Week 13 NFL Power Rankings: Packers Take Over Our Top Spot

Week 13 NFL Power Rankings: Packers Take Over Our Top Spot

Ranking all 32 teams on the heels of Thanksgiving Week. Whose stock is on the up and whose stock is down going into Week 13 of the NFL season

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The Contenders

1. Green Bay Packers 9-3

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8-3

3. Arizona Cardinals 9-2

4. Kansas City Chiefs 7-4

5. New England Patriots 8-4

6. San Francisco 49ers 6-5

Although the Arizona Cardinals have the best record in the league, they slip to No.2 during their bye week. Seems a bit unfair when they didn’t even play Week 12, but the fact is that the Green Bay Packers were too impressive on Sunday to not be rewarded with the top spot in this week’s power rankings. Aaron Rodgers –gimpy foot and all -- led the Packers to a 36-28 win over the Los Angeles Rams – dealing the highly fancied Tinseltown residents their third straight loss.

Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 38-31 win over the Indianapolis Colts, all the while augmenting his stats as the league’s touchdown leader (30). The New England Patriots usurped the Buffalo Bills at the top of the AFC East and improved to an 8-4 record after beating the Titans 36-13. It marked their sixth straight win, which is currently the best active run of form in the league. After the Patriots, the Chiefs boast the second-best run of form with four straight wins – albeit they were on a bye this week.

Finally, the San Francisco 49ers may be a surprising entrant in this top-tier category – if not a controversial one. But they’re riding serious momentum ever since they’d stunned the Los Angeles Rams 31-10 three weeks ago. Last weekend, they outlasted and outmuscled the Vikings to clinch their third straight win. The win lifted the Niners into playoff contention, underscoring their merit as a sleeper picks to spot.

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The Playoff Teams

7. Baltimore Ravens 8-3

8.  Buffalo Bills 7-4

9.  Tennessee Titans 8-4

10. Cincinnati Bengals 7-4

11. Dallas Cowboys 7-4

12. Los Angeles Rams 7-4

The Baltimore Ravens squeaked out a victory over the Cleveland Browns to emerge with an 8-3 record that puts them in the top spot in the AFC. If the season were to end today, they would be the No.1 seed. So, why are they down to seventh in our power rankings? Well, the Ravens have been flying by the seat of their pants this season. Lamar Jackson has bailed them out countless times, leading come-from-behind wins a handful of games. However, this isn’t a feasible or sustainable strategy.

The Buffalo Bills and the Dallas Cowboys have coasted through the better part of the season, building their records mainly on inferior opponents with a few exceptions. Recently, though, the pressure and weight of expectation have rattled their cages. The Bills beat the Saints, but that’s hardly anything to hang one’s hat one. The Cowboys lost to the Raiders in overtime, marking their third loss in four games.

Similarly, Sean McVay’s star-studded cast of the NFL’s glitterati has wilted against elite opponents. Matthew Stafford is wholly off colour and form and the team seems to have lost its way a bit. Their recent negative turn raises legitimate questions about whether they were overrated all along.

The Cincinnati Bengals have climbed into this group after winning four of their last six games. Most notably, the Bengals beat the Ravens (41-17), the Raiders (32-13) and the Steelers (41-10). All three wins were lopsided victories, underscoring their dangerous floater credentials.

The Playoff Hopefuls

13. Los Angeles Chargers 6-5

14. Las Vegas Raiders 6-5

15 Denver Broncos 6-5

16. Indianapolis Colts 6-6

17. Minnesota Vikings 5-6

18. Pittsburgh Steelers 5-5-1

19. Washington Football Team 5-6

All these teams have shown at one point or another that they can beat anyone on a good day. Each has at least one signature win under its belt this season. Inconsistency, injuries, and shortcomings in various aspects of the game have prevented these teams from truly resonating. Having said that, they’re all in the thick of the playoff race and one or more could heat up down the stretch. The most intriguing in this group is the trio of AFC West contenders.

Just when the Denver Broncos look to be down and out, they come roaring back. They’re flush off a key win over the Los Angeles Chargers, who continue to be up and down this season. In the meanwhile, the Raiders are coming off a 36-33 overtime win over the Dallas Cowboys.

