Matthew Ross
With most of the favorites winning in Week 12, you wouldn’t expect many of the top five teams to move on these rankings. But we did make a couple of adjustments in the latter five on the list. We’re entering December and the stretch run, football fans, so all teams on in the top ten are legit playoff teams – for now.
NFL Week 13 Power Index 2017
1- (1) Philadelphia Eagles – How in the world will this team ever be knocked off from this spot? Well, by losing, of course. But who’s going to beat them? Both the Rams and Seahawks have a fighting a chance. But my money’s on the top team at the moment.
2- (2) Pittsburgh Steelers – Sure, it took a last second field goal to save their spot on these rankings, but that shows poise and character. Plus, Antonio Brown might be the best football player on the planet right now.
3- (3) New England Patriots – It’s impressive to be favored by 17 points. But it’s even more impressive to cover. Wow. It doesn’t seem to matter who’s in the lineup, this team continues to win. That’s the sign of great coaching and a great system.
4- (4) Carolina Panthers – They keep rolling. Nothing seems to faze this squad. I’m starting to think that the Eagles and Panthers could cross paths in the NFC title game.
5- (6) Minnesota Vikings – A Thanksgiving win on the road says a lot about this team. Kase Keenum may begin to get MVP votes if the winning streak continues. They deserve every bit of this number five ranking.
6- (7) Atlanta Falcons – Atlanta is now in full 2016 NFC champ mode. The rest of the league is on notice. Julio Jones looks healthy and even Sanu is throwing TD passes. The Falcons could win out, I wouldn’t put it past them.
7- (8) St. Louis Rams – Now that was a big win over a quality opponent. Goff and company stopped the bleeding, and basically cemented themselves as a playoff team.
8- (5) New Orleans Saints – I still think that New Orleans is a heck of a team. One road loss won’t change that.
9- (10) Seattle Seahawks – They won a game that they were expected to win. It wasn’t a gimme, but the margin of victory was in the double digits. So they do deserve a bump up. But the lack of secondary depth and running game are still concerning.
10- (NR) Tennessee Titans – They’ve given up more points than they’ve scored this season, not exactly a juggernaut of a team. Still, they find ways to win games and gutted out a road win in Indy. I’m not sure if they’ll last on this list, so let’s see what happens this week.
Honorable Mentions
Jacksonville Jaguars (I was ready to re-add them to the list, but that was a tough loss in Arizona), Kansas City Chiefs (This is the first time that they’re out of the top ten. They are finding it hard to run the ball and are lacking that killer instinct to finish off opponents), Buffalo Bills (A big road win, but can they put two solid games in a row together? We’ll find out).
Matthew Ross is a sports commentator and a radio host on TSN 690 Radio in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Follow him @MatthewWords.
