NFL Power Rankings Week 16: Are Eagles and Patriots Destined to Meet?
NFL power rankings for Week 16 might seem a little bit premature. After all, there is still one more game left on the schedule for Week 15, as the Chicago Bears will look to lock up the NFC North against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.
But after watching the Eagles pull off a miracle comeback, the Colts take control of the AFC South against the Jaguars and the Patriots outlast an Aaron Rodgers-less Packers squad, we believe we've seen enough.
Here are your NFL power rankings for Week 16.
The Bottom Of The Barrel
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32. Carolina Panthers: Holy crap, they won a game? Oh never mind, it was against Arizona.
31. Arizona Cardinals: See above.
30. Denver Broncos: Tim Tebow wasn't as good as his stat line. And his stat line wasn't all that great anyway.
29. Cincinnati Bengals: The streak is over!
28. Minnesota Vikings: Not allowing the Minnesota faithful to have booze at a Vikings game is downright cruel.
27. Detroit Lions: Henceforth, we shall call them the road warriors.
26. Cleveland Browns: How do you lose back-to-back games to Buffalo and Cincinnati?
25. Buffalo Bills: They spoiled the Dolphins playoff hopes, slim as they were.
24. Washington Redskins: Mike Shanahan clearly doesn't care who he pisses off, signed Al Davis, Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb.
23. San Francisco 49ers: There will be a new coach on the sideline next year, but what about a new quarterback?
22. Houston Texans: Nice of them to help snap Tennessee's losing skid.
21. Dallas Cowboys: Congrats to Tony Romo for taking his first knee all season.
20. Seattle Seahawks
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The Seahawks have lost six of their last eight games and those two wins came against Arizona and Carolina.
Of all the teams in the NFL that could use a major overhaul, they are at or near the top of the list.
In addition, that guy has one creepy costume.
19. Tennessee Titans
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The Titans snapped a six-game losing streak on Sunday against the Texans and, in doing so, kept their very slim playoff hopes alive.
I know, I can't believe it either, but they can win the division if they win out and both the Colts and Jags each drop their last two games.
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18. St. Louis Rams
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You almost have to feel bad for the Rams at this point.
On the one hand, the fact that they're 6-8 after going 1-15 last season is worthy of all sorts of praise. But, because they're leading the division with a 6-8 record, they're basically villains.
Bummer.
17. Miami Dolphins
5 of 21
The Dolphins were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with their loss to the Bills on Sunday.
Ultimately, it's been a season of weirdness for the Dolphins. Inexplicably, they are 1-6 at home and 6-1 on the road. In the parlance of our times, they're doing it wrong.
16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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Any time you lose to the Lions in your own stadium, it's obvious that you have serious injury issues.
However, a team as devoid of offense as the Lions had no business gaining 433 total yards, so the Bucs really have no excuse for losing.
Tampa Bay's playoff hopes are hanging by a string now, but the reality is that they've probably overachieved this year anyway. And that's a compliment.
15. Oakland Raiders
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It was an ugly first quarter for the Raiders against Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, but they have nobody to blame but themselves for that. Two Raider turnovers led to 14 points. If you take those away, Tebow and the Broncos likely don't find the end zone all afternoon.
Besides, if there is a quiet way to gain 500 yards of total offense, the Raiders just showed the world how to do it.
14. Jacksonville Jaguars
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Let's see here... the Jags won five of the six games in which Maurice Jones-Drew ran for at least 100 yards. So of course they would lose when he manages only 46 yards on 15 carries.
Nevertheless, how the heck are they going to let the Colts out-rush them?
Make no mistake, the Jags deserved to have first place in the AFC South taken from them.
13. Green Bay Packers
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Well, I think we all knew that the Packers' matchup with the Patriots would end in defeat, but I'll be damned if anybody thought it was going to be close enough to come down to the final play.
And we should all give some props to Matt Flynn, who threw for over 250 yards with three touchdowns.
That being said, the Pack still seems like a team that's not as good as the sum of its parts.
12. Kansas City Chiefs
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Without Matt Cassel against the Chargers, the Chiefs gained 67 total yards.
With Matt Cassel against the St. Louis Rams, they gained 383.
