Ranking the NFL Playoff Teams That Are Left in a Whole Manner of Ways

Now that the college football season is over and it's just the University of Tennessee who's looking for a new coach after Lane "Weasel" Kiffin (as he's "lovingly" called in the press) took on the job at USC and Skip Holtz is now the new coach at USF (good hire, by the way, USF), a few points about the NFL.

In my article for Sky Sports about the next round of the NFL playoffs, I thought it would be high-time to rank the strongest teams, quarterbacks, defenses, home fields, and, of course, cheerleaders.

So here we go....

STRONGEST TEAMS

1. Indianapolis Colts—The two end-of-season losses mean nothing: Peyton Manning & Co. have the best football team in the league right now

2. San Diego Chargers—Er, the winner of the Indy vs Baltimore game will be nervous.

3. Arizona Cardinals—Great, a double team on Larry Fitzgerald. So then Kurt Warner has a choice of three more receivers (or hand it off to quick rookie Beanie Wells).

4. Dallas Cowboys—People are talking good things about Big D's "D", but has anyone talked about the weakness of Tony Romo?

5. Baltimore Ravens—Tom Brady will tell you: the Ravens "D" is nasty, people.

6. New Orleans Saints—A late season skid helped the Saints shoot themselves slightly in the foot. Can they find some form?

7. Minnesota Vikings—Brett Favre may be good, but Adrian Peterson has gone from "All Day" to "All Inconsistent".

8. New York Jets—While Darrelle Revis is a revelation in the secondary, there are still question marks about the Jets' offense, good running backs or not.

BEST OFFENSES

1. Arizona—Frightening.

2. Indianapolis—Peyton.

3. New Orleans—Scary.

4. San Diego—PR, LT, VJ

5. Baltimore—Better-than-expected

6.  Minnesota—Can "BF" turn his recent playoff memories from "B.S" to brilliant?

7. Dallas—As we said, the defense is a lot better than the offense.

8. New York—Great running-based attack. We're not so sure throwing the ball.

BEST QUARTERBACKS

1. Peyton Manning (Indianapolis)—Enough said, really.

2. Drew Brees (New Orleans)—It isn't his fault his defense sucks.

3. Kurt Warner (Arizona)—Please, please don't retire.

4. Philip Rivers (San Diego)—San Diego's charging, and this kid's good.

5. Brett Favre (Minnesota)—Was pretty good on interceptions this year. But can it last?

6. Tony Romo (Dallas)—He might have had a solid game against the Eagles, but people are waiting for the implosion. If he wins a Super Bowl, I'll change my mind.

7. Joe Flacco (Baltimore)—He's backed by a great defense, and his arm's pretty good, too.

8. Mark Sanchez (Jets)—Hey rookie! You're good, but you're not that good.

BEST DEFENSES

1. Baltimore—Ray Lewis and Ed Reed still frighten the beejesus out of quarterbacks, don't they? Oh, and that Terrell Suggs kid ain't bad, either.

2. Indianapolis—Opportunistic and good in short yardage positions. Just ask Tom Brady.

3. Dallas—The key to the Cowboys' recent climb has been the "D", which may well get them an NFC title ring this year.

4. New York Jets—Brilliant job at stopping Cincinnati last week. As we said, the kid Revis will be key.

5. Minnesota—The fact that they give up 20 points a game ain't lovely.

6. San Diego—It's still suspect, kids.

7. Arizona—Ditto.

8. New Orleans—Very good at throwing away their offense's big leads.

HOME FIELDS (Not That We're Going To See All Of Them This Year)

1. Dallas—JerryWorld is a thing of beauty. As is the monster TV screen. Everything's bigger in Texas, after all.

2. Arizona—Lovely weather, lovely people, lovely stadium.

3. New Orleans—Historic because of Hurricane Katrina, but the atmosphere is unbeatable.

4. Minnesota—Cold outside, warm inside. Could be frightening for Romo & Co.

5. Indianapolis—Will host the first cold weather Super Bowl since Detroit in 2012. Can't wait to freeze my butt off lining up to get into the ESPN party!

6. Baltimore—Not a bad stadium in a bad-but-improving city.

7. San Diego—Like the City of San Diego itself, it lacks a little bit of character. Sorry guys, but it does!

8. New York Jets—Sorry to say this, guys, but I'm pretty glad they are tearing down Giants stadium. It was the Newark of the North-East in terms of stadiums. And I'm not joking.

AND FINALLY....CHEERLEADERS

1. Dallas—When we said "Everything's bigger in Texas", we also meant....

2. San Diego—While San Diego itself is a little dull, you can't criticize the cheers. USC Song Girls, your future lies here!

3. Indianapolis—Something to warm the crowd up as they get into the field on a cold November/December/January night.

4. Arizona—Compared to the Arizona and Arizona State cheerleaders, they come a distinct third. But they still are as smoking as the summer heat.

5. New Orleans—Absolutely Saint-sational! (That's enough puns—Ed)

6.Baltimore Ravens—It's not only the defense that's hot in Baltimore

7. New York Jets—The "Flight Crew" will make you fly high

8. Minnesota Vikings—Good, but not good enough to break the top eight.