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Week 14 Power Rankings 2021


1.  New England Patriots 9-4 -
It feels like I got on the Patriots early and now that they’re the number 1 seed in the AFC, other Power Rankings are catching up. On Monday Night Football, the Patriots were a N’Keal Harry header away from a coaching master class to defeat their AFC East rivals in freak weather conditions.

2.  Arizona Cardinals 10-2 Up 1
Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins are back, they weren’t really needed against the Bears because the Defense did most of the work, but those two players are key to getting the Cardinals up to the top of the rankings.

3.  Green Bay Packers 9-3 Down 1
While on their bye, it doesn’t look like the Packers got any of their injured players back so they’ve fallen behind the Cardinals. Jaire Alexander is back in practice which is a good sign.

4.  Kansas City Chiefs 8-4 -
Kansas City were a little sloppy on Offense again making some silly mistakes, but the Defense stood strong against Denver. Chiefs fans would be happier if they had to fix Offense in the upcoming weeks, rather than the Defense.

5.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-3 -
44 year old Tom Brady was lethal when passing for 368 yards and 4 touchdowns against Atlanta while the Defense remained steady, Tampa are still a team to keep an eye on moving up a little further.

6.  Indianapolis Colts 7-6 -
Beating Houston isn’t impressive, but shutting them out hopefully quietens those who don’t think Indianapolis belongs this high in the rankings.

7.  Los Angeles Rams 8-4 -
There’s nothing special in beating the Jaguars, but the Rams did look decent on both sides of the ball.

8.  Dallas Cowboys 8-4 -
Saints’ QB Taysom Hill probably has a bet on the Cowboys and Trevon Diggs setting interceptions or something, but I can’t really fault the Cowboys in a bounceback win.

9.  Buffalo Bills 7-5 Up 1
The Bills coverage with the absence of Tre’Davious White kept Mac Jones to just 2 completions for 19 yards and go up a spot! Jokes aside, I didn’t knock the Bills for losing that weird game on Monday Night, they’ve only gone up because the 49ers go down.

10.  San Francisco 49ers 6-6 Down 1
Silly mistakes cost the 49ers the game against the Seahawks and why they’ve dropped a spot. I’ve got no idea how George Kittle can have an almost 200 yard game with 2 touchdowns when Jimmy Garoppolo is the one trying to pass the ball to him, Quarterback play is holding this team back.

11.  Tennessee Titans 8-4 -
No change on their bye, just. The Titans need to get some of their players back from injury and to stop committing turnovers to get back into the top 10.

12.  Miami Dolphins 6-7 Up 8
It’s been against bottom half competition, but in the last five weeks the Dolphins have been keeping their opponents to just 9-17 points, two sacks back to back from rookie Jaelan Phillips being my highlight from the Defense last week. DeVante Parker has improved the Offense on his return.

13.  Los Angeles Chargers 7-5 Up 1
The Chargers were decent against the Bengals on both sides of the ball and reminded us of the early season hype. The rise may have been a little higher if Keenan Allen didn’t test positive for COVID.

14.  Cleveland Browns 6-6 -
Cleveland were trending down before their bye, if they haven’t found out how to beat the Ravens while on their bye, they’ll likely take a tumble down the rankings.

15.  Philadelphia Eagles 6-7 Up 1
Please don’t think I’m overreacting to Minshew Mania part 2 and overrating the Eagles, there’s not a lot impressive about beating a Jets team. There’s reasons for other teams to be lower this week.

16.  Minnesota Vikings 5-7 Down 1
I fancied the Lions update last week because of those injured players, but still need to knock them down a spot because of it. A top team, which Minnesota isn’t, should be able to beat one of the worst teams in the league. The team takes a significant step back when players are injured, particularly Eric Kendricks.

17.  Cincinnati Bengals 7-5 Down 5
The Bengals played a good game against the Chargers for three quarters, but fell short in the last quarter. The Chargers are a good team though, so that’s not the reason for the drop, there are too many names not practicing, including Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon, Tee Higgins and Chidobe Awuzie.

18.  Seattle Seahawks 4-8 Up 1
Russell Wilson isn’t back to his best yet, but he commanded the Seattle Offense much better against San Francisco while the Defense were able to make some turnovers. Jamal Adams being out for the season shouldn’t make too much of a difference.

19.  Denver Broncos 6-6 Up 2
Denver heads a bunch of teams with a number of key injuries. Denver lost to Kansas City, yet offered a bit more of a threat with Javonte Williams than New Orleans could to Dallas. Meanwhile Baltimore lost to a bad Pittsburgh team, hence why Denver has leapt those two teams.

