-9
29	Baltimore Ravens	4-10
30	Tennessee Titans	3-11
31	Cleveland Browns	3-11
32	San Francisco 49ers	4-10

Notable Teams

Buffalo Bills (No. 17)

Remember how good you thought the Bills were 14 weeks ago? They had just beaten the Indianapolis Colts (who were supposed to be great) 27-14 behind Tyrod Taylor and a dominant defense.

Well, Taylor kept playing well, but that defense sure went down the tubes.

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Head coach Rex Ryan's precious point-stopping unit has dipped to 21st in opponent yardage and 17th in opponent points after a 35-25 loss to the Washington Redskins Sunday, a game that saw Buffalo fall behind 28-3 midway through the third quarter.

Defensive end Mario Williams had some choice words for Ryan's schemes this season after the defeat, per Syracuse.com's Matthew Fairburn:

"

My mindset is, if you're an attack defense, if you're going to be a bully on the field. You don't let anything else dictate what you do. We're going to put who we're going to put out there and then we're going to be able to execute and make plays with the guys out there. I don't need to wait on you to make a decision

"

Buffalo was officially eliminated from playoff contention after Sunday's loss, but there are bigger long-term issues the team will have to work on during the offseason.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 20)

The Buccaneers aren't a playoff-caliber team yet (mostly on defense), and that's OK. Today's NFL is truly a quarterback's league, and Jameis Winston has shown plenty of potential to become one of those franchise building blocks that can single-handedly makes a team respectable.

He's also getting a bunch of help from resurgent running back Doug Martin, who's toted the ball for 1,305 yards and scored six total touchdowns.

Billy Hurst/Associated Press

A playoff run this season, which was possible up until Sunday wins by the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks, wasn't going to end well anyway. The losses they've experienced at the end of the season have improved Tampa Bay's draft position, even if they are a bit deflating.

Some offseason help on the defensive side of the ball would be great. The Buccaneers are especially porous in the secondary, allowing a sixth-worst 100.5 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks.

Indianapolis Colts (No. 23)

Andrew Luck, at least prior to this season, had led the Colts to a lot of wins despite the team's below-average defense. Now, with Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback for the injured Luck, it's hard to figure out an area of the game where Indy is actually somewhat capable.

The defense was decent Sunday, albeit against the Houston Texans' second- and third-string quarterbacks, but Hasselbeck couldn't take advantage. The Colts led 10-0 in the second quarter, then let Houston rattle off the game's final 16 points.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

The poor finishes have become routine over the past three weeks for Indianapolis. In that span, the Colts have been outscored 79-3 after halftime. Even in garbage time, they can't score.

Andrew Luck is working hard to return before the end of the season, but that doesn't look like the prudent decision for the 26-year-old quarterback right now. The Colts are now a long shot to win the AFC South, and they'd likely be wild-card round fodder anyway.

Just shut it down, Andy.