PFT’s Week 17 Power Rankings: Rams #16

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/12/29/pfts-week-17-power-rankings/

PFT’s Week 17 Power Rankings
Posted by Mike Florio on December 29, 2015

1. Cardinals (13-2; last week No. 2): Nine straight wins, and a much-deserved leapfrogging of a team with one less loss.

2. Panthers (14-1; last week No. 1): If 16-0 in the regular season makes it harder to go 3-0 in the postseason, it’s better to go 15-1 en route to 18-1.

3. Patriots (12-3; No. 3): Marty Mornhinweg says, “Does this mean I finally get another head-coaching job?”

4. Broncos (11-4; No. 9): Peyton Manning will now have plenty of time to issue statements and give interviews disputing that Al Jazeera report.

5. Chiefs (10-5; No. 7): Nine straight wins makes them the hottest team in the AFC. And still no one believes in them.

6. Packers (10-5; No. 4): Last week, I said they’re just good enough to lose in the divisional round. I was wrong. They’re just good enough to get blown out in the divisional round.

7. Seahawks (9-6; No. 5): Suddenly, Marshawn Lynch’s return seems inevitable.

8. Vikings (10-5; No. 11): Are they better off as the No. 3 seed at home against Seattle or as the No. 5 seed on the road at Washington?

9. Bengals (11-3; No. 8): A.J. McCarron already plays as well as Andy Dalton — in prime time.

10. Jets (10-5; No. 10): Rex Ryan guaranteed to take Buffalo to the playoffs. He’ll have to settle for trying to knock out the team that fired him last year.

11. Redskins (8-7; No. 12): At the outset of the season, Washington would have been ranked this high only if they had moved to the CFL.

12. Steelers (9-6; No. 6): They’re the most dangerous team in the AFC. Especially to themselves.

13. Texans (8-7; No. 13): The only thing standing in the way of a playoff berth is a chain of events that would end up being far more memorable that the inevitable one-and-done that’s looming.

14. Falcons (8-7; No. 19): Sunday’s performance against Carolina makes all the losses even more confounding.

15. Raiders (7-8; No. 14): The Raiders belong in Oakland, and the folks in Oakland deserve a better Raiders team. Maybe both will happen.

16. Rams (7-8; No. 20): They’re cobbling together just enough hope to justify staying the course, again.

17. Bills (7-8; No. 17): Rex Ryan guarantees that the Bills will field a team next year. Hopefully, he’ll be able to make good on that one.

18. Eagles (6-9; No. 15): Chip Kelly now says he wasn’t the G.M. Plenty of fans wish he also wasn’t the head coach.

19. Giants (6-9; No. 16): Tom Coughlin thinks his players shouldn’t worry about the coach’s future. Based on Sunday night’s game, they apparently aren’t.

20. Bears (6-9; No. 21): They should be better. They could be worse.

21. Buccaneers (6-9; No. 18): Three straight losses have killed what once seemed to be a stunning turnaround. They’ve still tripled their wins from a year ago.

22. Colts (7-8; No. 22): They’re getting closer and closer to signing Tim Tebow or Vince Young.

23. Lions (6-9; No. 23): Cooterball could still save Jim Caldwell.

24. Saints (6-9; No. 26): Based on Drew Brees‘ performance, quarterbacks throughout the league will be trying to tear their plantar fascia tendons.

25. Ravens (5-10; No. 29): Long dead, the Ravens were happy to potentially take the Steelers with them.

26. Jaguars (5-10; No. 24): That 51-point outburst seems like it happened a long time ago.

27. Dolphins (5-10; No. 25): Hopefully the Dolphins won’t cut Brent Grimes; his wife’s Twitter page is the most entertaining thing about the team.

28. Chargers (4-11; No. 27): Eric Weddle’s squabble with the team provides a nice distraction from the fact that the team is about to leave town.

29. Cowboys (4-11; No. 28): Asshole Face has long been linked to the Cowboys. After the team’s performance in 2015, maybe those rumors will finally gather some steam.

30. Browns (3-12; No. 30): If Johnny Manziel is posting those videos in order to get cut, he’s smarter than anyone realizes.

31. 49ers (4-11; No. 31): Jim Tomsula said he’s the coach until someone tells him otherwise. More than 75 percent of the fan base already has volunteered to be the messenger.

