After 6 consecutive weeks on top of the power ranks, the mighty Falcons have fallen to #2 after losing to the Saints on Monday night. Fortunately for them, they are still in the driver seat to clinch home field advantage in the NFC with a win over Carolina this Sunday. The Patriots have replaced the Falcons as #1, and have clinched home field in the AFC. It will be interesting to see how many starters they bench this week and how it could affect their rank heading into the playoffs with a loss. The Steelers remained #3 after dominating the now #32 Panthers on Thursday. The Eagles loss on Tuesday night to the Vikings knocked them back to #6. Moving up to replace them were the Ravens and the Bears, who clinched a 1st round bye thanks to that Eagles loss.
We had some more movement on the bottom side. The Cardinals got a dramatic win over the Cowboys on Christmas to move them up to #26, and the Bengals knocked the Chargers out of the playoffs to move up to #25. The Broncos also won, but only moved up 1 spot to #31, putting the Panthers rightfully back in last. The Seahawks moved even further down this week to #30, and the best part is, with a win this weekend, they are NFC West Champs and get a home playoff game. The Texans are brand new to the bottom 5. They have played horribly on defense and have combined them with losing a few close games over the past few weeks.
The biggest gainers this week were the Lions, who have won 3 in a row and are killing a potentially nice draft pick. They moved up 6 spots to jump all the way to #14. Can they make it 4 in a row to end the season? The biggest losers were the Lions’ victims, the Dolphins, who fell 7 spots below a group of bunched up under .500 teams to fall to #24.
The playoffs are pretty much set, so a playoff projection doesn’t make much sense, but here it is. Some of these scenarios are impossible so this more reflects who is playing best right now.
NFC
First Round Byes: #2 Falcons, #5 Bears
#9 Packers @ #6 Eagles
#8 Saints @ #17 Rams
Top 5 Out: #11 Buccaneers, #14 Lions, #15 Giants, #18 Cowboys, #22 Vikings
AFC
First Round Byes: #1 Patriots, #3 Steelers
#12 Chargers @ #7 Chiefs
#4 Ravens @ #10 Colts
Top 5 Out: #13 Jets, #16 Raiders, #19 Jaguars, #20 Titans, #21 Browns
Full ranks:
1. Patriots – 83.20 – +1
2. Falcons – 76.89 – -1
3. Steelers – 71.92 – Even
4. Ravens – 69.85 – +1
5. Bears – 67.47 – +1
6. Eagles – 66.87 – -2
7. Chiefs – 66.70 – +1
8. Saints – 66.24 – -1
9. Packers – 64.45 – +3
10. Colts – 58.43 – +3
11. Buccaneers – 57.01 – +3
12. Chargers – 54.49 – -1
13. Jets – 54.18 – -3
14. Lions – 53.59 – +6
15. Giants – 54.42 – -6
16. Raiders – 50.42 – -1
17. Rams – 47.50 – +2
18. Cowboys – 43.98 – Even
19. Jaguars – 42.50 – +3
20. Titans – 41.32 – +1
21. Browns – 40.41 – -5
22. Vikings – 39.90 – +4
23. Redskins – 39.32 – +4
24. Dolphins – 39.19 – -7
25. Bengals – 37.65 – +4
26. Cardinals – 36.30 – +4
27. 49ers – 33.92 – -4
28. Bills – 33.65 – -3
29. Texans – 32.65 – -5
30. Seahawks – 30.30 – -2
31. Broncos – 27.98 – +1
32. Panthers – 25.44 – -1
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
