NFL Computerized Power Ranks: Week 17

The NFL regular season is all wrapped up and the final regular season power rankings are in, but just like in previous years, they will continue to be updated throughout the playoffs.

The Patriots, who could have rested some starters in their final week, decided instead to kill Miami to further tighten their death grip on the #1 spot. The Falcons, who wrapped up home field in the NFC, remain at #2. Somehow, the Ravens' narrow win over Cincinnati was more impressive than the Steelers destroying Cleveland, and the Ravens jumped them for the #3 spot. The Packers moved up to the #5 spot for getting into the playoffs by beating the Bears (who fell to #11).

On the bottom side, Carolina and Denver stayed in their usual spots on the bottom, while Buffalo moved down to #30 for losing to the Jets. The Browns completely tanked at the end of the year, costing Eric Mangini his job and sending the Browns plummeting to #29. And yes, even though they won this week and moved up 2 spots, your NFC West Champion Seattle Seahawks are heading into a home playoff game ranked in the bottom 5 at #28. How great (and accurate) is that?

We had a few big swings this week. The biggest gainers were the 49ers, who stomped the Cardinals for the 2nd time this year and moved up 9 spots to finish at their season high #18. The Texans jumped 8 spots for finally getting a win, and the Jets moved up 7 as they got a nice win for their confidence over Buffalo. The biggest losers were the above mentioned Browns, followed by the above mentioned Bears, and the Jaguars, who did everything in their power to lose the AFC South over the past few weeks.

The power ranks could be a useful tool for picking playoff winners, so let's see what the rankings picked this week:
#5 Packers over #10 Eagles
#13 Saints over #28 Seahawks
#3 Ravens over #12 Chiefs
#6 Jets over #8 Colts

That's right. The rankings are predicting that all 4 road teams will win this week, though the Jets/Colts and Packers/Eagles are pretty close so the lower ranked team could get a home field advantage bump.

Before getting to the full ranks, you are probably wondering why I have a picture of a dog wearing a Broncos bandanna as my picture this week. Since I am using a scientific formula to rank the football teams all season, and using it to pick the winners this week, I decided to also make some low tech picks. I have some mini plastic helmets so I let my 2 year-old male Golden Retriever, Jake, pick the winner by putting the 2 helmets on the floor and seeing which one he takes the most interest in. Kind of like Paul the World Cup octopus minus the suckers. Here were his playoff picks. I'm surprised he turned his back on his pick from 2 years ago, the Ravens:

Jake's picks:
Eagles over Packers
Seahawks over Saints
Jets over Colts
Ravens over Chiefs

Eagles over Bears
Falcons over Seahawks
Patriots over Jets
Steelers over Ravens

Eagles over Falcons
Steelers over Patriots

Steelers over Eagles

Yep, I'm surprised he picked Michael Vick to go so far too. Guess there are no hard feelings from the dog community.

Here are the full ranks:
1. Patriots - 85.03 - Even
2. Falcons - 76.99 - Even
3. Ravens - 74.53 - +1
4. Steelers - 73.88 - -1
5. Packers - 65.00 - +4
6. Jets - 64.77 - +1
7. Buccaneers - 64.52 - +4
8. Colts - 64.11 - +2
9. Chargers - 60.87 - +3
10. Eagles - 60.28 - -4
11. Bears - 59.96 - -6
12. Chiefs - 59.25 - -5
13. Saints - 59.05 - -5
14. Lions - 58.38 - Even
15. Giants - 55.70 - Even
16. Raiders - 51.53 - Even
17. Cowboys - 45.88 - +1
18. 49ers - 42.61 - +9
19. Rams - 41.35 - -2
20. Titans - 40.67 - Even
21. Texans - 40.50 - +8
22. Dolphins - 36.94 - +2
23. Bengals - 36.63 - +2
24. Redskins - 36.41 - -1
25. Jaguars - 35.45 - -6
26. Vikings - 33.34 - -4
27. Cardinals - 33.08 - -1
28. Seahawks - 32.99 - +2
29. Browns - 32.26 - -8
30. Bills - 31.86 - -2
31. Broncos - 28.21 - Even
32. Panthers - 24.69 - Even