32. Titans (3-12; No. 32): They don’t know how to do much, but they know how to nail down the No. 1 seed.

 

[Prime Time]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/29/nfl-peter-king-power-rankings-week-16

The Fine Fifteen
by Peter King

1. Arizona (13-2). Last week: 3. There’s a change at the top, as you can see. It’s based totally on facts. No emotion. Arizona has won nine straight, by an average of 13.1 points. Four of those nine wins came over teams assured of playoff spots. Arizona has won the last two by 23 (over a playoff contender, Philadelphia) and by 30 (over a playoff team, Green Bay). Meanwhile …

2. Carolina (14-1). LW: 1. … Panthers lost their first game of the season Sunday, to 8-7 Atlanta. No real worries about Carolina, but in the last four weeks, they’ve lost to Atlanta, and given up 38 to New Orleans and 35 to the Giants. Tough staying at the top. How great would a Carolina-Arizona NFC title game be, wherever it’s played?

3. New England (12-3). LW: 2. Shouldn’t be too concerned about the overtime loss to the Jets, unless the Patriots can’t get the offensive line healthy for the divisional playoff weekend. Has to be worrisome that not only have the Patriots played five left tackles this year, but two of them left Sunday’s loss with injuries. Sebastian Vollmer’s ankle will be one to watch in the next 19 days. That’s the time between now and the divisional playoff weekend.

4. Denver (11-4). LW: 8. Don’t quite know what lessons to take from Monday night for Denver, other than when the defense absolutely had to play big—like, the last five drives of the game—it played like the best defense in football. With Brock Osweiler still a work very much in progress, that’s going to be vital in order to win in January.

5. Cincinnati (11-4). LW: 9. All of Cincy awaits the results of McCarron’s MRI.

6. Kansas City (10-5). LW: 7. Last time they lost, the first pitch of the World Series hadn’t been thrown. By beating Oakland, the Chiefs will enter the postseason on a 10-game winning streak.

7. Seattle (9-6). LW: 4. If you love the Seahawks, you say, St. Louis just has our number. If you want to draft a lesson from the Rams beating Seattle four times in the last four years, this is it: Seattle is too often going to struggle against teams that can get pressure without sending more than four.

8. New York Jets (10-5) LW: 10. Big defensive front showed up against New England. As long as that continues, and as long as the best Jets passing game in years keeps rolling, they’ll be a tough out in January.

9. Washington (8-7). LW: 12. It’s about how you’re playing at the end of the year, and Washington’s 3-0 by a total of 27 points, two of those games on the road, in the last three weeks. One other Washington note: In the last nine games, Kirk Cousins has thrown 20 touchdowns with three interceptions. He just might be The Man.

10. Minnesota (10-5). LW: 11. Teddy Bridgewater’s passer rating is north of 110 in the last three mistake-free weeks. That’s what I’d want entering a division championship game in a hostile and cold place, which is what the Vikings will be doing on Sunday.

11. Green Bay (10-5). LW: 6. I give up. Anyone got a solution for this team? If so, you’ve got five days to forward it to Mike McCarthy. Without offensive consistency, the Packers won’t win their fifth straight NFC North title Sunday night at Lambeau against the Vikings.

12. Pittsburgh (9-6). LW: 5. Going from 5 to 12 isn’t a drop. It is a plummet. That’s what you get for losing to a team that started these skill players Sunday: Ryan Mallett, Kamar Aiken, Javorius Allen, Konrad Reuland, Maxx Williams and James Hurst (a tackle-eligible lined up at tight end). That’s a horrible loss by the Steelers, and it shows what can happen in a rivalry game.

13. Atlanta (8-7). LW: 16. Five players were wonderful for Atlanta in the upset of the Panthers: Matt Ryan (so accurate), Julio Jones (so competitive), Vic Beasley (so disruptive, particularly late), Jonathan Babineaux (such an interior force) and Devonta Freeman (such a good all-around back).

14. St. Louis (7-8). LW: 15. Now, Jeff Fisher: Can you coach these players to play against the other 30 teams in the league the way you coach them to play Seattle?

15. Houston (8-7). LW: 17. Now it looks like Brian Hoyer could make it through concussion protocol to play Sunday. As of this morning, he’s been out with concussion symptoms for 16 days. Amazing how well the Texans were able to survive with third (T.J. Yates) and fourth (Brandon Weeden) quarterbacks playing important games.

Also receiving votes:

16. Buffalo (7-8). LW: not rated. I see Rex had his annual mea culpas this week.

17. Oakland (7-8). LW: 19. The team’s too well supported to fly south.

18. Tampa Bay (6-9). LW: 18. Playing to finish 4-2 in the division Sunday versus Carolina.

19. Philadelphia (6-9). LW: 13. You’ll regret it, Philadelphia, if Chip Kelly leaves town.

20. Detroit (6-9) LW: not rated. Doesn’t sound like Jim Caldwell will be toasting in the New Year with the local scribes.