20.  Baltimore Ravens 8-4 Down 2
Another loss for the league’s most overrated team. Do people forget they’re missing key players Marlon Humphrey and Ronnie Stanley as well as a few others? Roethlisberger was able to make some key passing touchdowns and T.J. Watt and Chris Wormley kept breaking through the Ravens Offensive line to sack Jackson, yeah, Baltimore could have kicked the extra point to take the game into overtime, but they should have the game against Pittsburgh sewn up by then.

21.  Washington Football Team 6-7 Up 3
Washington have trended upwards for four weeks now, the wins have been close ones, but the defense is holding strong despite the injuries to Chase Young, Montez Sweat etc.

22.  New Orleans Saints 5-6 Down 5
Taysom Hill is like a 7 year old playing with Lamar Jackson on Madden, as a passer he wasn’t a threat against Dallas, there were too many passes underthrown and four interceptions felt like a low number for him.

23.  Las Vegas Raiders 6-6 -
The Offensive weapons are mainly Josh Jacobs and Hunter Renfrow right now, they miss Darren Waller, Kenyan Drake and Henry Ruggs, that could have been the difference to not narrowly lose to Washington.

24.  New York Giants 4-8 Down 2
The Giants weren’t threatening the Dolphin’s Defense with Mike Glennon as the Quarterback, they totalled zero touchdowns. We don’t know who will start at Quarterback in Daniel Jones’ absence yet, but with Saquon Barkley seemingly unable to carry a big workload, I can’t see this Offense threatening the Chargers this week either.

25.  Pittsburgh Steelers 6-5-1 -
It was mentioned earlier, but Pittsburgh’s pass rush kept getting to Lamar Jackson, 6 sacks between T.J. Watt and Chris Wormley, while on Offense Dionte Johnson was able to get two touchdowns, I don’t rate Baltimore as highly as others so I don’t think such a close win warrants a big jump for the Steelers.

26.  Atlanta Falcons 5-7 -
Atlanta weren’t breaking down the Tampa Bay Offensive line, so much so that Marlon Davidson had to find a way to intercept the ball instead, without that play, it would have been a very comfortable win for Tampa Bay who is a league apart from Atlanta right now.

27.  Carolina Panthers 5-7 -
Carolina were on their bye week, they play their NFC South rival Atlanta, who are only a spot ahead of them in the power rankings, that’ll be a good test.

28.  Chicago Bears 4-8 -
Arizona were better than Chicago on both sides of the ball by a distance last week, Chicago are at serious risk of dropping into the dreaded ‘bottom four’.

29.  Detroit Lions 1-10-1 Up 3
Detroit has been fighting hard for Head Coach Dan Campbell and I feel like a win against Minnesota was deserved for their efforts this season. They've taken the 29th spot from Jacksonville, who I don’t think are fighting hard for their Head Coach.

30.  Jacksonville Jaguars 2-10 Down 1
I think the stats against the Rams explains the result and where the organisation stands right now. 7-37 loss, The phenom, Trevor Lawrence, only passing for 145 yards, Carlos Hyde the leading rusher with 24 yards, Laquon Treadwell the leading receiver with 62 yards, no player making 1.0 sacks and Nevin Lawson the top tackler with 7. Roll on next season.
Jacksonville fans coming into the season was hoping Lawrence would be the saviour, returning Pro Bowler James Robinson would be competing with Trevis Etienne as two of the best backs in the league, Chark, Shenault or Jones would be the leading receiver in a receiver heavy team and Myles Jack would be running around hoarding those tackles. Not as advertised!

31.  New York Jets 3-9 Down 1
To credit the Jets, they played a decent first half against the Eagles, they just couldn’t score any points in the second half. If a couple of players returned from injury they’d be ahead of the Jaguars.

32.  Houston Texans 2-10 Down 1
Shutout against their AFC rivals Indianapolis, Zach Cunningham forcing his way out of the team and a lot of injured players, it’s a bad time to be a Texans fan.

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ESPN's Adam Schefter reports Sunday's game between Washington and the Eagles has been postponed to Tuesday, December 21.

The game was rescheduled to kick-off at 7p ET following Tuesday's rescheduled afternoon bout between the Rams and Seahawks (4p ET). Monday will now also feature a doubleheader between the Raiders and Browns leading up to the originally scheduled Bears-Vikings matinee. Expect significantly more changes around the league in the coming weeks.

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Week 15 Power Rankings 2021


In a change to how I normally work out a ‘live’ power ranking and factor in all the injured players, or players on the COVID list, I’ve decided to make my Power Rankings not factoring any of the ‘illness’ designations. This is simply because there’s so many of them and I’m not keeping up with who will be back and when, games are being postponed etc.

Power Rankings published during the sunday games, but the rankings were figured out earlier in the week.

