2014 NFL Power Rankings – Week 12

Nov 27, 2014

Rob made some great points last week. And I think I would suffer through another terrible season if it meant the Giants would get hot and win a Super Bowl. Here’s the problem though. I don’t want Jerry Reese running this team anymore. He doesn’t draft well and does nothing with draft picks in the later rounds. So from that aspect, I wouldn’t want them to win a Super Bowl because we’d be stuck with another few years of Jerry Reese.

[Rob’s note: As usual, I interrupted Stan’s half of the column to try to even out our sides since I went long with my power rankings. Have a happy Thanksgiving.]

Stan

The “Moral Victory” Tier

32. Oakland Raiders – Nice win but they’re still terrible. Congratulations to Charles Woodson though. Serious question. Where does he rank among all time defensive backs? I say top five but its tough because you have to include Deion Sanders, Ronnie Lott, Rod Woodson, Night Train Lane, Ed Reed and Darrell Green. I’m sure there are more I could include. I’m a huge Charles Woodson fan but it’d be tough to say he’s a top five DB of all time.

[Rob’s Note: Sanders, Lott, Rod Woodson, Reed, and “Night Train” are all definitely ahead of him. I’d say Mel Blount also goes ahead of Charles Woodson. In terms of recent players, Champ Bailey definitely is in front of him, and there are a number of guys still playing who have a chance to surpass him and a bunch of recently retired guys who are on the same level. Just my opinion, of course.]

31. Jacksonville Jaguars – Good lord, they’re so bad. I know they played Andrew Luck and I didn’t expect them to win…or cover the spread…but they were abysmal, even for them.

30. Tennessee Titans – I wonder if the guys they have will take any steps forward next season. Zach Mettenberger shows flashes of talent from time to time and if they build the offensive line, that should open up the running game. Plus I like their receiving options. Can’t name on person on their defense though.

29. Washington Redskins – They gotta figure out whats wrong with RG3. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t the starter going into next season. He’s already been benched for the next game. The Niners defense being good wasn’t the reason for his less than mediocre game. For evidence, look no further than the game Alfred Morris had.

28. New York Giants – Theres very little I can take away from this season as a positive. Like I said before, Jerry Reese needs to go. He’s been in the organization since 1994 and the guy knows talent but he’s done a terrible job, outside of getting lucky twice. (Thats right, I said it.) Here’s a list of every player the Giants have taken from 2007 to 2012. I won’t count this year or last year’s draft classes.

Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Jay Alford, Zak DeOssie, Kevin Boss, Adam Koets, Michael Johnson, Ahmad Bradshaw, Kenny Phillips, Terrell Thomas, Mario Manningham, Bryan Kehl, Jonathan Goff, Andre Woodson, Robert Henderson, Hakeem Nicks, Clint SIntim, Will Beatty, Ramses Barden, Travis Beckum, Andre Brown, Rhett Bomar, DeAndre Wright, Stoney Woodson, Jason Pierre-Paul, Linval Joseph, Chad Jones, Phillip Dillard, Mitch Petrus, Adrian Tracy, Matt Dodge, Prince Amukamara, Marvin Austin, Jernel Jernigan, James Brewer, Greg Jones, Tyler Sash, Jacquian Williams, Da’Rel Scott, David Wilson, Rueben Randle, Jayron Hosley, Adrien Robinson, Brandon Mosley, Matt McCants, Markus Kuhn.

Simply put, the Giants (and Jerry Reese) do a terrible job of developing talent and very players end up staying in the league. And the ones that do tend to leave via free agency. But hey, Odell Beckham Jr makes things a little better right?

27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Bucs fans might not admit this in public but they wanted this loss. I know a Bucs fan personally that wants the team to tank for Jameis Winston. While I don’t think its necessarily a bad idea to try to get the first overall pick, I have a few reservations.

1) Winston is going to be terrible in the NFL because all FSU quarterbacks are.

2) They don’t really need a quarterback. What they do need is help along the offensive line.

3) They’re not going to get the first overall pick anyway.

The “Nothing Much Impresses Me” Tier

26. Carolina Panthers – Thank God they were on a bye. I can’t stand watching anyone on that roster not named Luke Kuechly play football.

25. New York Jets – I honestly feel bad for Jets fans right now. First they start the season with Geno Smith and say he’s the guy. Then, when Geno sucks it up they turn to Michael Vick. Then, when they realize that Vick isn’t getting the job done they go BACK! to Geno. I really feel bad for Rex Ryan. He doesn’t deserve this.

[Rob’s note: You felt so bad for the Jets that you decided not to drop them in your rankings? Really? After losing 38-3 to the Bills? Stan you need to wake up.]

