NFL power rankings - Week 15

By Brad Oremland Sports Central Columnist

Five Quick Hits

* The Bengals have won five of their last six games, but haven't been playing well recently. Don't let easy schedules mislead you.

* After being held to six points against Baltimore, the 49ers have averaged 44 points per game over the last two weeks.

* The Giants are stunningly bad, but the Arizona Cardinals are the only team in the NFL to score fewer than 200 points so far this season.

* Arizona is also the only team to allow more than 400 points this year.

* Every team in the NFL has at least one loss in its division. Only San Diego has failed to win a division game. They still play the Raiders at home, though, and Oakland is winless on the road, so the Chargers have a decent chance.

Moving on to the rankings, brackets indicate previous rank.

1. Philadelphia Eagles [1] -- The Eagles and their AFC counterparts in New England may be due for a letdown in the next two weeks, but I wouldn't read much into it. Both teams will be just fine -- especially if they can secure homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, which both are on pace for. It's also possible, though, that the closest Philadelphia will come to a letdown was Monday night against Miami, when they allowed more than 20 points for the first time since October 12, when they were 2-3. Remaining games at home against San Francisco (which hasn't won on the road all season) and at Washington (which plays badly everywhere) don't look too threatening right now.

2. New England Patriots [2] -- It's premature to make any definite declarations, but Tom Brady may be on his way to establishing himself as one the finest clutch quarterbacks in the history of the game. He's been terrific -- the best, in fact -- in his team's biggest games, and no one else elevates his play more when the stakes are highest.

3. Indianapolis Colts [3] -- The defense limited Michael Vick to what he called "the worst game I ever had." And, oh yeah, the offense was sensational again. Edgerrin James may never be the same runner he was in 1999 and 2000, but if he keeps playing the way he is right now, the Colts are definite Super Bowl contenders.

4. St. Louis Rams [4] -- Now have won six games in a row and 10 of their last 11. And they're not in the top-three in my Power Rankings. Parity, my foot. Hopefully, the speculation regarding Lovie Smith's opportunities to be a head coach won't distract the team. I do think Smith should be and will be a head coach somewhere next season.

5. Tennessee Titans [5] -- Defense wasn't up to its usual standards, but backup QB Billy Volek had a nice game and the Titans pulled off a close win that virtually guarantees them of a playoff spot. Derrick Mason has gotten a little publicity this year, but he remains one of the most underrated receivers in the NFL.

6. Kansas City Chiefs [6] -- Paul Tagliabue needs to call an emergency meeting of all NFL owners. At this meeting, he will call for a vote that prohibits the Lions from being scheduled to play at Arrowhead Stadium for the next seven years. The Chiefs spanked Detroit so thoroughly that I'm tempted to push them higher in the rankings, but (1) home games against the Lions mean nothing, and (2) Detroit has no running game, so they couldn't attack K.C.'s weakness. I'll believe in the Chiefs when I see them stop someone like Edgerrin James or Clinton Portis in the playoffs.

7. Miami Dolphins [7] -- They've lost two in a row, which generally gets you kicked out of the top-10, but those losses were against No. 2 New England and No. 1 Philadelphia. Since I expected them to lose close games in both matchups, the Dolphins don't drop in the rankings. Their playoff hopes look pretty grim at this point, but if they get in, I wouldn't want to be the team that has to face Miami in the first-round.

8. Denver Broncos [9] -- Denver has won three games in a row, and four of the five games since Jake Plummer returned from injury. They've only faced one team with a winning record in that span, though, so their next two weeks -- road games at Indianapolis and Green Bay -- could take the air out of their tires pretty quickly if Denver's just been feeding on mediocre opponents, mostly at home (four of the five games).

9. Baltimore Ravens [8] -- This is about more than my dream of seeing a team win without calling a pass play. Jamal Lewis averaged more than five yards per carry against Oakland on Sunday, yet the Ravens threw 27 times, with mixed results. I'm not giving up on Baltimore, though. They looked awful -- really awful, in fact -- at times during the 2000 season, and they won the Super Bowl that year. One bad game isn't enough to make me jump off the bandwagon.

10. Green Bay Packers [10] -- I would love to see Green Bay win the NFC North -- the Vikings have no business in the playoffs, the way they've looked recently -- but the Packers are a deeply flawed team. The passing game, even though it looked good against San Diego, is a definite weak point. Ahman Green is tiring and isn't sufficiently involved in the offense right now, but Mike Sherman can't afford to sit him since the Packers are still fighting for a playoff spot. I can't see Green Bay beating the Eagles or Rams on the road in the playoffs (assuming they get in at all).

11. Dallas Cowboys [11] -- Halted a two-game losing streak with a one-sided win on the road in Washington. Quincy Carter had a terrible game (10-24, 108 yds, 3 fumbles), but Troy Hambrick (189 yds) and the defense (7 turnovers) kept the game firmly in control for Dallas. The Cowboys are in good position to make the postseason.

12. Cincinnati Bengals [12] -- This is a record, I'm sure. I've been doing power rankings for years, and I am almost certain that I have never gone through the top-12 teams with only one change before. Anyway, Cincinnati's defense is a problem. It's yielded more than 30 points each of the last two weeks and hasn't really played well since the Bengals upset Kansas City. I can't see Cincy winning in St. Louis next week or making the playoffs.

