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.

1. New England Patriots (Last week’s ranking: 2): Rob Gronkowski is suspended for only one game instead of 2.
2. Minnesota Vikings (3): They’ve played 4 games against offenses in the top 5 in scoring. They’re 3-1 in those games.
3. Philadelphia Eagles (1): They’ve played 3 teams that currently hold playoff spots. They’re 1-2 in those games.
4. Los Angeles Rams (4): Shout-out to Mark Barron, who leads the team in tackles (79) and interceptions (3).
5. Pittsburgh Steelers (5): After a sluggish start to the season, the Steelers offense has averaged 28.5 points over the past four weeks.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Carolina Panthers (6): Cam Newton has passed for over 200 yards only once in his last 5 games.
9. 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.
10. 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?
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. Oakland Raiders (17): Marshawn Lynch came alive this week, posting his first plus-100 yard outing since coming out of retirement before the season.
15. 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.
16. Detroit Lions (14): The defense has allowed an average of 30.5 points per game over the past 4 weeks.
17. 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.
18. Cincinnati Bengals (16): The Bengals are now 8-31 in primetime games during the Marvin Lewis era.
19. 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.
20. Green Bay Packers (22): December 17^th, 2017. The Bad Man Returns.
21. New York Jets (25): If the season ended today, the Jets would hold the 10^th pick in the draft. You aren’t getting a quarterback that late. Such is the price for trying to field a competitive team.
22. Arizona Cardinals (20): Blaine Gabbert has more 200+ yard passing games in the past three weeks than Cam Newton and Tyrod Taylor combines.
23. 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.
24. Houston Texans (24): In his last 5 games, Tom Savage has thrown more interceptions (6) than touchdowns (5).
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. San Francisco 49er (29): Though he’s only played in 6 games due to injury, rookie linebacker Reuben Foster is 5^th on the team in total tackles, with 45.
29. Indianapolis Colts (27): Tickets for their next game against Buffalo are going for as low as $4.
30. New York Giants (30): Eli Manning is now 297 consecutive starts away from Brett Favre’s NFL record.
31. 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.
32. 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.