A bit of movement at the top of the rankings this week, as some of the mighty unexpectedly fell to some of the merely average.
The Patriots remain the class of the league. They must be cheating somehow.
(Team — Last Week — Record )
1 New England Patriots 1 (14-0)
New England beat the Jets 20-10 to stay undefeated.
If you watched NBC's Football in America show before the Sunday night game, or ESPN's SportsCenter, it seemed all they could talk about was how New England “practiced running the ball for the postseason” against the Jets, as if the Patriots never run the ball.
Yes, the Patriots ran the ball 35 times for 131 yards Sunday, so what?
They average 29 attempts and 114 yards per game this season. In fact, as far as rushing the ball goes, the Pats are 10th in the league in number of attempts, 12th in yards gained, and 13th in average yards per carry.
In short, they're a pretty darn good running team, but you'd never have known that if all you did is listen to the talking heads Sunday.
Fortunately, you're smart enough to read this column.
2 Green Bay Packers 4 (12-2)
In a sure sign that everyone is getting tired of Brett Favre, Peter King's Monday Morning QB column on cnnsi.com contained only 28 words of slobbering praise for him after he broke Dan Marino's career passing yardage mark Sunday.
It's about time.
3 Indianapolis Colts 3 (12-2)
"Everybody was shooting for us," coach Tony Dungy said after Indy's 21-14 victory over the punchless Raiders Sunday. "People talk about the post-Super Bowl letdown and everything like that. We haven't experienced that. Our guys have fought and worked and played as a unit, and today we got a lot of contributions from a lot of people. It's really been gratifying the way we had to do it."
Gee, he's talking like the Colts have already won this Super Bowl too.
While they have wrapped up a first-round bye, they still have two games to play, and the road back to the Super Bowl goes through New England.
4 Dallas Cowboys 2 (12-2)
Tony Romo invited Jessica Simpson to Sunday's tilt against the Eagles in Texas Stadium.
What a bad time to choke!
Romo looked more like Ryan Leaf than Peyton Manning as he went 13 of 36 for 213 yards, three INT's, and no TD's.
On the plus side, he set a career record for worst passer rating for a game at 22.2 as the Eagles beat the suddenly punchless 'Pokes 10-6.
5 Jacksonville Jaguars 5 (10-4)
Jacksonville gutted it out in the snow, 29-22 over the Steelers in Heinz Field Sunday.
Who'd have thunk the warm weather boys from Jacksonville would be so tough?
If you missed the game Sunday, there's a good chance you'll get to see another rendition of it in three weeks, as the Jags and Steelers seem destined to meet each other the first week of the playoffs.
6 Cleveland Browns 9 (9-5)
Yes, yes, yes, the Steelers swept the Browns this year, but right now they both have nine wins and five losses, and the Browns look like the better team.
They played a tough Buffalo team in the worst conditions anywhere in the NFL this week and came away with a dominating 8-0 win.
Their uniforms are still boring though.
7 San Diego Chargers 10 (9-5)
The Chargers pounded the Lions 51-14 in San Diego Sunday, as both Rivers and Tomlinson took a seat on the bench in the third quarter.
It's so nice to get a bye this late in the year to help rest up for the playoffs.
8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 11 (9-5)
Tampa Bay pounded the hapless Falcons 37-3 as they clinched the NFC South, but the big story was Michael Spurlock returning a kickoff for a TD.
This was the Buccaneers' first kickoff return to the house in their 32-year history.
It took them 1,866 tries to get it.
The NFL average for kick offs returned for a TD over the past 32 years is about one 1 TD for every 186 kickoffs.
You'd figure this would be the year Tampa Bay would do it, because there's already been a record 22 kickoffs returned for TDs this year.
The average this year is one TD every 81 kick offs, so either a lot of coverage teams s
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