NFL Week 15 Powre Rankings

NFL Week 15 Powre Rankings
M.D. Wright
12.16.09

As always, I have to remind people, this is less about rankings as it is about how the team is playing RIGHT NOW -- and if they're sliding or on a hot streak, that plays a role.

1. Indianapolis Colts.
Cruise mode. Their defense is so good that Manning had a terrible game and they still win easily. Until the Saints can afford to have an off game by Brees against a decent team, then they cannot overtake the Colts.

2. San Diego Chargers.
NO ONE WANTS TO PLAY THEM NOW NOR IN THE PLAYOFFS. They will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.

3. New Orleans Saints.
I am done writing about them. The only relevant thing to them is possibly breaking the Patriots' PPG/points scored record set in 2007 without cheating to do so. They're one and done in the playoffs, with that loss looking more and more like it's going to come at the hands of either the Packers or Eagles.

4. Green Bay Packers.
They're as hot as anyone right now. Why? Because they finally figured out how to protect Rodgers. Their line holds a TON, though. Somehow they get away with it.

5. Minnesota Vikings.
Nice win Sunday, but that loss to Arizona looks even worse after the Cards lost to a desperate San Francisco squad.

6. Philadelphia Eagles.
For the love of all sacred, why don't teams bump Desean Jackson and Wes Welker? Welker keeps the Patriots offense moving (when they'd have a ton of 3 and outs otherwise with their paltry running game and one-dimensional scheme to get the ball to Moss), and the Iggles LIVE on big plays, otherwise, they stink. Sure, against a sieve of a defense such as the Giants they look like studs, but don't buy the fool's gold. In the playoffs, the Iggles will have to move the ball more methodically and won't be able to in 3 straight games.

7. Cincinnati Bengals.
How they win and CURSIN' hasn't had a good game (he's been clutch late in a few, which is really all that matters) all season is a testament to Cedric Benson and their defense.

8. Arizona Cardinals.
Bad loss. Further shows why they're not ready to step up into the elite.

9. New England Patriots.
Buffalo gets their revenge Sunday and puts a huge damper on the Patriots' playoff chances.

10. Dallas Cowboys.
The free-fall has begun. They won't sniff higher than 15 after this beatdown coming Saturday night.

11. Denver Broncos.
Hard to take them seriously.

12. Miami Dolphins.
WATCH OUT FOR THE FINS.

13. New York Jets.
The Jets may have something here if Sanchez comes back. If they have to rely on Thomas Jones too much, they may wear down. Huge plays by their secondary the past few games. Kellen Clemens should make every Jets fan nervous for the entire game.

14. New York Giants.
Sheridan and the players seem to be of two different minds. Top shelf talent, BOTTOM SHELF/WORST-IN-NFL results prove this. The offense, just as it has been since Coughlin got here (averaging 26 PPG during his tenure and yes, 26 PPG this year) isn't the problem. We can move the ball and score on anyone. But conversely, we can't stop anyone all of a sudden. We really miss Kenny Phillips. But more than that, playing Aaron Ross at Safety makes little sense to me. He has the speed that Johnson and Rouse don't, but he has CB instincts, not S instincts. Rouse and Johnson got caught peeking in the backfield against McNabb like there was an X-rated Peep Show going on back there DEAR GOD. Jackson is NOT as great as we make him look. The previous sentence explains why he was so open.

15. Baltimore Ravens.
Flacco has made some mind-numbing mistakes in 3 of their losses -- each late in games.

16. Jacksonville Jaguars.
Does reality begin to set in after that loss to Miami? The Jags are NOT 7-5 good. Not 7-6 good. This is a 4-9 team. I don't get it.

17. Tennessee Titans.
They still put Vince in 3 games too late. Had he been in sooner, they'd be 9-4.

18. Houston Texans.
Kubiak has to go. Too much talent to continue the same start slow/go on a little run/fade/win meaningless games late in the season trend. This is 3 straight years.

19. Atlanta Falcons.
UGH.

20. Pittsburgh Steelers.
Thank God we won't have to listen to their fans in the playoffs. The fake ones, that is, since those are the ones you hear most.

21. San Francisco 49ers.
Season saving win. If for only one week ha.

22. Chicago Bears.
DEAR GOD LOVIE SMITH SHOW SOME EMOTION, 5!!!

23. Carolina Panthers.
They are great talent evaluators at the WR position, ha. But as Bill Belichick said Monday, (which was gold) "they would say that (Moss quit), but they haven't really won many games this year. They do an awful lot of talking, but they've lose a lot of games" (paraphrasing).

24. Buffalo Bills.
Spoiler mode begins Sunday.

25. Seattle Seahawks.
The Seabags are SOFT.

26. Oakland Raiders.
Watch out for the Raiders next year. SERIOUSLY!

27. Washington Redskins.
We appreciate having them on MNF next week to help us fine tune what we've been doing wrong on defense.

28. Kansas City Chiefs.
Just when I thought they were going to build on this...

29. Cleveland Browns.
HA.

30. Detroit Lions.
Cue the Jim Mora rant (one of the lesser known versions) from '92.

31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
I don't know what kind of statement the Bucs' front office was trying to make by hiring Morris and gutting the team. How did they expect the man to fare? Not even a veteran coach could have done anything with this mess. So he's going to get fired and probably not even get serious consideration for a job until he's 52? I'm sick of them doing this to Black guys. Always putting them in positions to fail and when they don't work magic, they get chased out of town. He's no Tony Dungy (who, while admittedly having MUCH MORE talent with Sapp, Brooks, Dunn, Lynch, etc., was able to turn around the NFL-worst Bucs to winners -- which Gruden benefitted from, BTW).

32. St. Louis Rams.
YIKES. Just flat out YIKES. If not for Steven Jackson, they'd be pushing for back to back 0-16 seasons in the NFL.