NFL Power Ranks: Week 12

The Titans aren't getting a break for getting their first loss of the season this week to the Jets. The Giants rocketed past them and now have a comfortable lead on the #1 spot. The G-Men just keep rolling after getting a pretty easy win over the surprising division leading Cardinals. The team that vanquished the Titans (last week's surprise #4...guess not too much of a surprise now), the Jets, have moved into the #3 spot with their huge win coupled with Carolina's loss to Atlanta. Carolina's loss dropped them into a tie for the division lead with Tampa Bay, who despite not having any strength of schedule help this week by beating Detroit, moved into the #4 spot.

The #5 team deserves their own paragraph: The Colts. They have had the craziest up and down season in these rankings. Their bad loss to the Bears in Week 1 started them at #29. They rose to #21 in week 2, but were back down to #28 after week 4. They then got hot and got all the way up to #6 after week 6, only to get cold again and drop all the way to #22 after week 8. Now they have looked good winning 4 in a row and have climbed all the way back to #5. In a way, this doesn't bode well for them, because they could be back around #20 by week 16 if they continue this trend.

The Bottom 5 still suck. Is there much more to talk about at this point? The Raiders nice win over the awful division leading Broncos moved them up 4 spots out of the bottom 5. Of course, they are replaced by that other bay area team, the 49ers.

There were no significant gainers this week. the Colts, Falcons, Steelers, Vikings, Bills, and Raiders all gained 4 positions, all for their dominant victories in Week 12. The Eagles and Packers were the big losers. The Eagles, who have always seemed to be inflated in these ranks this year, dropped 9 spots as their statistics finally are catching up to their quality of play on the field. The Packers huge loss to the Saints dropped them 7 spots and dealt a blow to their playoff hopes.

I'm going to start giving the power rank formula predicted playoff matchups each week for the rest of the year:

NFC
1st Round Byes: #1 Giants, #4 Buccaneers
#6 Panthers @ #16 Bears
#7 Falcons @ #12 Cardinals
Top 3 out of playoffs: #13 Cowboys, #14 Redskins, #15 Saints

AFC
1st Round Byes: #2 Titans, #3 Jets
#5 Colts @ #22 Broncos
#9 Steelers @ #8 Ravens
Top 3 out of playoffs: #10 Dolphins, #11 Patriots, #20 Bills

Here are the full ranks:
1. Giants - 87.62 - +1
2. Titans - 77.93 - -1
3. Jets - 74.40 - +1
4. Buccaneers - 68.94 - +2
5. Colts - 68.28 - +4
6. Panthers - 67.73 - -3
7. Falcons - 67.71 - +4
8. Ravens - 67.63 - +2
9. Steelers - 63.61 - +4
10. Dolphins - 60.93 - -5
11. Patriots - 60.91 - +3
12. Cardinals - 60.07 - -5
13. Cowboys - 58.49 - +3
14. Redskins - 58.20 - +1
15. Saints - 57.68 - +3
16. Bears - 57.64 - +1
17. Eagles - 53.39 - -9
18. Vikings - 53.01 - +4
19. Packers - 47.22 - -7
20. Bills - 46.31- +4
21. Browns - 42.40 - -2
22. Broncos - 40.82 - -2
23. Jaguars - 39.73 - -2
24. Chargers - 37.57 - -1
25. Raiders - 34.76 - +4
26. Texans - 33.75 - -1
27. Bengals - 28.10 - -1
28. 49ers - 25.40 - -1
29. Seahawks - 20.18 - 1
30. Chiefs - 20.13 - Even
31. Rams - 14.87 - Even
32. Lions - 10.76 - Even