The Bad

20 Miami Dolphins 5-7

21 Cleveland Browns 6-6

22 New Orleans Saints 5-6

23 Philadelphia Eagles 5-7

24 Atlanta Falcons 5-6

25 Carolina Panthers 5-7

The aforementioned quintet has been behind some eyebrow-raising wins, but overall they’re struggling for a number of different reasons. Arguably, the Cleveland Browns (.500) might be a surprising entry in this group, but they’ve taken a significant step backwards in coach Kevin Stefanski’s second season. Most recently, the Browns are coming off an ugly 16-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens which prompted Kareem Hunts dad to air his frustrations with how his son’s team was playing. Most notably, he took a swipe at Baker Mayfield, who has been playing injured for the better part of the season.

The Dolphins are on a bit of a roll with a four-game winning streak, which has them presiding over this section despite coming under .500. If the Dolphins can keep the momentum going, they might squeak into the playoff hopefuls category, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Aside from beating the Ravens, the Dolphins have capitalised on inferior opponents: Houston Texans, New York Jets and Carolina Panthers.

The New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers don’t inspire any confidence. The Saints have major issues at the quarterback position, the Eagles have flattered to deceive of late, the Falcons are the same old Falcons and the Panthers are no better with Cam Newton back in the fold.

The Really Bad

26 New York Giants 4-7

27 Chicago Bears 4-7

28 New York Jets  3-8

29 Seattle Seahawks 3-8

The New York Giants are really bad, and while they beat the Philadelphia Eagles, there’s little to hang one’s hat on. Daniel Jones is in his third year but his struggles can be compared to a rookie. It’s uncomfortable to watch. The Chicago Bears are really bad too. What’s worse, they can’t seem to decide which quarterback to start or whether to finally call time on the Matt Nagy era.

The New York Jets are coming off a much-needed victory over the Houston Texans in Week 12. However, how long the Jets will hold this “lofty” position (28th in power rankings) depends on whether rookie Zach Wilson will improve down the stretch. So far, the kid gives new meaning to growing pains. In his defense, he is just a rookie with a limited number of NFL starts under his belt. Add to that a recent knee sprain that saw him out of the line-up for three weeks.

Pete Carroll’s Seahawks have hit a new nadir following Monday’s loss to the Washington Football Team. It marked their third loss in a row and eighth on the season. Carroll is fast running out of ideas – dare we say it, he’s absolutely stumped. For a long time now, the Seahawks have relied heavily on Russell Wilson to bail them out when the going gets tough, but, for the first time in years, it’s not working. The strategy itself was always questionable, but now the proof is there for all to see. Granted Wilson suffered a finger injury on his throwing hand and he probably returned too early in an attempt to rescue his side’s season. But the problems run deeper than that for the Seahawks. They have no identity, no game, no style, no nothing. And the fact that Carroll has no answers only underscores all these issues.

The Worst

30 Houston Texans 2-9

31 Jacksonville Jaguars 2-9

32 Detroit Lions 0-10-1

Why this triplet falls into the worst category is self-explanatory. Their respective records speak volumes. And the difference between holding the 30th or the 32nd spot is really just semantics – easily they could be put on a rota for the 32nd spot.

The Houston Texans preside over the league’s undesirables only because they managed to notch a signature win over the Tennessee Titans the previous week. However, they came back down to earth in Week 12 when they failed to back it up.  The Texans lost to the Jets in a 21-14 loss, letting a 14-3 lead slip through their fingers.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ frustrating season continues for the hyped-up,2021 No.1 draft pick Trevor Lawrence and first-year head coach and NFL debutant Urban Meyer. The Jaguars lost to the Falcons 21-14, marking their third straight loss and fifth loss at home.

Finally, the Lions continue to prop up the league and the  NFL power rankings. The Lions simply can’t buy a win no matter how hard they try, although coach Dan Campbell continues to gush about his side’s “fighting spirit” – for all the good it has done. The Lions are a month away from going down in history as the only team to go winless twice in the NFL. Only two teams have gone 0-16 in NFL history – the Detroit Lions (2008) and the Cleveland Browns (2017). Although the Lions settled on a tie with the Steelers a few weeks ago, they could still go empty in the win column, which would be an NFL record in of itself.