NFL Power Rankings Week 14: Saints Streaking, Lions Playoff Hopes Dimming
The Detroit Lions are seeing their playoffs hopes slip, but are saved by the fact that the Falcons, Bears, Cowboys, and Giants all lost on Sunday. The Lions don’t have an easy schedule down the stretch and must play smarter football if they want to make the playoffs. The Colts showed some life late against the Patriots once the game was way out of control and I continue to petition Peyton Manning for M.V.P. The Colts are terrible.
The Dolphins and Eagles are both 4-8, but couldn’t be any different right now. The Giants have lost four straight games, but showed some life that was missing the last two weeks and the Titans are making a late push for the playoffs. The playoff race in the A.F.C. East is fun too as the Bengals, Titans, Raiders and Jets are duking it out for the last playoff spot.
Read onto see where I rank the teams as it stands now.
#32. Indianapolis Colts-
The Colts are so bad that I’m not even going to give them the time to finish a senten…
#31 St. Louis Rams
I wonder if Steve Spagolou will last through the season at their current pace. Spags is supposed to be a defensive wizard and while they don’t have great personnel their defense has gotten abused through the ground and through the air.
I really thought the Rams would put up a fight against the 49ers, but boy was I wrong.
#30 Jacksonville Jaguars
I’m assuming the Jaguars lose to the Chargers, which might not be fair, but I think likely. I also think that without ahead coach I’m not sure what kind of effort to expect. Interim head coaches never seem to work out.
#29 Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings continue to lose in impressive fashion. Christian Ponder had a big game…until he threw a near pick six to ice the game for the Broncos in what was supposed to be a tough defensive battle. Ponder, Peterson, Harvin, Rudolph are a nice start on offense. They could use another WR and a lot of help at Offensive tackle.
28 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Seem low? The Buccaneers have lost six straight games in a row. I hadn’t even realized that. The Buccaneers were supposed to compete for the playoffs this year, but have been woeful the past month and a half. They’ve had some close calls but no one cares about close. They are more talented than this, but at some point they have to take a big hit for losing so many games in a row, right? playing Dallas, Carolina, and Atlanta down the stretch won’t help any. Cleveland is next week.
#27 Cleveland Browns
The Browns got run all over by Ray Rice. I’m not sure if the Browns now for sure whether or not they have their quarterback of the future. The Browns are 1-4 in their last five games and only have four wins on the season.
#26 Washington Redskins
A little life for the Redskins and Rex Grossman…until they Grossmaned the end of the game against the Jets. Grossman came out like gangbusters to start the game, but had a huge stretch where he couldn’t complete a pass, yet they were still in the game until the very-near end. The Redskins will take on the Patriots this Sunday, which is a bad matchup for them. This defense is pretty good and Roy Helu has been impressive, now if they just had that pesky franchise quarterback
#25 Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs won that game on a hail mary. They won 10-3. This team is bad with Tyler Palko at the helm. Todd Haley is on the white-hot seat. The Chiefs need a lot more depth to to be able to sustain injuries, but they aren’t completely untalented.
#24 Carolina Panthers
Cam Newton is impressive on and off the field this year. He says all the right things in press conferences and does a wonderful job making plays. Part of the big problem for the Panthers to me is that they are not running the football enough with their talented running backs. Consider this DeAngelo Williams is averaging 5 yards per carry this season and he has 108 total carries in 11 games. That’s less than 10 carries per game, that’s ridiculous. A good running game helps limit a weaker defense and the Panthers could win some more if they’d be more willing to be balance on offense, but perhaps they are thinking about getting Newton as many practice throws as possible. The Panthers have some nice talent and are an exciting team for the future.
That’s what I wrote last week and then on Sunday they ran the ball 25 times with Williams and Stewart and 14 times with Newton and they held the ball for 32 minutes and beat the Buccaneers 38-19.
#23 Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles are the most disappointing team in the league this year. The Eagles though,if they have any pride, can still play spoilers as they will get to play the Cowboys and Jets towards the end of the season.
#22 Buffalo Bills
The Bills have fallen apart in the second half of the season, the problem with the Bills is that they have no depth. They can’t overcome many injuries at all. They also need someone to rush the passer (who knew that it was Aaron Maybin?), and someone to stretch the field consistently on offense. Depth everywhere would help as well.
#21 Arizona Cardinals
Suddenly the N.F.C. West doesn’t look that bad. The Cardinals knocked off the Cowboys, the Seahawks knocked off the Eagles and they now have two teams playing pretty well. The Cardinals and Seahawks have some legitimate pieces, but they aren’t quite there yet.
#20 Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins are playing great right now. Too bad they are 4-8. Matt Moore has proven that he’s a viable quarterback in this league. He’s not going to move forward as the Dolphins starter, but someteam could use him as a transitional quarterback or well paid backup. Really playing much better than I thought he could.
#19 San Diego Chargers
This is assuming the Chargers win against the Jacksonville Jaguars tonight. Amazingly I don’t think the Chargers are technically out of the playoff race if they win out.
#18 Seattle Seahwks
I think the Seahawks are the best 5-7 team in the league (as if that was a compliment). The Seahawks could be real dangerous with a real good quarterback, but that’s getting less likely with each win. The Seahawks absolutely embarassed the Eagles. On a related note, how good could Marshawn Lynch be if he just could keep his head on straight all the time?
#17 Chicago Bears
Oh boy the Bears looked awful on Sunday. They lost 10-3 to the Chiefs at home. Granted the only touchdown the Chiefs score was on a hail mary, but the point is the Bears are not going to be any good without Forte and Cutler.
Power rankings continued on the second page.