NFL Power Rankings Week 13: Post-Thursday Night Football Standings, Review

When it comes to NFL power rankings, the bulk of the Week 13 schedule will have a huge impact on the league outlook as it barrels toward the playoffs. 

This wasn't the case on Thursday Night Football, where the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys met up in an NFC East battle with little in the way of implications given the strength of the conference and dominant play from the division-leading Philadelphia Eagles. 

Still, the Cowboys blew past the struggling Redskins 38-14, riding a pair of passing touchdowns and two rushing scores to the victory while Washington crumbled in hostile territory, turning the ball over four times.

Looking ahead, big games such as Minnesota-Atlanta, Carolina-New Orleans and Philadelphia-Seattle await. Before the slate dramatically changes the outlook, let's look at an updated set of power rankings. 

2017 NFL Power Rankings and Super Bowl Odds

Rank	Team
1	Philadelphia Eagles (7-2)
2	Los Angeles Rams (14-1)
3	New Orleans Saints (12-1)
4	Minnesota Vikings (12-1)
5	Pittsburgh Steelers (6-1)
6	New England Patriots (5-2)
7	Carolina Panthers (18-1)
8	Atlanta Falcons (12-1)
9	Los Angeles Chargers (33-1)
10	Seattle Seahawks (22-1)
11	Tennessee Titans (40-1)
12	Jacksonville Jaguars (40-1)
13	Detroit Lions (66-1)
14	Baltimore Ravens (75-1)
15	Cincinnati Bengals (75-1)
16	Buffalo Bills (100-1)
17	Dallas Cowboys (150-1)
18	Kansas City Chiefs (33-1)
19	Washington Redskins (150-1)
20	Arizona Cardinals (250-1)
21	Oakland Raiders (66-1)
22	New York Jets (1000-1)
23	Green Bay Packers (200-1)
24	Houston Texans (250-1)
25	Chicago Bears (1000-1)
26	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1000-1)
27	Miami Dolphins (1000-1)
28	Denver Broncos (1000-1)
29	Indianapolis Colts (1000-1)
30	New York Giants (1000-1)
31	San Francisco 49ers (5000-1)
32	Cleveland Browns (5000-1)

Philadelphia Eagles

We'll know quite a bit more about the Eagles in a few weeks. 

What do we know right now? Carson Wentz is an MVP contender sitting on 28 touchdowns against five interceptions, with three of his targets sitting on minimums of six touchdown catches. He's backed by a defense with 16 interceptions, a combination that has helped the team win 10 games, having avoided a loss since Week 2 and defeated notables such as Carolina, Dallas and the Los Angeles Chargers. 

But the team's next two games will tell the globe more about the Eagles than the prior 11. First, a Sunday Night Football date with the Seattle Seahawks on the road, then an extended stay on the West Coast before a game against the 8-3 Los Angeles Rams. 

"We've talked about [the trip], Wentz said, according to ESPN.com's Tim McManus. "We had to pack our bags for it and everything but other than that, we're really focusing on this one. We realize next week will be a little different feel for us, but can't really worry about that right now."

This isn't to suggest the Eagles haven't played incredible football so far—because they have. But it's clearly a down year for the NFC East as a whole, and the team played some cupcakes like San Francisco, Arizona, Denver and Chicago outside the division. 

These Eagles will make the playoffs either way at this point and have elite quarterback play guiding them, but a potential regression through a brutal two-game stretch might provide an interesting wrinkle to what we think we know about the current NFL hierarchy. 

Carolina Panthers

It seems the Carolina Panthers are a little lost in the hype of the NFC. 

These Panthers are 8-3 just like the New Orleans Saints and ahead of the Atlanta Falcons (7-4), yet they don't come up in conversations about the best teams in the NFC often. 

Carolina's NFC South is a big part of this because of the quarterback depth each team boasts, something Panthers head coach Ron Rivera talked about this week. 

"The quarterback [situation]," Rivera said, according to Stats LLC (via ESPN.com). "We have three good teams with established quarterbacks. We have a tough, physical, young team down in Tampa Bay. That's why I think our division is good."

Rivera was speaking about great quarterbacks this week because his team heads into a Week 13 game against the Saints that will tell us everything we need to know about the Panthers—mainly, whether they're a legitimate contender or not. 

It seems unfair to say. After all, one could argue Cam Newton is an MVP candidate while accounting for 19 total touchdowns, carrying the ball 83 times and accommodating for an injured defense and a front office that saw it fit to trade away his former leading receiver, Kelvin Benjamin. 

This is also a Panthers team with wins in New England and Detroit in back-to-back weeks, not to mention wins over Atlanta and a close loss to Philadelphia on a short week. 

But there's the issue of the 34-13 blowout loss at the hands of these Saints in Week 3. Was that fluke or a serious concern? It's hard to say, as the Panthers seem like a huge threat to teams in both conferences—but the idea fizzles out if Newton lets his side suffer a season sweep. 

Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals might be one of the most interesting teams in the power rankings right now. 

Ranked in the middle of the pack after cobbling together two consecutive wins, the Bengals overall are 5-6 and have had a trying season highlighted by the firing of an offensive coordinator and a pair of notable ejections from stars A.J. Green and Vontaze Burfict. 

Still, for a team as talented as the Bengals, it's hard not to feel like they're pulling it together at just the right time. Andy Dalton has thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions over the last three games and rookie running back Joe Mixon has grown into his own as the every-down workhorse: 

The Bengals are right back in the thick of things in the playoff race if a Week 13 win pulls them back to .500. The problem? It's a Monday Night Football affair against the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Pittsburgh, meaning the team that shoved around the Bengals in Week 7 on the way to a 29-14 win while outgaining the visitors 420-179. 

This one goes down in Cincinnati, though, so we'll find out if an improving Bengals offense can match a strong defense only surrendering 19.5 points per game. It's the most important game of the year for the Bengals, and one with far-reaching playoff implications. 

Stats courtesy of NFL.com. Odds courtesy of OddsShark.