NFL Computerized Power Ranks: Week 12

Feels like those Thanksgiving Games were a long time ago doesn't it? It turns out some of the most significant games of Week 12 were on Thanksgiving day. The Packers improved to 11-0 and remained as the #1 ranked team this week, but the 49ers had their 8 game winning streak ended in Baltimore right around the time everyone was in a turkey coma. This loss by the 49ers caused them to drop to #3, while the Ravens moved up a spot to #4. Replacing the 49ers at #2? Why the TJ Yates led Houston Texans of course! This is turning into a very odd situation. Matt Leinart taking over a 7-3 team was bizarre enough, but a 5th round draft pick rookie taking over an 8-3 team? This is either going to end horribly or Yates will go on to win the Super Bowl a la Tom Brady in 2001 and Matt Schaub will be playing somewhere else next year. The former #3 Bears got beat in Oakland without Jay Cutler and fell out of the top 5, replaced by always lurking Patriots....

On the bottom side, the Panthers and Redskins got wins this week, which was good enough to move them out of the bottom 5. The Buccaneers and Chargers continued their slide but switched positions. Replacing the Panthers and Redskins were the Rams and Chiefs. At least Missouri can look forward to SEC football next year. The Chiefs have had an interesting run. They managed to climb to the middle of the pack a few weeks ago and are again pretty much the laughing stock they were in September.

The biggest gainer this week were the Redskins, who finally got a win and jumped some sliding teams. The Raiders and Cardinals also moved up 4 spots. The biggest losers were the Giants, who got destroyed by the Saints and fell out of the playoff picture, and the above mentioned Chiefs.

Playoff Projections:
AFC
1st Round Byes: #2 Texans, #4 Ravens
#12 Bengals @ #5 Patriots
#10 Steelers @ #13 Raiders
Top 5 Out: #14 Broncos, #15 Titans, #16 Jets, #17 Dolphins, #21 Browns

NFC
1st Round Byes: #1 Packers, #3 49ers
#9 Lions @ #6 Cowboys
#7 Bears @ #8 Saints
Top 5 Out: #11 Falcons, #18 Giants, #19 Seahawks, #20 Cardinals, #24 Eagles

Full Ranks:

NFL Computerized Power Ranks: Week 4

So once again this week I missed my goal of posting these ranks on a Tuesday, but at least this week they are up before most of the games are over. My picture to the right for this week may seem a little odd, but it represents how the Kansas City Chiefs became the #1 ranked team this week: Sitting at home, going out to dinner, going to a club...whatever is going on here. The other 2 undefeated teams in the NFL, the Bears and Steelers, both went down in week 4, leaving only the Chiefs as the last remaining undefeated team.

The Bears loss was a tough one. They got dominated by the Giants defense, leaving both their starting and backup QB's with injuries. The Steelers finally got outplayed by someone, the Ravens, and only fell back to the #2 spot. The Jets, who absolutely murdered the Bills, jumped up to the #3 spot, while the Falcons stayed put at #4 after beating the #32 49ers thanks to a careless fumble by Nate Clements after the "game winning" interception. The Patriots move into the 5th spot after routing Miami.

On the low end, our 4 winless teams, the Lions, Panthers, Bills, and 49ers make up the bottom 4, while the Raiders are our lowest ranked 1 win team. Some may be surprised that the 49ers are the lowest of the 4 winless teams, since they nearly beat New Orleans and Atlanta, but in reality they have been truly pathetic this season. Their offense is terrible, ranking 31st in the league in scoring, their defense, which was pretty solid last year, only ranks 27th in the league in points allowed, and they keep turning the ball over while getting few turnovers themselves, ranking 30th in the league in turnover ratio. These are the kind of numbers we saw out of the Rams last year and the Lions 2 years ago, so we'll see how the remaining 12 games go for them.

As far as the big gainers and losers for this week go, the Patriots and Chargers both jumped 8 spots after blowout wins, and the Ravens jumped 7 spots for beating the Steelers. The Titans were the big losers, falling 11 spots for losing to Denver, and the victims of the those Patriots and Chargers blowouts, the Dolphins and Cardinals, each fell 9 spots.

Here are the full ranks:
1. Chiefs - 80.79 - +1
2. Steelers - 76.55 - -1
3. Jets - 74.27 - +3
4. Falcons - 73.22 - Even
5. Patriots - 68.17 - +8
6. Saints - 65.12 - +3
7. Bears - 64.78 - -4
8. Packers - 63.94 - Even
9. Texans - 62.45 - +3
10. Ravens - 59.70 - +7
11. Chargers - 58.89 - +8
12. Colts - 56.14 - -5
13. Buccaneers - 55.02 - +3
14. Bengals - 54.98 - -4
15. Eagles - 54.57 - -4
16. Titans - 54.54 - -11
17. Rams - 53.67 - +3
18. Broncos - 52.16 - +3
19. Redskins - 51.85 - +4
20. Seahawks - 46.27 - -5
21. Jaguars - 44.87 - +6
22. Giants - 42.63 - +6
23. Dolphins - 42.33 - -9
24. Cowboys - 41.37 - -2
25. Browns - 39.59 - +1
26. Vikings - 36.68 - -2
27. Cardinals - 34.94 - -9
28. Raiders - 32.22 - -3
29. Lions - 22.70 - Even
30. Panthers - 16.44 - +1
31. Bills - 14.78 - -1
32. 49ers - 13.08 - Even

Which 3-0 team is the most surprising?

 We're three weeks into the season, and there are three teams still riding high, without a loss.It actually seems like a low number on my end, only three out of 32 teams going undefeated, especially given the success of some teams last year. The three that haven't suffered a defeat are most surprising, but which one is the MOST surprising? Let's look at the case.

Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers are probably the least surprising, if only because they are such a complete team. Without Ben Roethlisberger, other players have had to step up. It certainly hasn't been the quarterbacks, but the defense and running game have been very respectable. Tough games were had, but it was a good team even without Big Ben.

Kansas City Chiefs: Maybe they just weren't as surprising for me. I like what they did with their offense, and their defense has been supplemented every year for the past 3 or 4. They were bound to reach respectability. It doesn't hurt that the schedule they played was very soft, with the Chargers and 49ers at home and a road game against the Browns.

Chicago Bears: The big surprise for me has been the Bears. What did they do in the offseason to warrant such an improvement? Sure, Urlacher is back and Julius Peppers is on the D-Line, but much of their improvement is on the offensive side of the ball. Is Mike Martz that good? And if he is, how do you explain Matt Forte's resurgence? And on top of that, they have faced two stout opponents after narrowly escaping the Lions. Yes sir, the Bears are the biggest surprise for me.