NFL Power Ranks: Week 11

First of all, I'd like to make mention that according to the blogger site, this is post #1,800 all time for Victoria Times/Is It Sports? (And yes, I can put Is It Sports? in there now that all of the archives from the old site have been posted. Take a look at the archive section from January 2005 - March 2006 for the Is It Sports? posts. Is It Sports? and Victoria Times overlapped from January 2006 to March 2006). When we started doing this almost 5 years ago, I never thought we would hit 2000 posts by March 2010, which is about what we are on pace for.

There is only a little to discuss this week with the top 5/bottom 5 in the ranks. The Colts, Saints, Vikings, and Patriots all picked up wins to stay ranked 1-4, but the Bengals choked away a game in Oakland, causing them to only drop 1 spot to 6th (thanks to a lot of stumbling below them as well). The red hot 7-3 Chargers move up to grab that #5 spot.

Two of the Bottom 5 teams actually won this week! Their reward? They moved slightly higher within the bottom 5! Yes, the Raiders beat the Bengals, moving them from #29 to #28, and the Lions beat the Browns in the pillow fight of the year (which was actually a fun, crazy shootout) to move from #31 to #29. The Bucs and Rams fell back to #30 and #31, respectively, while the Browns still suck.

The biggest gainer this week was Kansas City, who pulled off a shocking upset of the Steelers to win their 2nd in a row and move to #21. On the flip side of that game, the biggest losers by far were the Steelers, who fell 9 spots all the way to #16. Surprisingly, the Steelers are now ranked below the #15 Titans, who have won 4 games in a row after starting the season 0-6. What's going on in this league?

If you look past Thanksgiving, there is a big game coming up this Monday when the #2 Saints take on the #4 Patriots. I'm guessing we'll see a little more movement next week.

Projected Playoff Matchups:
NFC
First Round Byes: #2 Saints, #3 Vikings
#9 Eagles @ #7 Cowboys
#8 Packers @ #10 Cardinals
Top 3 Out: #17 Giants, #18 Falcons, #22 49ers

AFC
First Round Byes: #1 Colts, #4 Patriots
#12 Jaguars @ #5 Chargers
#11 Ravens @ #6 Bengals
Top 3 Out: #13 Texans, #14 Dolphins, #15 Titans

Full Ranks:
1. Colts - 89.53 - Even
2. Saints - 84.18 - Even
3. Vikings - 76.47 - Even
4. Patriots - 73.99 - Even
5. Chargers - 73.06 - +1
6. Bengals - 66.90 - -1
7. Cowboys - 64.40 - +1
8. Packers - 62.08 - +3
9. Eagles - 62.06 - Even
10. Cardinals - 59.81 - +3
11. Ravens - 58.93 - -1
12. Jaguars - 56.42 - +3
13. Texans - 55.67 - -1
14. Dolphins - 53.95 - +4
15. Titans - 53.72 - +2
16. Steelers - 53.39 - -9
17. Giants - 52.30 - +2
18. Falcons - 49.11 - -2
19. Broncos - 43.69 - -5
20. Jets - 40.63 - Even
21. Chiefs - 40.40 - +5
22. 49ers - 39.99 - -1
23. Bears - 39.67 - +1
24. Panthers - 38.01 - -1
25. Redskins - 35.43 - +2
26. Bills - 34.57 - -4
27. Seahawks - 33.42 - -2
28. Raiders - 28.18 - +1
29. Lions - 24.81 - +2
30. Buccaneers - 24.51 - -2
31. Rams - 22.24 - -1
32. Browns - 14.82 - Even