Week 14 Power Rankings: How Do the New England Patriots Stack Up?

Tony Santorsa

Dec 6, 2011

A win is a win—no matter how ugly is it is.

The New England Patriots certainly controlled the majority of the game until the fourth quarter against the pitiful Indianapolis Colts, as they walked away with a 31-24 victory to keep the Colts winless.

The offensive started off Sunday's game sluggish, as usual, and it appears that this is a reoccurring theme for the Patriots and could cause major issues move forward. Either way, Tom Brady produced at an elite level as he completed 29 of his 38 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns.

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Brady's most productive receiver on the day was Wes Welker as he snagged 11 balls for 110 yards, while Rob Gronkowski added two more touchdowns to his league-leading 13 touchdowns.

Defensively the Patriots were solid at times but finished the game rather ugly, as they allowed a total of 21 points in the fourth quarter after holding Indy to only three points in the previous three.

Colts' quarterback Dan Orlovsky, who has a career 77.0 quarterback rating, should not have been able to put up 353 yards and two touchdowns against the Patriots—but he found a way to shred New England's ineffective secondary.

Over all, this was a very ugly week for the Patriots, as they came in as 21-point favorites but managed to only beat the lowly Colts by seven points. This should have been a blowout, but their pass defense showed their true colors late in the game when Indy was playing catch-up.

With the victory, New England improves to 9-3 and falls to fifth on my weekly power rankings after sitting at No. 3 a week ago.

1. Green Bay Packers.

2. Baltimore Ravens

3. New Orleans Saints

4. San Francisco 49ers

5. New England Patriots

6. Pittsburgh Steelers

7. Houston Texans

8. Denver Broncos

9. New York Jets

10. Atlanta Falcons

11. Dallas Cowboys