That doesn't sound like a coincidence to me, so it must not be. But as much as we talk about Cassel, the Chiefs are still a running team and they had yet another game with 200 yards rushing on Sunday.
11. Indianapolis Colts
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The Colts wrestled control of the AFC South away from the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday and have definitely risen from the ashes in the last two weeks.
The number of the day for the Colts is 67. That's how many rushing yards they held the Jaguars to, which is significant given the fact that the Jags were supposed to have the clear advantage in that category.
10. San Diego Chargers
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Their loss at home to the Raiders still looks bad, but the Chargers have still won six of their last seven games. In their last two games, they've outscored their opponents 65-7.
Sounds to me like they're focused again and it is now apparent that the Rivers-to-Jackson connection is back.
But they need some help in the playoff race, namely from either Tennessee or Oakland.
9. New York Giants
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If only football games were just 50 minutes long, then the Giants would be celebrating one of the most impressive overall victories of the 2010 season.
Well, it was not to be, but the loss does come with a silver lining. Eli Manning had his best game of the season in throwing for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Had the Giants won, we'd be singing his praises right now.
That being said, what the hell were they doing kicking the ball to DeSean Jackson?
8. New York Jets
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You have to give the Jets credit for solving their offensive woes against one of the league's tough defenses, especially since it involved Mark Sanchez having his best game in a month.
Moreover, they were actually outplayed by the Steelers, but managed to win by playing mistake-free football and coming up with a few timely plays. And that's a considerable victory given the way they've played recently.
7. Chicago Bears
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When we last saw the Bears, they were getting their heads kicked in by the New England Patriots in the snow.
Nevertheless, even after they allowed a season-high 36 points, the Bears are still only giving up 17.5 points a game, a number that means they're more than capable of making up for their sub-par offense.
If that Bears defense can handle the great Joe Webb and the Vikings on Monday night, then they will clinch the NFC North.
6. New Orleans Saints
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The Saints saw their six-game win streak come to an end on the road against the Baltimore Ravens, but that shouldn't be seen as any kind of dire indication.
After all, the Ravens have one of the best defenses in the league and the Saints had a shot to win this game late before Drew Brees threw his requisite interception of the day.
The Saints don't have much of a chance to win the division now, but they're still a lock for the playoffs.
5. Baltimore Ravens
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The Ravens rebounded from a rough defensive effort against Houston to hold one of the most dangerous offenses in football to 269 total yards. They also got another clutch interception late in the game.
But the Ravens' biggest success against the Saints was their ground game: 39 rushes, 208 total yards. That's a 5.3 yard average, which is nearly two yards better than their season average.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
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What happens when the Steelers don't have Troy Polamalu roaming the secondary?
They let Mark Sanchez complete 65.5 percent of his passes and they lose a game in which they outgain their opponent.
On balance, it's actually hard to see how the Steelers lost. They won the yardage battle, they controlled the clock, they got more first downs, they got 264 yards passing from Ben Roethlisberger and 100 yards rushing from Rashard Mendenhall.
Sounds to me like they beat themselves.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
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It's hard to look much worse than the Eagles did in the first three-plus quarters against the Giants. And it's hard to look as good as they did in the final eight minutes against the Giants.
Indeed, it's apparent now that Michael Vick is one of the most clutch quarterbacks in the league and that DeSean Jackson is maybe the most dangerous playmaker in the league.
On balance, the NFC should be very frightened of the Eagles.
2. Atlanta Falcons
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The loss by the Giants meant that the Falcons had already clinched a playoff spot by the time they kicked off against the Seattle Seahawks, but that naturally didn't stop them from dominating their way to their eighth-straight win.
There is still no team in the NFC as balanced as the Falcons, as they are fifth in scoring offense and eighth in scoring defense. It's starting to look like a first-round bye for them.
1. New England Patriots
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It wasn't pretty, but the Patriots managed to beat the Green Bay Packers by a final score of 31-27 on Sunday night, securing their 12th win and their sixth-consecutive victory.
But the win came with one major disclaimer: The Patriots still have issues with their secondary. The Pats did come into the game with the second-worst pass defense in the league, but allowing Matt Flynn to throw for 251 yards and three touchdowns should raise some red flags.
Nonetheless, they've shown that they can do whatever it takes to win, so they're No. 1 until proven otherwise.
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