NFL Power Ranks: Wild Card Playoffs

As I said last week, the power rank formula allows me to continue doing the ranks through the playoffs. As you can see from the list, mostly only playoff teams or teams mixed in with playoff teams move around during the playoffs, but sometimes we see the occasional flip of a lower team due to a slight strength of schedule or strength of division change caused by a playoff team in their division.

So let's look at last week's games, and how it affected the teams: The Jets win over the Bengals caused the Jets to move up 4 spots to #7, while the Bengals actually stayed put at #18. The Cowboys win over the Eagles moved them to their highest point all season, #2, and the Eagles fell back to #9. The Ravens win moved them up to #4 while the Patriots 8 spots all the way back to #12, and the Cardinals win wasn't enough to move them up at all, staying at #16, while the Packers fell 6 spots to #8. The Vikings and Texans benefited from the losses by Green Bay, Philadlephia, and New England to move up 3 spots each. The other 3 bye teams stayed put.

So how do ranks predict this week's games: It looks like #10 Saints over #16 Cardinals, #3 Colts over #4 Ravens (thanks to a huge 0.24 point split), #1 Chargers over #7 Jets, and in an upset, the #2 Cowboys over #5 Vikings

Also, how 'bout them Texans at #6? It would have been fun to see them in the playoffs this year....

Here are the full ranks:
1. Chargers - 77.90 - Even
2. Cowboys - 74.81 - +5
3. Colts - 69.44 - Even
4. Ravens - 69.20 - +2
5. Vikings - 66.26 - +3
6. Texans - 64.85 - +3
7. Jets - 64.07 - +4
8. Packers - 64.00 - -6
9. Eagles - 62.49 - -4
10. Saints - 62.41 - Even
11. Falcons - 61.18 - +1
12. Patriots - 61.12 - -8
13. 49ers - 60.17 - Even
14. Panthers - 59.67 - Even
15. Steelers - 58.73 - Even
16. Cardinals - 57.29 - Even
17. Titans - 51.90 - Even
18. Bengals - 49.01 - Even
19. Browns - 45.18 - Even
20. Bills - 44.94 - Even
21. Broncos - 43.76 - +1
22. Bears - 43.22 - -1
23. Giants - 41.48 - Even
24. Dolphins - 38.37 - Even
25. Jaguars - 35.24 - Even
26. Buccaneers - 32.18 - Even
27. Redskins - 30.96 - +1
28. Chiefs - 30.85 - -1
29. Raiders - 28.01 - Even
30. Seahawks - 23.78 - Even
31. Lions - 15.43 - Even
32. Rams - 11.21 - Even