NFL Week 14 Power Rankings

By Djack

​ESPN's Power Rankings:
"1. Dallas Cowboys 2016 record: 11-1 | Week 13 ranking: 1
The Cowboys clinched a playoff berth in Week 13 and won their Thursday night game at Minnesota despite season lows in points, yards and third-down conversions. Dallas gets a chance to avenge its only loss this season when it takes on the Giants on Sunday night in Week 14.
2. New England Patriots 2016 record: 10-2 | Week 13 ranking: 3
Tom Brady is now the career wins leader among quarterbacks. But New England's defense continues to fall under the radar. The Patriots are tied for second-fewest points allowed this season. The team they are tied with? Their Week 14 opponent, the Ravens.
3. Oakland Raiders 2016 record: 10-2 | Week 13 ranking: 2
Derek Carr gets the Raiders the lead, and Khalil Mack keeps it that way. Mack has three strip-sacks in the fourth quarter in his past four games, and he recovered the fumble each time. No other player in the NFL has done that (sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery) in the fourth quarter in that time.
4. Seattle Seahawks 2016 record: 8-3-1 | Week 13 ranking: 4
The Seahawks' running game seems to be back following their 240-yard effort Sunday night in a win against Carolina. That's three straight games with 100 rush yards for the Seahawks after having two such games to start the season. They'll look to keep it going in Green Bay in Week 14.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers 2016 record: 7-5 | Week 13 ranking: 9
Ladarius Green is stepping up as yet another weapon at QB Ben Roethlisberger's disposal after setting a career high with 110 receiving yards against the Giants. The Bills are the next team that gets to figure out how to stop Green over the middle and Antonio Brown on the outside.
6. Baltimore Ravens 2016 record: 7-5 | Week 13 ranking: 13
Don't fall too hard for Joe Flacco's four-touchdown game Sunday. It was only the third time this season he has thrown multiple touchdown passes in a game, and he still has only four more touchdowns than picks this season. If he does it again against the Patriots, then that's a different story.
7. Kansas City Chiefs 2016 record: 9-3 | Week 13 ranking: 6
Some of the Chiefs' wins this season seem as unlikely as winning the lottery, and with a pick-six and a pick-two in Week 13, that comparison might not be that far off. The Chiefs can take control of the AFC West with a win over the Raiders on Thursday night.
8. Detroit Lions 2016 record: 8-4 | Week 13 ranking: 7
The streak is over. In Week 13 the Lions finally played a game in which they didn't trail in the fourth quarter. The heroics are fun, but the Lions are hoping to make it two straight without trailing in the fourth when they host the Bears in Week 14.
9. Denver Broncos 2016 record: 8-4 | Week 13 ranking: 5
Paxton Lynch got the Week 13 win against Jacksonville with 104 yards passing on 12 of 24 completions. That kind of effort can get the job done against the Jaguars, but Lynch (or Trevor Siemian) will likely need to step up his game at Tennessee this week.
10. Atlanta Falcons 2016 record: 7-5 | Week 13 ranking: 8
The Falcons' rivalry with the Saints went a little too far Sunday. The Saints lost on a defensive conversion in a tie game a few weeks ago, so the Falcons one-upped them by losing on a defensive conversion when they had the lead. The Falcons hope to erase that bad taste in Los Angeles this week." -VIA ESPN

Djack's Power Rankings:
1. New England Patriots 2016 record: 10-2 Week 13 ranking: 1
Even with Gronk out for the rest of the year, I still think the Patriots are the team to beat. Martellus Bennett is a pretty damn good backup plan to have. As long as the Pats have Brady and Belichick they're the team to beat, especially when they're on a mission to make Roger Goodell hand the Lombardi trophy to the team he tried to sabotage.
2. Dallas Cowboys 2016 record: 11-1
Week 13 ranking: 2
Dallas played horrible against the Vikings, the box score made it seem like the Vikings won by double digits, yet the Cowboys still came out victorious. That's a sign of a good football team, as much as it pains me to say this, the Cowboys are very much the real deal. I still think they'll lose to the Giants this week though.
3. Oakland Raiders 2016 record: 10-2
Week 13 ranking: 3
Oakland continues to show that they're very much a contender in the AFC, winning their last 6 games, the Raiders are rolling. They have a tough matchup at home this week against the Chiefs for first place in the AFC west. Time to see what this Raiders team is really made of.
4. Kansas City Chiefs 2016 record: 9-3
​Week 13 ranking: 5
The Chiefs are now a NFL best 19-3 since week 7 of last season, this team is not to be slept on. They're defense is most likely going to give the Raiders high powered offense a shit ton of problems. With Justin Houston back this defense is on a whole nother level, plus Alex Smith and Andy Reid have this offense flowing like never before.
5. Seattle Seahawks 2016 record: 8-3-1
Week 13 ranking: 4
Earl Thomas, the best safety in all of football, is out for the season, which is a big blow to this savage Seattle defense. The offense is getting healthy and it showed on Sunday night football against the Panthers, that also could've been in part to the Panthers just flat out quitting, but still 40 points on any team is impressive.
6. Detroit Lions 2016 record: 8-4
Week 13 ranking: N/A
The defense isn't great, in fact they're pretty awful, but this offense has 0 quit in them. Detroit is making a playoff push, they see the finish line, and they're sprinting to it. As long as they don't trip over there own feet they'll be playing January football.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers 2016 record: 7-5
Week 13 ranking: 10
I still think this is one of the most undisciplined teams in football, but the talent outweighs the mental errors lately. They'll need to clean up their act in the playoffs if they wanna make a run, but they have enough playmakers to  make the playoffs just off pure talent.
8. Denver Broncos 2016 record: 8-4
Week 13 ranking: 7
One dimensional football teams can only win so many games in this league, thankfully the Broncos have the best defense in football, so that one dimension does a lot for them. Unfortunately, one dimensional football teams don't advance very far in the playoffs if they are to make it. The Broncos have two better teams ahead of them in their own division, they're looking at a 6 seed at best, and even that might be in question now.
9. Atlanta Falcons 2016 record: 7-5 
Week 13 ranking: 8
Falcons are the same team as the Broncos except their offense is their strong suit. Instead of having the best defense and a horrid offense, they have a great offense and a horrid defense. The only thing that benefits them is that if they get the ball last in a game they can drive down the field for the win, but if they have to close a game out on defense, they're losing that game. Falcons continue to fall back into their old ways, not a good time to be doing that.
10. New York Giants 2016 record: 8-4
Week 13 ranking: 6
This is the Giants week to prove something. We play the NFL best 11-1 Cowboys, time to send a message to the NFC that we deserve to be in the playoffs, and when we get there we're going to make some noise. If we play like we did against Pittsburgh, I fear a serious collapse, that could ultimately result in the Giants missing out on the playoffs after an 8-3 start. That'd be an absolute travesty, so let's pray for a big performance out of the G-Men this week.