1.  New England Patriots 9-4 -
No change on their bye.

2.  Green Bay Packers 10-3 Up 1
Back up to 2nd following Aaron Rodgers 341 yards 4 touchdown game, he’s starting to get some MVP mentions now. De’Vondre Campbell’s back, he’s been one of the best inside linebackers this year.

3.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10-3 - Up 2
Excellent week for the Buccaneers with a deserved overtime win against a good Bills team. Tom Brady has my vote for the MVP at this stage, unfortunately.

4.  Kansas City Chiefs 9-4 -
Destroyed the Raiders, they don’t move up though because the Buccaneers win was more impressive.

5.  Arizona Cardinals 10-3Down 3
A drop for the Cardinals after losing to a Rams team who played better last week, DeAndre Hopkins out hurts too.

6.  Indianapolis Colts 7-6 -
No change on their bye. One of the healthiest teams still.

7.  Los Angeles Rams 9-4 -
Impressive win against the Cardinals. Matthew Stafford’s passing much better now, the back injury may be behind him now. COVID issues not reflected in the rankings.

8.  Dallas Cowboys 9-4 -
Micah Parsons and friends were excellent in the first half against Washington, perhaps a little bit worrying how they allowed Washington to come back in the second half after starting so well.

9.  Buffalo Bills 7-6 -
Buffalo are playing well, particularly Josh Allen with his 300 yards passing and 100 yards rushing against Tampa, only a couple of Quarterbacks have ever managed that.

10.  Los Angeles Chargers 8-5 Up 3
Chargers break back into the top ten after a great game against the Giants. Justin Herbert had a fantastic game and Keenan Allen’s back.

11.  Tennessee Titans 9-4 -
A 20-0 win against Jacksonville isn’t that impressive, even for a team who has used the most players this season.

12.  San Francisco 49ers 7-6 Down 2
Close, overtime win where I’m not convinced they were a better team than Cincinnati, George Kittle had another very good game.

13.  Miami Dolphins 6-7 Down 1
Lost a spot on their bye as the Chargers can go up.

14.  Minnesota Vikings 6-7 Up 2
Managed to beat Pittsburgh, despite allowing them to come back from 23-0, injured players are returning to the team.

15.  Cleveland Browns 7-6 Down 1
Another game of two halves last week, Cleveland had a good plan to start the game, but allowed them to come back in the second half. Cleveland are far from being a top ten team right now. Again, COVID issues not reflected in the rankings./

16.  Philadelphia Eagles 6-7Down 1
Philadelphia go down 1 spot while on their bye as Minnesota go back up.

17.  Denver Broncos 7-6 Up 2
It was against Detroit, but it hasn’t gone unnoticed that Denver are playing better, especially when rushing.

18.  Cincinnati Bengals 7-6 Down 1
Luck went against Cincinnati in the close defeat to San Francisco, a positive is the Ja’Marr Chase/Tee Higgins duo for Joe Burrow setting up the franchise for years to come.

19.  Seattle Seahawks 5-8 Down 1
The Seahawks eventually beat Houston by 20 points, but it wasn’t as easy for them as the scoreline suggests.

20.  New Orleans Saints 6-6 Up 2
Other teams going down means the Saints go up 2 spots after beating the Jets, there’s still concerns for the Saints with Taysom Hill as the Quarterback and their top receiver was Nick Vannett with 3 receptions for 44 yards, they’ll rely on Alvin Kamar moving forward.

21.  Pittsburgh Steelers 6-6-1 Up 4
Losing to Minnesota doesn’t mean they go up four spots, they’ll take some positives from their second half performance, but the jump is mostly because there are reasons to drop teams playing worse, or have more injured players.

22.  Washington Football Team 6-8 Down 1
20-3 in the second half against Dallas, but overall I felt Dallas played better. Another team with players on the COVID list, rankings not adjusted.

23.  Las Vegas Raiders 6-7 -
Expected a defeat to the Chiefs, but the Raiders were destroyed. Hunter Renfrow can’t be the only receiving threat playing underneath, they miss Henry Ruggs going deep and Darren Waller intermediate.

24.  Atlanta Falcons 6-7 Up 2
The better team against Carolina, Atlanta are now far away from the team that everyone was ranking just ahead of the bottom tier.

25.  New York Giants 4-9 Down 1
The Giants are simply playing poorly at the moment.

26.  Baltimore Ravens 8-5 Down 6
The biggest drop of the week goes to Baltimore which will upset those Ravens fans I’m sure, but this is the team with the most significant injuries that now includes Lamar Jackson out, they’d be around 13th without those injuries.

27.  Chicago Bears 4-9 Up 1
Some luck and good plays against Green Bay, but they ended up being overpowered and losing ‘Their Superbowl’.

28.  Carolina Panthers 5-8 Down 1
Poor play and uncertainty over recent weeks means Carolina are now grouped in the tier with the bottom teams.

