Top 10 10/Bottom 5 - Week 13!

So, what did we learn about the NFL this week? If you're like me, we've learned its mostly a mess. The top of the top seems settled with New England, Green Bay and Denver clearly looking like the class of the league. The teams led by Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning? I'm shocked!

We also continue to see the bottom of the NFL be the bottom, though we did see some signs of life there with Oakland upsetting the Chiefs on Thursday Night Football. Still though, the bottom is the bottom for the reason. The Jets, Titans, and Jaguars all got blown out this week, and that's why they are where they are.

The AFC North has all four teams 3 games over .500. The first time in NFL history that has happened. Why? They are dominating outside of the division. AFC North teams are 24-7-1 outside of the division this year. Of the 15 losses the division teams have, more than half (8) have come in division games. So who's going to win this thing? It's anyone's guess at this point. It may come down to division games, for better or worse. Cincinnati has 3 division games left, Pittsburgh 2, Cleveland and Baltimore just 1. Is it better to have more or less division games at this point? The way they've dominated the rest of the league, the answer might be less.

There's also a quiet race heating up in the AFC West with Denver, Kansas City and San Diego all just separated by one game. Things will certainly get interesting in that division down the stretch. In general, there are ELEVEN teams in the AFC that still have a legitimate playoff chance.

Unbelievably, no one seems to want to win the NFC South. The division leaders have just 4 wins and the 2 win Tampa Bay Bucs are still right in the mix. How must some AFC teams be feeling? With the way things are going, it won't be a shock to see as many as three 10 win teams in the AFC get shut out of the playoffs. 12 of the 16 teams in the AFC are still in legitimate playoff contention after Week 12.

It's certainly going to be a crazy last 5 weeks of the season! Let's get to the rankings.

Top 10

1. New England (1) - another strong win for the Patriots against a top team. What else would you expect? If the playoffs started today, the Patriots would be 4-1 against playoff teams, with all 4 wins having been blowouts, including the AFC #2, #3, and #4 seeds. Statworthy: The Patriots are 32-3 in the 2nd half of their season over the last 5 seasons. Bonus Statworthy: The Patriots have won each of their last 4 games by at least 20 points, tied for the longest such streak in franchise history -also done in 2007.

2. Green Bay (2) - the fighting Zimmers made them work for it, but Green Bay pulled out a nice division road win Sunday and seem to clearly be the class of the NFC at the moment.

3. Denver (3) - it wasn't pretty, but the Dolphins are no pushover this year. Denver got a much needed win to take a one game lead in the division, and hold on to the #2 seed in the AFC. Statworthy: Peyton Manning (50) is closing on on Drew Brees record of 54 straight games with a touchdown. He has a chance to tie the record against the Bengals, who snapped Tom Brady's streak at 52 games.

4. Dallas (7) - is Tony Romo playing the best football of his career? The Dallas defense is starting to show some cracks, but boy can that offense be as good as they want to be. Statworthy: Tony Romo had his 27th career game-winning drive in the 4th quarter or overtime. The most in the NFL since 2006.

5. San Francisco (6) - Statworthy: Colin Kaepernick threw a TD pass in his 18th straight game, tying Steve Young's franchise record.

6. Arizona (3) - there defense is stellar, but can you really trust Drew Stanton to take them anywhere? It should be a credit to Bruce Arians how much he has gotten out of Stanton, but can he make him a Super Bowl caliber QB?



7. Philadelphia (10) - I'm still not sold on the Eagles, but there's a lack of top teams to be sold on at the moment. Big showdown in Big D on Thanksgiving that will tell us a lot about both teams. Statworhty: Mark Sanchez has 3 straight games with at least 300yds passing. He never had more than 2 in a row with the Jets.

8. Indianapolis (9) - the Colts took care of the Jaguars and kept everything in front of them as far as the playoffs go. They are now 2 games up on the rest of their division with 5 to play. They likely can only do as well as the #3 seed however, having lost to both the Patriots and Broncos head to head. Statworthy: The Colts have now won 11 straight division games.

9. Kansas City (8) - a disappointing let down to the Raiders on Thursday night. The Chiefs really need to start getting more production out of their wide receivers, who still have yet to score a touchdown on the season. Statworthy: the Chiefs rush defense came into the game having allowed 0 rushing touchdowns. They allowed 2 in the game.

10. Detroit (5) - there's no shame in losing to the Patriots in Foxboro, but that performance can't be inspiring for Lions fans. Even the stout defense struggled to do much.



Honorable Mentions

Cincinnati - so far so good for the Bengals on their 3 game road trip in the middle of their season. The Bengals took care of the Texans in a must win for both teams in a game that wasn't quite as close as the score indicated. A 2nd half pick-6 by Andy Dalton was the Texans only touchdown of the game.

Seattle - under the radar, the Seahawks are slowly righting the ship and back in the hunt. I don't know if they'll catch the Cardinals for the division, but they'll be as dangerous of a wild card team as there's ever been if they make it. They are currently the #5 seed and likely face an elimination game for both themselves and the 49ers on Thursday. Statworthy: on Sunday Russell Wilson was 11 of 13 for 153yds against the blitz.

Pittsburgh - the Steelers enjoyed the bye week and remain right in the thicket of the AFC playoff race.

Miami - not many probably expected the Dolphins to go into Denver and win, but even in defeat they sent a message to the rest of the league that they are a quality team that is going to be a tough out for anyone. Statworthy: of Miami's 6 wins, all 6 have been by 13 points or more.

Bottom 5

28. New York Jets (28) - man, how do you get blown up by 35 against a team that couldn't get out of their own houses for most of the week? This is just a bad, bad team. If it weren't for their front 7, they'd be the worst team in the league.

29. Tampa Bay (29) - at first it looked like the Bucs were going to get Lovie revenge in Chicago, but they couldn't pull it out. They are proof positive that winning in free agency doesn't equal winning when it matters.

30. Tennesee (30) - are the Titans the least talked about team in the league? Tell me one thing you know about this team (besides that they aren't very good)?

31. Jacksonville (31) - a disappoinint blowout loss to the Colts this week. The only thing keeping them above the Raiders at this point is that they are the more talented team. They've gotta get that experience though.

32. Oakland (32) - after multiple games of "close but no cigar", the Raiders finally hung on this week for a huge upset of the Chiefs.

What Say You FP?