24. Minnesota Vikings – I’ll give them credit, they did keep Jordy Nelson in check. Unfortunately this is football, not the “don’t let Jordy Nelson kill us” game. Teddy played well though. Thats all that matters to me. Love that kid.

The “One Piece Away…Maybe” Tier

23. Atlanta Falcons – It really doesn’t matter that they lost because they’re going to win the division with a 7-9 record and hopefully force the league to eliminate sub .500 teams from making the playoffs even if they win a terrible division.

22. Houston Texans – Ryan Mallett shows us a little something and then he gets hurt and will miss the season. This is why the Texans can’t have nice things.

21. New Orleans Saints – Rob Ryan should be fired, rehired and then fired again. They made Baltimore look really really good. They made Justin Forsett look like Jonas Gray. That made me giggle. Quick sidenote: Drew Brees is almost as annoying in his Wrangler commercial as Brett Favre. Almost.

20. Chicago Bears – Well if you can’t beat Tampa Bay, you shouldn’t be allowed back in the state of Illinois.

19. Buffalo Bills – I thought it was a total crock that they moved the Buffalo game to Detroit. Why couldn’t they have played at the Carrier Dome? The Bills finally have a somewhat competent team and they lose a home game because of weather? I know the snow was crazy up there but Detroit was the closest stadium they could get? I think the players sensed that frustration and took it out on the Jets.

[Rob’s note: Really? One piece? What piece would that be for the Bears, Saints, and Falcons? Pick a player who turns any one of those teams from terrible to possibly above .500.]

The “Wrong Division, Wrong Year” Tier

18. Cleveland Browns – Brian Hoyer hasn’t really played well over the last few games but how do you pull the starter from a 7-4 team that keeps winning games and playing competitively? They can’t just throw in Johnny Manziel and expect the team to keep rolling. Besides, Johnny’s got his own issues with fighting fans right now.

17. St Louis Rams – The Rams lost a tough one to a team thats struggling right now. It doesn’t matter because they won’t make the playoffs even with their good record. Tough week for the whole state of Missouri.

16. Cincinnati Bengals – Someone get this team some Zyprexa because they’re schizophrenic. One week they look awesome, another week they look like they’ll be a first round exit.

15. Pittsburgh Steelers – Another week to get healthy and they need it. This AFC North is no joke.

14. Detroit Lions – …and the slide continues. I didn’t expect them to win against the Patriots but they barely showed up. The offense could only muster three field goals and gave up 34. What happened to this vaunted defensive line? Their season is slipping away. Pardon my Paul Simon reference but its…slip-sliding away.

13. Baltimore Ravens – I hope Steve Smith becomes a mixed martial artist after he retires. He’s so much fun. I like Kenny Vaccaro but he’s lucky they pulled Old Man Smiff off of him.

The “Pretenders” Tier

12. Kansas City Chiefs – You had one job…and you let em off the hook. Bad job. Even if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl, I’m always going to remember the fact that they let a winless Raiders team beat them. That being said, I’ve been saying all year that the Raiders are a little frisky.

11. San Francisco 49ers – I hate teams that play down to their competition. Last week, it took five interceptions from Eli Manning for them to win by six. This week, they barely beat a hopeless Redskins team. This team is good but if they keep playing down to their competition, they won’t get far.

10. Philadelphia Eagles – They played the Titans. How impressive is this win really? Also they let the Titans score 24 points. This team is heavily flawed but the offense is making them look awesome.

9. Miami Dolphins – They played as well as they could have against one of the better teams (quarterbacks) in the league. The future is bright for the Dolphins.

The “Actual Contenders” Tier

8. Indianapolis Colts – Not much to break down here. They beat the Jaguars. I think the running game is improving, even with the injuries. Boom Herron looked pretty good and Trent shows flashes. Its going to be an issue in the playoffs though.

7. Arizona Cardinals – I know they played a good Seahawks team but they’re showing signs that there are cracks in this team. Drew Stanton is a capable backup but he’s still a backup and they can’t run the ball effectively. You can tell they missed Larry Fitzgerald too.

6. Dallas Cowboys – If the Cowboys do anything in the postseason, its going to be due to the success of the offensive line. The Giants pass rush isn’t much to speak about but the Cowboys offensive line deserves an award.

5. San Diego Chargers – I feel weird about them being so high because I think they show signs of weakness but when they’re good, they’re good. Ryan Mathews is playing well since coming back from injury as well.

