Written by Gregg Rosenthal at NFL.com
The final act of the 2016 campaign is setting up to be a doozy.
This is one of those years where the best, freshest stories happen to reside with the best teams. A return to dominance for national teams like Dallas and Oakland has provided a welcome shakeup to an NFL hierarchy that was growing too familiar. It’s almost impossible to overhype this Raiders offense or a Cowboys team led by two rookie MVP candidates, although we’ll try, with Dallas one game into a prime-time streak of four straight weeks.
After an uneven regular season, so many of the most entertaining teams play each other down the stretch. Before we get to some of the biggest Week 13 takeaways, let’s preview the most watchable teams for the final quarter of the season:
1) Oakland Raiders: It’s almost like they’re trying to fall behind in games lately, just to fully test themselves. The Raiders will be the most fascinating team over the next month because no lead is safe, whether they’re in front or trailing. They also have the most at stake coming up.
The Raiders would drop from the No. 1 seed in the AFC all the way to No. 5 if they were to lose control of the AFC West, which could happen Thursday night if they fall in Kansas City. Derek Carr wouldn’t be my choice for MVP, but he could make a strong push with a big finish. Khalil Mack is campaigning weekly for a wide-open Defensive Player of the Year award. Three games remain against contenders, includinga finale in Denver, guaranteeing the Raiders will remain at center stage.
2) Dallas Cowboys: They would be ranked No. 1 if they had more to play for in December. Still, we believe it’s critical for Dallas to keep getting better, and the Cowboys will be tested against three straight playoff contenders: Giants, Bucs and Lions. The NFL should give Jerry Jones a humanitarian award for delivering this Cowboys team in this season.
3) Detroit Lions: They proved with Sunday’s win in the Superdome that their improving defense is playoff-worthy, and that Matthew Stafford doesn’t need to come from behind every week. Their multi-faceted offense has been a joy to watch all season, and they now can dream of a playoff bye, with a compelling trio of games (at Giants, at Cowboys and vs. Packers) to close things out. This franchise hasn’t hosted a playoff game since 1993 and held a celebration this season honoring the 25th anniversary of its last playoff win. In this year of the Cavs and Cubs, this should be a team America can get behind!
4) Kansas City: The Chiefs are so damn improbable and weird, and I can’t believe their dink-and-dunk offense is part of a team that’s so watchable. That’s the power of Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, the best collection of defensive playmakers around and a guaranteed wild finish each week. The 9-3 record mocks the importance of yardage rankings (Kansas City is No. 24 on offense and No. 28 on defense), because they don’t make mistakes on offense and they have waves of playmakers on defense. Andy Reid is a Coach of the Year candidate. The Chiefs are the team that inspires the question weekly: How did they do that?
5) Tennessee Titans: They’ve battled all the way back from a 1-3 start to .500 and a tie for first place in the AFC South. Now we get to see Marcus Mariota, DeMarco Murray and one of the NFL’s most unique offensive attacks tested in tasty matchups against two of the NFL’s most talented defenses the next two weeks: Denver and Kansas City.
6) New England Patriots: The Patriots’ defense will escape the regular season having only faced one above-average starting QB, but it will be fascinating to see Tom Brady’s MVP chances get tested in matchups against Baltimoreand Denver’s pass rush.
7) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jameis Winston’s playmaking and a revived pass rush are carrying the Bucs further than anyone imagined. Getting flexedinto “Sunday Night Football” in Week 15 is a pretty clear sign of a team’s arrival on the national stage.
8) Pittsburgh Steelers: Any team with Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, Ben Roethlisberger and meaningful games left to play can’t be ranked lower than this. More on them below.
9) Denver Broncos: The defending Super Bowl champions will have to earn a return trip to the tournament the hard way: Tennessee, New England, Kansas City and Oakland are next up. That’s three of the league’s best offenses, plus a Chiefs team that just broke Denver’s heart in Week 12.
10) Green Bay Packers: Admit it. The playoff push is more fun with Aaron Rodgers and the Packersbuilding some mojo.
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