NFL Power Rankings Wild Card Weekend Edition: Focus on The Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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 Tampa Bay Buccaneers rank now that their season is over?

Because Tampa Bay was not one of the playoff teams, most people think they don't deserve to be ranked in the top 12.  When doing these rankings, 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 against in the first round of the playoffs.

Having won the NFC West, the Seattle Seahawks got one of the coveted 12 spots in the postseason and get the chance to fight for the Super Bowl, but how serious are their odds?  Most people would say that Seattle has about the same odds of winning the Lombardi trophy as the Buccaneers.

Did I buy into either of those bits of logic?  The Buccaneers were 4-4 down the stretch, and only 2-5 on the season against fellow playoff teams.  Where did Tampa Bay end up? Were they able to get into the Top 12?

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 picks article for the NFL Wild Card Weekend on GuysNation.com, a feature where the games this weekend are predicted by 5 different guys, sharing their perspectives, started by 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!).