NFL Power Rankings Wild Card Weekend Edition: Focus on the Baltimore Ravens

Doing power rankings is tough, but because of the limited number of games on an NFL schedule, it's one of the only ways to get an idea for which teams are better than others, accounting for factors other than just their records. 

At my site—www.GuysNation.com—I do a weekly power ranking of all 32 NFL teams.  It's a hugely subjective process in which I account for a team's strength of schedule, margin of victory, good wins and bad losses.

Now that the playoffs are here, that doesn't mean the Power Rankings have to stop.  There's still the final opportunity to rank the teams who didn't make the playoffs, as well as the first of a couple more chances to rank the teams involved in the postseason bracket.

So where did the Baltimore Ravens rank?

As one of the playoff teams, they are definitely in the top 12.  From there, I took far more into account than just the teams' records.  I also consider how they fared against other teams currently in the playoffs, their recent record, and how they match up in the first round of the playoffs.

Having failed to win the AFC North, Baltimore must go on the road as Kansas City gets to host their Wild Card Weekend match up.  The Ravens had a better regular season record than Kansas City, won three games against fellow playoff teams this season, and went 6-2 down the stretch.  The Chiefs only had two games against playoff teams this year, winning just one of them.

Still, Kansas City has plenty of reasons to think the Chiefs could go deep into the bracket.  They have plenty of playoff experience amongst their coaching staff, not to mention a talented offense which doesn't turn over the football much.  Ed Reed and the Ravens defense is going to have to work overtime if they're going to be victorious over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

I'm sure the Baltimore fans trust in Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and the rest, but did I?  Where amongst the final 12 did the Ravens end up?

For the complete rankings and analysis, check out the article on my website, www.GuysNation.com! Unlike Power Rankings you see elsewhere, your comments could help persuade me to rank your team better after Wild Card Weekend!

You also might like the dueling NFL Week 17 picks article on GuysNation.com, a feature where the games on a given week's NFL schedule are debated between myself and another author on my site (who just happens to be a LIFELONG PHILADELPHIA EAGLES FAN, so you KNOW he's got a high opinion of his opinion!).  The Wild Card Weekend will be available soon and is going to feature multiple opinions.