4. Seattle Seahawks – The Seahawks make it tough to pick against them. On one hand, they have a lot of injuries to important players, they don’t have a real legitimate playmaker on offense outside of Russell Wilson or Marshawn Lynch and they’re in the toughest division in football. On the other hand, they have one of the best young quarterbacks in football, a smart head coach and a solid defense…not to mention the playoff experience and the will to repeat. So…who are they?

3. Denver Broncos – Can you imagine what the score of their game would have been if Sanders and Julius Thomas had played?

2. Green Bay Packers – The Packers are shredding teams left and right. As you can see from what I wrote about the Patriots, there isn’t much else to talk about. Lets get these guys on the field right now!

1. New England Patriots – These guys are playing as well as anyone in the league and they’re ripping teams apart like a machine. I, for one, can’t wait to see them play the Packers. This could be a potential Super Bowl matchup.

Rob

**The “Thankful To Have A Win” Tier**

32. Jacksonville Jaguars

31. Oakland Raiders

These two teams have taken two very different paths to what could amount to a combined 2-30 record. The Jaguars getting beaten handily in eight out of their ten losses, with the outliers being a Steelers’ stinker and a two point loss the the Titans. Then right in the middle of their season they trampled the smoking hot Browns 24-6 for their lone victory.

The Raiders were able to keep most of the scores close during their 0-10 start, including one score games against the Jets, Patriots, Chargers, Seahawks, and Chargers again albeit with a few backdoor covers mixed in along the way. Their first win came as desperation was setting in, barely getting by another smoking hot AFC contender in the Chiefs this past Thursday.

Hey, at least neither of these teams will be joining the 1976 Bucs and the 2008 Lions in infamy.

**The “Thankful The Season Is Almost Over” Tier**

30. New York Jets

29. Tennessee Titans

It is actually a little embarrassing that Stan still has the Jets ranked so high. I don’t care what you think about the dregs of the NFC, this season has been cruel to Jets’ fans. To stick by Geno Smith despite his laughable performance, only to finally bench him after eight throws against the Bills was bad. Still, going 1-1 with Mike Vick and acting like the season was turned around, only to have him get benched against the Bills in an even uglier rematch is just downright sad.

Also the Titans stink as bad as the Jets do, they just lack Gang Green’s flair for the spectacular.

**The “Thankful To Play In The Worst Division In League History” Tier**

28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

27. Carolina Panthers

26. Atlanta Falcons

25. New Orleans Saints

The Falcons are in first place at 4-7, with a 4-0 division record and a home win over the Saints as a tiebreaker. With each team having five games left, the chances of any team getting to seven wins is looking mighty slim, and mathematically, 5-11 could win this division if the breaks go right. Speaking of math, the 2-9 Buccaneers are neither eliminated nor would they have to win out to make the playoffs.

The good news is, some of these teams will add victories. The Bucs and Falcons each have two divisional matchups left, with the Saints and Panthers each getting one more game against each rival.

On the flip side, as if these teams didn’t have enough to worry about just trying to beat the other bad teams in the division, the other teams left on the schedule include a slew of playoff contenders, notably the Packers (Bucs and Falcons), Lions and Bengals (Bucs), Steelers (Saints and Falcons), Cardinals (Falcons), and Browns (Panthers). The only teams left on the schedule under .500 outside the NFC South are a trip to Minnesota this week for the Panthers and a trip to Chicago in week 15 for the Saints. If you’ll notice, both of those teams are ranked comfortably ahead of each NFC South team on this side of the Power Rankings.

The “Are We Horrible Or Unlucky?” Tier

24. Washington Redskins

23. New York Giants

22. Minnesota Vikings

21. Chicago Bears

These four teams are teetering between good and bad. Actually, they are going back and forth between bad and horrible, but they are still pretending they just haven’t caught any breaks. An old coach once told me “Luck is being prepared for anything at any time.” You be the judge, how many times this season have you watched one of these teams and literally thought that they couldn’t have possibly been less prepared?

**The “Thankful Brett Hundley and Bryce Petty Won’t Be Top Five Picks” Tier**

20. St. Louis Rams

19. Buffalo Bills

18. Houston Texans

These three teams will have offseasons headlined by one issue – they need a quarterback in a bad way. Unfortunately, all three have played themselves out of the Marcus Mariota sweepstakes, and if Jameis Winston falls that far to them they will be getting a quarterback who dropped precipitously based on teams worried about character in a post-Ray Rice NFL.

The good news is that quarterback prospects like Brett Hundley (UCLA), Bryce Petty (Baylor), Connor Cook (MSU), and Sean Mannion (ORST) could be slotted as mid-to-late first round picks.

