NFL Power Rankings (After Week 15)



Another week went by and not a whole lot happened except Seattle and San Francisco swapped spots on the dance floor and New England reappeared at No. 9 as did Houston at No. 10, while Tennessee and Pittsburgh waved bye-bye to us.

 And in other news, Baltimore is No. 1 in the power rankings for the sixth consecutive week. Here's the rankings:

 1 (1 last week) Baltimore (12-2): Ravens spoke early in the Week 15 competition with a resounding 42-21 Thursday win over the New York Jets. Business as usual.

 2 (3) Seattle (11-3): The Seahawks had a nice bounce-back win after the loss to the Los Angeles Rams and took care of the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. Setting up for the second Seattle-San Fran game rather soon.

 3 (2) San Francisco (12-2): The 49ers couldn't hang on at the end of the game last Sunday against Atlanta. How that works against them going forward remains to be seen. This week, it's the Saturday night special with the Rams. Next week, it's the finale on the road in Seattle.

 4 (4) New Orleans (11-3): Drew Brees once again broke records and there was nothing the opponent (this case, Indianapolis) could do in a 34-7 Saints win. Saints travel to Nashville to take on the schizophrenic Titans.

 5 (5) Green Bay (11-3): The Packers did what they always do best – win in the cold like they did in Green Bay against Da Bears. Packers have another divisional rival – the one chasing them closely, the Minnesota Vikings – coming up Monday night in Minneapolis.

6 (6) Kansas City (10-4): The Chiefs may have found the button for "win" mode again, taking down a helpless Denver Broncos team, 23-3. Next up is a Sunday night game in Chicago against those same Bears.

 7 (8) Minnesota (10-4): How good is Kirk Cousins? Good enough to win a division title for the Vikings? We'll find out Monday night when the Packers come to town and they have a chance to take them down. Stay tuned!

 8 (9) Buffalo (10-4): Finally!! The win the Bills fans were looking for – a road triumph in Pittsburgh. That was nice. Now beat the New England Patriots on their home field. You do that, Bills Nation, I'll be very impressed and in awe of this great turnaround season in Western New York.

 9. (NEW) New England (11-3): Bills are ahead of the Patriots because, honestly, they've just played better over the last month than the Patriots did. Hard to get excited after wiping out the worst team in the league, the Bengals, who the Patriots had all this videotape on (Why would you have videotape on a team that's won one game all year?? Anyone!?). Patriots get to prove how good they are this afternoon against the Bills.

 10. (NEW) Houston (9-5): Every time you want to love this team, the Texans come up with a head-scratching loss. But they are among the best teams in the league when all goes right with DeShaun Watson and Co. The Texans will have a little bit of a challenge Sunday when they take on the surging Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winners of four straight to get to 7-7 on the year. I'd advise the Texans to not take the Bucs lightly.

 Adios, amigos: Pittsburgh (8-6), Tennessee (8-6).

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