NFL Power Rankings - 3 Weeks to Go
by Joseph
Ross
NFL Analyst
12/10/08
I’ll keep
it short and sweet this week as the NFL begins to wind down its regular
season. With only three regular season
games left to play the close races to keep an eye on are:
NFC South (Carolina, Tampa Bay, Atlanta), NFC
North (Minnesota, Chicago), AFC
East (New York Jets, New England, Miami), AFC
North (Pittsburgh, Baltimore), and of course both conference’s Wild
Card
spots. It’s going to be a wild and wooly
race to the end….as usual!!!
1. (2) Tennessee
Titans (12-1) –
Back on top after a
nice win, and….
2. (1) New York Giants
(11-2) –
The Giants lost,
but are still in control as the number 1 seed in the NFC.
3. (3) Pittsburgh
Steelers
(10-3) – Getting
it
done on both sides of the ball.
4. (5) Carolina
Panthers (10-3)
– Nice
offensive
and defensive efforts to pull of a “must win” game against the Bucs on
Monday
night.
5. (6)
Indianapolis Colts (9-4) – The Colts are winners of
six in a row, and very well could end the
season with a 12-4 record after starting 3-4.
6. (4) Tampa Bay
Buccaneers (9-4) – Couldn’t
hang with the Panthers on the big stage.
7. (10) Baltimore Ravens (9-4) – Baltimore is quietly having a very
good
season.
8. (7) Atlanta Falcons
(8-5) – How
good is the NFC South this
year? Three teams in my top 8 this week.
9. (8) New York Jets
(8-5) – After
beating the then undefeated
Titans two weeks ago, the wheels have completely fallen off of the Jets.
10. (9) Dallas Cowboys
(8-5) – Still
in the mix.
11. (11)
Arizona
Cardinals (8-5) – The
Cardinals are actually going to win their division (barring a collapse
of
biblical proportions).
12. (12)
New England Patriots
(8-5) – Unfamiliar
territory -- standing at
the playoffs window looking in.
13. (13)
Denver
Broncos
(8-5) – The
Broncos
should easily win the AFC
West…but
that’s not really saying a lot.
14. (15)
Minnesota
Vikings (8-5) – Losing
QB Gus Frerotte for any extended amount of time could really hurt this
team’s
chances.
15. (16)
Miami
Dolphins
(8-5) – It’s
still
hard to believe this team finished last season with a 1-15 record. At this point in the season, they are already
eight times better than last year!
16. (14)
Philadelphia
Eagles (7-5-1) – The
Eagles needed that win on Sunday.
17. (15)
Washington
Redskins (7-6) – The
Redskins are all but out of it at this point.
18. (18)
Chicago Bears (7-6) – Still only one game
behind Minnesota
in the
division.
19. (20)
New Orleans
Saints (7-6) – The
Saints are still hanging in there, but it might be too late for them,
just
because of the division they’re in.
20. (19)
Buffalo
Bills
(6-7) – You’ve
got
to wonder if the Dick Jauron era will come to an end after this year.
21. (22)
Houston Texans (6-7) – The Texans are one of
those nitty-gritty spoiler teams, you know, the
kind that could whip the best team in the league one week, and get
slaughtered
by an bad team the next.
22. (21)
Green Bay
Packers (5-8) – Mediocre
play for the better part of the season has diminished what was a great
start to
the season.
23. (23)
San Diego
Chargers (5-8) – Nothing
much to say here.
24. (25)
San Francisco
49ers (5-8) – Another
one of those spoiler teams that are licking their chops, waiting to see
who
they can knock out of the playoffs.
25. (24)
Jacksonville
Jaguars (4-9) – Not
a good year for Jack Del Rio & Co.
26. (26)
Cleveland Browns (4-9) – You’ve got to wonder with
the bad year…could we see a return to coaching
by “the great chinned-one” Bill Cowher?
27. (27)
Oakland
Raiders
(3-10) – Nope.
28. (28)
Kansas City
Chiefs (2-11) – What
will happen first? Herm Edwards fired or
Larry Johnson put in jail?
29. (29)
Seattle Seahawks (2-11) – The Seahawks actually
showed a little life against the Patriots, but
still managed to lose.
30. (30)
St. Louis Rams (2-11) – No hope, whatsoever.
31. (31)
Cincinnati Bengals (1-11-1) – Doesn’t get much worse
than this….
32.
(32) Detroit Lions (0-13) – Well, except for this. Thirteen down…three to go!!!
