NFL Power Rankings Week 13
By James Watkins
This week, in honor of the season entering its final four weeks, I thought I’d give you the most important statistic for every team so far as we hurtle towards the playoffs.
- New England Patriots (Last week’s ranking: 2): Rob Gronkowski is suspended for only one game instead of 2.
- Minnesota Vikings (3): They’ve played 4 games against offenses in the top 5 in scoring. They’re 3-1 in those games.
- Philadelphia Eagles (1): They’ve played 3 teams that currently hold playoff spots. They’re 1-2 in those games.
- Los Angeles Rams (4): Shout-out to Mark Barron, who leads the team in tackles (79) and interceptions (3).
- Pittsburgh Steelers (5): After a sluggish start to the season, the Steelers offense has averaged 28.5 points over the past four weeks.
- New Orleans Saints (7): The last time the Saints didn’t rush for over 100 yards in a game was Week 4 against the Dolphins. They still won that game 20-0.
- Seattle Seahawks (11): Seattle’s defense has allowed over 20 points only once in their past 4 outings. The Seahawks are 3-1 in that span and have kept themselves relevant in the playoff push.
- Carolina Panthers (6): Cam Newton has passed for over 200 yards only once in his last 5 games.
- Jacksonville Jaguars (9): They’re leading the league in sacks with 45. It’s good news for the team, as they’ve eclipsed 30 sacks in every season in which they’ve made the postseason.
- Los Angeles Chargers (11): Over his past 3 games Keenan Allen has recorded 436 receiving yards, 33 receptions, and 4 touchdowns. So this is what he can do when he’s heathy, huh?
- Tennessee Titans (12): The Titans have only received three 100-yard rushing games from Derrick Henry and DeMarco Murray combined, but they are 3-0 in those contests.
- Baltimore Ravens (13): Alex Collins had scored once in his NFL career before this season. He’s now scored 4 times in his past 3 games.
- Atlanta Falcons (8): In games in which they break 20 points, Atlanta is 7-0. In games in which they don’t, they’re 0-5.
- Oakland Raiders (17): Marshawn Lynch came alive this week, posting his first plus-100 yard outing since coming out of retirement before the season.
- Dallas Cowboys (21): Since his insertion into the starting lineup in Week 10 against the Falcons, Alfred Morris is averaging 4.7 yards per carry.
- Detroit Lions (14): The defense has allowed an average of 30.5 points per game over the past 4 weeks.
- They-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named (15): Their leading rusher is Samaje Perine, with 465 yards. He’s only appeared in 9 games this season.
- Cincinnati Bengals (16): The Bengals are now 8-31 in primetime games during the Marvin Lewis era.
- Buffalo Bills (18): Rookie Zay Jones had 0 touchdowns during his first 9 games. Now he has 2 in his past 4. Buffalo is in desperate need of a reliable receiver.
- Green Bay Packers (22): December 17th, 2017. The Bad Man Returns.
- New York Jets (25): If the season ended today, the Jets would hold the 10th pick in the draft. You aren’t getting a quarterback that late. Such is the price for trying to field a competitive team.
- Arizona Cardinals (20): Blaine Gabbert has more 200+ yard passing games in the past three weeks than Cam Newton and Tyrod Taylor combines.
- Kansas City Chiefs (19): There’s no fancy stat for this team. They’re 1-6 in their past 7 games. That’s simply not good enough.
- Houston Texans (24): In his last 5 games, Tom Savage has thrown more interceptions (6) than touchdowns (5).
- Miami Dolphins (28): Kenyan Drake finally rushed for over 100 yards. Naturally, it comes the one week I leave him on my bench in fantasy.
- Chicago Bears (23): Chicago cut Robbie Gould, the best kicker in team history, a few seasons ago. This past week he went 5/5 on field goal attempts, leading the 49ers to a win over his former club.
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26): The Bucs have scraped together only 17 sacks so far this season. No other team in the league has less than 20.
- San Francisco 49er (29): Though he’s only played in 6 games due to injury, rookie linebacker Reuben Foster is 5th on the team in total tackles, with 45.
- Indianapolis Colts (27): Tickets for their next game against Buffalo are going for as low as $4.
- New York Giants (30): Eli Manning is now 297 consecutive starts away from Brett Favre’s NFL record.
- Denver Broncos (31): Despite the horrendous season, the pass defense is still one of the best in the league. They’re allowing only 203.6 yards per game through the air.
- Cleveland Browns (32): They are tenth in Total Defense this season. That’s right, they’re pretty good at something, actually. Not winning games. But something.