13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [17] -- The potential has been here all season, but even now I'm wary of giving the Bucs a boost. I like to see Thomas Jones getting more work, though, and I think he -- not Michael Pittman -- is Tampa's long-term answer at running back. The defense had a field day against injury-rocked Houston.

14. New Orleans Saints [15] -- Sunday night's game against the Giants was the second time this season that New Orleans has scored 45 points in a game. Maybe the Saints need to be out of realistic playoff contention to play with passion in December.

15. New York Jets [18] -- Chad Pennington's return was supposed to reinvigorate the offense, not the defense. Curtis Martin's season-high 174 yards against Pittsburgh notwithstanding, the defense has really stepped up recently (allowing 11 ppg in the last month) while the offense has struggled (12 ppg in the same period), going without a touchdown for two games in a row.

16. Jacksonville Jaguars [14] -- The Teal Curtain, after four consecutive games holding opponents to under 14 points, ran into the juggernaut that is the Indianapolis offense and yielded 27. Their game against New Orleans next week should be worth watching.

17. Seattle Seahawks [16] -- Close loss in St. Louis drops them to 1-6 on the road, marks their first losing streak of the season, and puts them in jeopardy of missing the playoffs.

18. San Francisco 49ers [13] -- I'm not sure how I justified putting a team that was 0-6 on the road in the top-half of the rankings last week. Better late than never.

19. Chicago Bears [19] -- Rex Grossman was unimpressive in his pro debut, but the defense did its job against Minnesota, and Anthony Thomas had a good game. The Bears have won three of their last four games and are 5-2 at home. Next week, they play Washington at Soldier Field. If you're the betting type, stay away from the Snyders.

20. Carolina Panthers [20] -- The problem with following a formula when you do power rankings is that games like Carolina's narrow win over the worst team in the league tend to move teams up. It's like the college football polls, where you can't move down unless you actually lose and can't move up in defeat even if you play a great game against a top team. That's why I don't use a set formula for my rankings, and it's why the Panthers -- who haven't looked really good since October -- aren't a top team here.

21. Buffalo Bills [23] -- Nearly took a game off Tennessee, but the defense gave up 28 points to the Billy Volek-led Titans. Look at Buffalo's roster and tell me it's not remarkable that this team is 6-8. Lawyer Milloy, Takeo Spikes, Sam Adams (the defensive tackle, not the beer), Antoine Winfield, and London Fletcher all play on that defense. Gregg Williams was a defensive coordinator, and his squad should be better than that with so much talent.

22. Pittsburgh Steelers [22] -- Raising the question, "How bad can an offense be when it has Hines Ward?" The defense also did its part for badness in their shutout loss to the Jets, giving up 174 yards to 174-year-old Curtis Martin on 30 carries.

23. Houston Texans [21] -- Dave Ragone was thrown into the fire and got burned. Houston will get another nice draft pick this offseason. Slow and steady wins the race, and the Texans are on the way up.

24. Minnesota Vikings [24] -- This season, the Vikings have lost to the 4-10 Giants, 3-11 Chargers, and 4-10 Raiders. Good teams sometimes lose one, maybe two games like that. Three? Uh-uh. Against Chicago, Onterrio Smith and Randy Moss did well, but the Vikings couldn't turn yards into points. The defense did okay, too, but only sacked Grossman once and didn't force any turnovers. That tells me George O'Leary's defensive gameplan was way too conservative.

25. Atlanta Falcons [25] -- Their head coach got fired in the middle of the week and they got annihilated on Sunday. They stay put because almost everyone I had ranked below 20th lost this week, which I suspect must be another record.

26. Cleveland Browns [27] -- Taking a top-10 team into overtime is quite an accomplishment in this part of the rankings. Cleveland had a remarkably low eight complete passes against Denver.

27. Oakland Raiders [30] -- Wins are a big deal here. I didn't see the game and I'm not really sure what happened. I find that I don't particularly care, though; at this point, I just want to see how Oakland's train wreck of a season affects offseason moves. Better than a soap opera, is my guess.

28. Washington Redskins [26] -- This team is broken. The less involved Daniel Snyder is, though, the better things will be. Ron Wolf could help, but Snyder likes his toy too much to give up any control, and current GM Vinny Cerrato is his -- to avoid prison terminology -- gopher.

29. San Diego Chargers [28] -- Want proof that one player can't carry an entire team? LaDainian Tomlinson is it. He's the best running back in the NFL and his team has the league's worst record.

30. Detroit Lions [29] -- Useless on the road. 4-3 at home.

31. New York Giants [31] -- I don't want to say anything about the game on Sunday night, so I'm just not going to. Even before that massacre, though, this has been an extremely disappointing season for a club that had legitimate dreams of winning the NFC East -- and maybe the Super Bowl -- before the season began.

32. Arizona Cardinals [32] -- The Giants have made a strong case recently for worst team in the NFL, but Arizona is tied for the league's worst record (3-11 Atlanta and San Diego) and longest losing streak (the Giants are also at six). Perhaps even more damning, the Cardinals are last in the NFL in points (197) and points allowed (407), for an amazing differential of -210. The Falcons are next, at -132. And to put this in context, the Cincinnati Bengals have never been outscored by 200 points in a season. That's how bad Arizona is this year. I'm going to go out on a limb, though, and say the Cardinals will beat Minnesota in Week 17.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.