The bad news is that there are reasons these guys aren’t surefire first rounders already, and those reasons could have these teams still looking for quarterback help in two years as their premium defenses are beginning to wane.

**The “Thankful Their Seasons Weren’t Completely Derailed By The Raiders” Tier**

17. Kansas City Chiefs

16. San Diego Chargers

Both of these teams put themselves in the AFC playoff picture by going on huge winning streaks and trying to ride those wins into a wild card spot. Despite all the wins, the Chargers struggled against the Raiders twice and the Chiefs actually took an L against them. Both these teams need to beat the bad teams, because they aren’t good enough to make up those wins elsewhere.

**The “Thankful Everyone In The Division Has Blown Two Games” Tier**

15. Cleveland Browns

14. Cincinnati Bengals

13. Baltimore Ravens

12. Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers lost to the Jets and Bucs. The Ravens had the Bengals ready to fold twice and let them escape twice (even though a pretty overstated offensive pass interference by Steve Smith cost them a last second victory in the second game). The Bengals somehow tied a terrible Panthers team, giving up 37 points in the process and missing a 36 yard game winning field goal late in OT. They also laid the year’s biggest stinker in a Thursday Night Game against Cleveland. Speaking of the Browns, a horrible loss to Jacksonville stands as the worst loss for the division and isn’t helped by the fact that they had wins in their grasp against both the Steelers and the Ravens in the first three weeks of the season.

All four teams are basically tied for the division lead, with the Bengals tie keeping them a half game up on the competition.

The “Thankful We Have 8 Wins” Tier

11. Philadelphia Eagles

They are starting Mark Sanchez, who hasn’t totally killed the offense. And they will get Nick Foles back in case Sanchez really starts to scare them, even though Foles isn’t decidedly better.

The “Bitterly Ungrateful For Anything This Season” Tier

10. Miami Dolphins

I think this team has little to be thankful for in 2014. The coach is basically incompetent, threatening to bench Ryan Tannehill for just about no reason, only months after letting his offensive line destroy itself from the inside.

The two biggest additions from the offseason were Branden Albert and first-round pick Ju’Waun James who were brought in to fix the offensive line, both of whom went down with impactful injuries.The team has the most expensive group of receivers in the league without boasting any player who actually makes plays, leaving Tannehill to target rookie second-round pick Jarvis Landry on any big situations.

The team also spent a ton of money on inside linebackers for some strange reason, giving big money to Dannell Ellerbe and Philip Wheeler. While both players have been terrible, injured, or both, second year man Jelani Jenkins has joined Koa Misi and a pair of rookies to form a formidable group in spite of the organization’s best efforts.

At 6-5, this team will probably be on the outside looking in come playoff time, despite having played a brutal schedule with big wins over marquee teams. They played the Broncos, Lions, and Packers as tough as you can play in losses, coming up short by only 10 points total in games that all included late comebacks to take them down.

The “Thankful For Freakishly Athletic Defensive Players Who Are Just Plain Mean” Tier

9. San Francisco 49ers

8. Detroit Lions

7. Arizona Cardinals

6. Seattle Seahawks

These four teams are employing what seems to be about 90% of the league’s most incredible athletes on the defensive side of the ball. Actually, you could make a case that the All-Pro team could be assembled using only players from these four teams and J.J. Watt, especially if you include the All-Pro type guys who missed huge swaths of time due to suspension and injury.

Seriously, grab a guy or two off the Bills’ front four, then toss in Justin Houston, Cameron Wake, and Darrelle Revis. If you like 4-3 linebackers from two win teams you can also grab Lavonte David.

I will go to war with guys from this tier, even if I have to give up Watt. How bout it Stan, do you think you can put together a better defense using the other 28 teams than I can with these four?

(Also, are there more Pro Bowl defensive players in the NFC West than the other seven divisions combined?)

The “Thankful For Rules That Are Biased Toward The Offense” Tier

5. Dallas Cowboys

4. Indianapolis Colts

3. Denver Broncos

2. Green Bay Packers

1. New England Patriots

This is self-explanatory. These five teams employ five high level quarterbacks. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, and Andrew Luck are almost definitely the top four. Don’t sleep on Tony Romo, but he has at least a claim on the fifth spot, fighting Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger for that spot. I don’t know if there is another quarterback in that conversation.

The similarities in this tier don’t stop there. They all have offensive lines that range from excellent to playing really well. They each have at least one outrageous receiving option, with some having two and all of them having at least four above average players to get the ball to.

In other years, all that talent doesn’t matter, but the more protection these guys get, the harder it will become for defenses like the 2013 Seahawks to sustain success without also deploying at minimum an efficient offense.