29.  Detroit Lions 1-11-1 -
No good takeaways for the Lions against the Broncos.

30.  Jacksonville Jaguars 2-11 -
The big news is that Head Coach Urban Meyer has been fired, I normally try to reserve judgement because you’re never going to know the full story, but there’s just too many negative stories about him suggesting that he’s toxic for the franchise, so it can only be a positive for Jacksonville.

31.  New York Jets 3-10 -
Quarterback Zach Wilson is still having a bad rookie season and somehow this Defense allowed a Taysom Hill lead Offense to put up 30 points against them.

32.  Houston Texans 2-11 -
Still some signs of life in this Houston team with Davis Mills offering the organisation something to think about when they consider drafting a Quarterback next season, they’ll need to improve on their 28% 3-and-out rate though, which is the worst in the league.

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Week 16 Power Rankings 2021


COVID again not factored into the rankings. Write-up kept short due to lack of time.

1.  Green Bay Packers 11-3 Up 1
Only just beat Baltimore, jump New England because New England are falling this week.

2.  Kansas City Chiefs 10-4 Up 2
Didn’t blow the Chargers away, but showed in the second half that the Offense can get fired up again.

3.  Indianapolis Colts 8-6 Up 3
I was high on the Colts earlier than most and I guess I continue to be a little higher after they beat my number 1.

4.  New England Patriots 9-5 Down 3
New England were ultimately going to fall when teams got healthier and regained their form, it lasted for a short while but the loss to Indianapolis shows they’re not the best team in the league.

5.  Los Angeles Rams 10-4 Up 2
The win against Seattle wasn’t anything special, but they’re back on track while NFC rivals Tampa Bay and Arizona drop below them for different reasons.

6.  Arizona Cardinals 10-4Down 1
12-30 loss to Detroit.

7.  Dallas Cowboys 10-4 Up 1
Easy win over a bad Giants team.

8.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10-4 Down 5
Couldn’t score a single point against New Orleans, combine that with players such as Jason Pierre-Paul, Lavonte David and Mike Evans out injured.

9.  Buffalo Bills 8-6 -
Another team winning against a bad team (Carolina).

10.  Los Angeles Chargers 8-6 -
Narrow loss to the Chiefs, but showed they can play good football against a top team.

11.  Tennessee Titans 9-5 -
Passing game couldn’t get going, they were needing A.J. Brown and Julio Jones back.

12.  San Francisco 49ers 8-6 -
Fairly dominant against Atlanta, particularly in the second half.

13.  Minnesota Vikings 7-7 Up 1
Defense wins games, I guess. Especially when D.J. Wonnum can fill the void of Hunter and Griffen.

14.  Miami Dolphins 7-7 Down 1
Expected a bit more from the Dolphins against the Jets.

15.  Philadelphia Eagles 7-7Up 1
More dominant against Washington than the 27-17 scoreline suggests, Philadelphia are playing some good football right now.

16.  Cincinnati Bengals 8-6 Up 2
Got the win and jumped ahead of Denver in the Power Rankings too.

17.  New Orleans Saints 7-7 Up 3
Defense was incredible against the Buccaneers.

18.  Cleveland Browns 7-7 Down 3
Nick Chubb can’t run the Offense on his own.

19.  Denver Broncos 7-7 Down 2
Lost a couple of spots due to the loss to Cincinnati.

20.  Seattle Seahawks 5-9 Down 1
Bad day for Russell Wilson against the Rams.

21.  Pittsburgh Steelers 7-6-1 -
Defense shined against Tennessee, it’s not quite enough to gain a spot in the rankings though.

22.  Washington Football Team 6-8 -
Started well against Philadelphia but that disappeared in the second half. A big game for them to lose.

23.  Las Vegas Raiders 7-7 -
A win against Cleveland, but didn’t show anything special.

24.  Baltimore Ravens 8-6 Up 2
Played well against Green Bay without Lamar Jackson.

25.  Atlanta Falcons 6-8 Down 1
Expected loss to the 49ers.

26.  New York Giants 4-10 Down 1
The Giants are crashing, they can soon be in the bottom tier.

27.  Detroit Lions 2-11-1Up 2
Deserve a lot of credit for the way they handled the Cardinals.

28.  Chicago Bears 4-10Down 1
Another NFC North team, another loss…

29.  Carolina Panthers 5-9 Down 1
Carolina are still playing poorly.

30.  New York Jets 3-11 Up 1
Despite the loss to the Dolphins, the Jets were playing better last week than they had been.

31.  Houston Texans 3-11 Up 1
Houston were much better than Jacksonville, there were some well designed plays, especially to get their top receiver Brandin Cooks involved.

32.  Jacksonville Jaguars 2-12 Down 2
It’s obvious now after the performance against Houston that Jacksonville are the worst team in the league.

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