News

#NFL Power Ranking for Week 16: Plenty of movement

#NFL Power Ranking for Week 16: Plenty of movement

Aaron Rodgers is about to leapfrog Brett Favre.

Rodgers’ next touchdown pass will break a tie with Favre at 442 and give him the storied Green Bay Packers’ franchise record. That’s a nice achievement, but the real measurement of success this season is whether Rodgers can pass Favre in another key stat — Super Bowls won — by capturing his second to match yet another Packers legend (Bart Starr).

The NFC playoff race includes five teams with double-digit wins, but the Packers have the inside track for the No. 1 seed in the NFC and the lone bye. They just have to win out against the Browns, Vikings and Lions.

Here are The Post’s power rankings for Week 16:

1. Kansas City Chiefs, 10-4 (1)

Look who is the No. 1 seed in the AFC right now. That 3-4 start is a distant memory after a seven-game winning streak. The most recent win — including three touchdown drives in the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime — over the Chargers was maybe the most impressive. Travis Kelce had a career-high 191 receiving yards.

2. Green Bay Packers, 11-3 (4)

Rodgers showed no ill effects from his toe injury as the Packers became the first team to clinch its division, winning the NFC North for the third straight season. The improved defense has had better games, needing a deflected incompletion on a two-point conversion attempt to avoid blowing a 14-point lead in the final six minutes against Ravens backup quarterback Tyler Huntley.

Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers moved up to No. 2 in this week’s power rankings.
Getty Images

3. Los Angeles Rams, 9-4 (6)

Could a wide receiver steal some MVP votes? Cooper Kupp has huge leads over the field in catches (122), yards (1,625) and touchdowns (14). The Rams placed 29 players on the COVID-19 reserve list over a 10-day stretch but continued to dominate the Seahawks — three straight wins, five out of six and eight out of 10 (including the playoffs) in this series.

4. Arizona Cardinals, 10-4 (2)

With a chance to clinch a playoff berth and remain in the driver’s seat for the only bye, the Cardinals laid an egg in a blowout loss to the NFC-worst Lions. The Cardinals were held scoreless in the first half after gaining only 17 total yards on their first three drives combined and then getting stopped at the 3-yard line on the fourth.

5. Indianapolis Colts, 8-6 (10)

In college football, there’s the “Heisman moment” for most winners of the trophy. Did Jonathan Taylor just have his NFL MVP moment? He ran for 170 yards, including a game-sealing 67-yard touchdown against a stacked box as the Colts beat the Patriots for the first time since November 2009. The Colts are 5-1 in their past six games.

6. New England Patriots, 9-5 (3)

One game after winning when they completed just two passes, the Patriots lost a game in which the opponent (Colts) completed five. Strange stuff. The Patriots had a punt blocked for a touchdown and saw their NFL-record streak of 99 straight games scoring first-half points come to an end.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 10-4 (5)

The Buccaneers are a top-three team if healthy. But Chris Godwin is out for the season and Mike Evans and Leonard Fournette are next in a line of players missing time due to injury, which explains the all-forgiven approach to Antonio Brown’s return from a three-game suspension. The Saints became the first opponent to shut out a Brady-led offense since the 2006 Dolphins.

8. Dallas Cowboys, 10-4 (8)

The Cowboys got away with a C-caliber effort plagued by dropped passes, missed kicks and a bad should’ve-been-costly giveaway against the hapless Giants. Micah Parsons’ streak of six straight games with a sack ended, but Demarcus Lawrence’s return as a force on the line was a welcome trade-off. Trevon Diggs recorded his NFL-best 10th interception.

9. Los Angeles Chargers, 8-6 (9)

Head coach Brandon Staley is a lightning rod for analytics-versus-traditional thinking. The Chargers were 2-for-5 on fourth-down conversions in an overtime loss to the Chiefs. Two of the three failures were inside the 5-yard line and the other was in field-goal range, so that’s a lot of missed points. But Staley is ahead of the curve because he understands field goals don’t win big NFL games.

49ers
Nick Bosa sacks Matt Ryan
Getty Images

10. San Francisco 49ers, 8-6 (13)

It’s a must-watch Thursday game between two teams headed in opposite directions: The 49ers (5-1 in last six games) and Titans (1-3 in last four games). Nick Bosa will be looking for a sack in a seventh straight game after he picked up his NFL-best 15th of the season in a rout of the Falcons that included the 49ers’ three rushing touchdowns by three different players.

11. Tennessee Titans, 9-5 (7)

12. Buffalo Bills, 8-6 (12)

13. Cincinnati Bengals, 8-6 (14)

14. Baltimore Ravens, 8-6 (11)

15. Pittsburgh Steelers, 7-6-1 (20)

16. Miami Dolphins, 7-7 (18)

17. Cleveland Browns, 7-7 (15)

18. Philadelphia Eagles, 7-7 (22)

19. New Orleans Saints, 7-7 (25)

20. Minnesota Vikings, 7-7 (19)

21. Las Vegas Raiders, 7-7 (21)

22. Denver Broncos, 7-7 (16)

23. Washington Football Team, 6-8 (17)

24. Atlanta Falcons, 6-8 (23)

25. Seattle Seahawks, 5-9 (24)

26. New York Giants, 4-10 (26)

Fans should have newfound appreciation for fired coordinator Jason Garrett and injured quarterback Daniel Jones. In 30 non-garbage-time possessions over the last three games, the Freddie Kitchens-Mike Glennon combination has produced one touchdown. The last time a Giants receiver scored a touchdown was Oct. 25. They dropped their ninth straight game against Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.

New York Giants Jake Fromm #17 during the second half
Jake Fromm
Robert Sabo

27. Carolina Panthers, 5-9 (27)

27. Chicago Bears, 4-10 (28)

29. New York Jets, 3-11 (29)

There were some offensive highlights — Zach Wilson improvising on the run and a hook-and-ladder connection between two receivers — which cleared the low bar set over the last few seasons. But the Jets can’t stop the run. The Dolphins ran for 184 yards, more than doubling their lowly average. Next week’s game against the Jaguars is huge for draft position.

30. Detroit Lions, 2-11-1 (32)

31. Houston Texans, 3-11 (30)

32. Jacksonville Jaguars, 2-12 (31)

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on Google News too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com

If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our News category.

Source

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
Close

Please allow ads on our site

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker!