NFL Power Rankings Week 17 The Rams Take Over The Colts Spot
Remember early in the year when people were worried about teams tanking games at the end of the season and that the league needed to look into some sort of lottery system to avoid that from happening?
Yeah…That hasn’t’ happened. In fact much to the dismay of many fans, the Colts and Vikings are still winning games. Clearly, they do not understand the concept of “suck for Luck”.
32. St. Louis Rams
The Rams are playing horribly. They have lost 6 games in a row and have the absolutely worst point differential in the league. The Rams have a -207 point differential to the Colts -181 point differential and that’s including the Saints games.
31. Indianapolis Colts
The Colts are showing life while the Rams are well, just awful. Credit the Colts for playing hard when it didn’t matter.
30. Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings and the Colts don’t understand “Suck for Luck” as they keep winning games that might only set their franchise back. It would have been interesting to me to see what the Vikings would have done with the first overall pick would they have drafted Andrew Luck.
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers, what you can say about the Buccaneers? Are they the league’s most disappointing team? I think so. Last year they were 10-6 on the verge of a playoff appearance. They entered the season “youngry” (young and hungry), but have ended the season with 10 straight losses (I’m assuming they lose this week as well) and the team now is left with a bunch questions about their roster make-up. Are they as talented as we thought they were?
28. Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars will be one of the most interesting story lines to follow during the off-season. Will they be able to remain in Jacksonville? I’m also curious to see what they do in the draft. They clearly need play makers on offense at the WR position, but if they are picking this high will they feel comfortable taking Justin Blackmon.
27. Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are in a tough position. Moving from an Eric Mangini type of coach to a west coast offense minded coach takes a lot of overhaul of their roster. They have some decent players, and Athyba Rubin is really playing well this year, but I think they really need a strong off-season here.
26. Buffalo Bills
Where did that come from? I picked the Bills in my weekly pick segment, but I did not see THAT Coming. They absolutely dominated the Denver Broncos, but thankfully for the Broncos pretty much everyone else in their division lost keeping them ahead of the curve in the divison race.
25. Washington Redskins
When you watch this team they don’t look like a 5-10 team. Or maybe that’s just because two of the games I’ve watched them play were against the New York Giants and another one was the Dallas Cowboys. They have some really nice pieces especially on defense.
24. Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins gave the Patriots all they could handle and they will be extremely motivated to put an official end to the Jets playoff hopes this week (the Jets need losses from the Broncos OR Raiders, the Bengals and the Titans. The Bengals play the Ravens, the Titans play the Texans, and the Raiders and Broncos play Chargers and Chiefs respectively.
23. Kansas City Chiefs
Is Romeo Crennel the next head coach of the Chiefs? I don’t think he did that bad with the Cleveland Browns. I mean they did give him Derek Anderson as their “franchise” Quarterback. If he gets the job with the Chiefs he’d be in a similar situation with the Chiefs with Matt Cassel. I’d love to see what he could do with a player like a Philip Rivers.
22. Chicago Bears
The Bears cost themselves the playoffs by being too stubborn with Caleb Hanie when he was clearly awful this year. Yes, he had a nice playoff game last year, but he just isn’t that good. I didn’t think they would be that great this year so good job by the Bears organization. They still need some pieces on both sides of the ball,b ut they should definitely be competitive next year.
21. Carolina Panthers
I have the Panthers slightly ahead of the Dolphins because the Panthers have their franchise quarterback, but are missing the complementary pieces. While the Dolphins have many of the complementary pieces but are missing their franchise quarterback. I thought the Panthers would win that game against the Buccaneers, but I didn’t think they would embarrass them.
20. Arizona Cardinals
Before losing on Saturday the Cardinals had won six of their last seven games to make a serious push for the playoffs after being written off by many earlier in the season. Who is the QB of the future for the Cardinals John Skelton is sure making a push for it.
19. Seattle Seahawks
The Seahakws like the Cardinals really have had a strong finish to their season. Had they knocked off the 49ers Saturday they would have been 4-1 in their last five games and won games over The Eagles, Bears, Baltimore, Giants, and 49ers this season. What hurts the Seahawks are a few real bad losses. They lost the Redskins and the Cleveland Browns in two games they really could have won.
18. San Diego Chargers
I thought they would beat the Lions and make a real strong final push for the division title, but they got their doors blown off, which is probably better for their future. It’s clear to everyone, but the Chargers front office that Norv Turner is not a good N.F.L. coach. The Chargers seem to have gotten worse every year. They were a team that had a fantastic shot at being Superbowl champs four years ago and have gotten further away from that goal every year.
17. Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles have come together as a football team, but it was a week too late. A week earlier and they really might have won this division. Now the question for the Eagles becomes. Do they still fire their defensive coordinator now that they defense is gelling? They have gotten the most pressure from their front four n the entire league and their defense has been difficult to handle lately. Firing their defensive coordinator might cost them another adjustment period next year.
16. Oakland Raiders
The Raiders won to cling on for dear life to their playoff hopes. A win this weekend and a Broncos loss will make them division winners. The Raiders are an enigma of a team. Why can’t they be consistent? Carson Palmer has an off-season to gel with his wide receivers, many who have been hurt much of the season to try and make a strong playoff push next year, the problem is they are not going to get any help from their draft class which has no picks until the fourth round.
The rest of the power rankings are continued on page two.