I took two weeks off from writing the power rankings and coincidentally, it resulted in two Patriots losses. One of them I saw coming, the other, not so much. Brady is still one of the front runners for the league MVP, but the supporting cast around him resemble the zombies of The Walking Dead. Carolina is proving week in and week out they are the class of the league, and 16-0 is only four games away. What an amazing turnaround for a coach who was on the hot seat early in 2014. With only a handful of games left to play this year, it has the makings for a memorable regular season finish. Outside of the number one seed in the NFC, everything is up for grabs.
1) Carolina Panthers – 16-0 is a real possibility for this team.
2) Arizona Cardinals – Carson Palmer should be considered in the MVP conversation as well.
3) Cincinnati Bengals – Two huge bounce back games for the Bengals, but tougher tests loom ahead.
4) Denver Broncos – Brock resembles the dude from Twilight, but the Broncos are playing lights out defense.
5) New England Patriots – The Patriots need to get pointed in the right direction and stop with the mental mistakes.
6) Green Bay Packers – A Hail Mary finally went in favor of the Packers.
7) Seattle Seahawks – Watch out, the Seahawks are back to playing defense again.
8) Kansas City Chiefs – If the Chiefs stay healthy, they beat whichever division winner they play on wild card weekend.
9) Pittsburgh Steelers – As of today, they are my pick to win the AFC.
10) Minnesota Vikings – The Vikings being the talk of the NFC may have gone to their heads against Seattle.
11) New Jersey Jets – The Jets are winning games that would have been losses under Rex Ryan. They are playing disciplined on both sides of the ball.
12) Buffalo Bills – Rex found a way to puke on himself and pull out some late game heroics for the Bills Mafia.
13) Indianapolis Colts– Indianapolis was brought back down to reality by Pittsburgh.
14) Houston Texans – They may have the biggest d-bag in the league, but their defense is starting to live up to the preseason hype.
15) Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Tampa Bay could very well win a wild card in the NFC.
16) Atlanta Falcons – Flushhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
17) Oakland Raiders – Amari Cooper may be hurt. He has regressed immensely since earlier in the season.
18) New Jersey Giants – The Giants had their chance to separate themselves in the NFC East. They didn’t.
19) Miami Dolphins – Miami will be a thorn in some teams side come the end of the year. Only if they are playing at home will this come to fruition though. Sadly they play New England week seventeen in Miami.
20) Philadelphia Eagles – Congrats to the Eagles for winning their Super Bowl in week thirteen.
21) Dallas Cowboys – I see a small, tiny sliver of hope in Dallas. Matt Cassell somehow went 11-5 in New England back in 2008. Think about that for a minute.
22) St. Louis Rams – The Rams need a quarterback and help at the safety position immediately.
23) New Orleans Saints – The Saints team isn’t packing it in, but need serious help on defense. I feel like we say that every year about that side of the ball though.
24) Washington Redskins – Sadly, the Redskins are still alive in the NFC East race.
25) San Francisco 49ers – “Hey Gabbert!” – Jon Gruden
26) Chicago Bears – Chicago should be over .500 right now.
27) Detroit Lions – Martha Ford rocking her shades in the owner’s box, being 90 years old is such a power move on her part.
28) Jacksonville Jaguars – Blake Bortles and Allen Robinson could very well be the best QB/WR tandem in the NFL right now. If not, they are definitely in the top five.
29) Baltimore Ravens – Baltimore will be healthy in 2016 with a VERY high draft pick.
30) Tennessee Titans – Tennessee is still a few years away from putting it all together. I do like what I see out of the young QB though.
31) San Diego Chargers– Maybe River should stick to impregnating his wife and rocking the bolo tie.
32) Cleveland Browns – Back by popular demand, it is Johnny Football.