Written by Matt Clapp at Bloguin
1. New England Patriots (9-0; Last Week- No. 1)
A Stephen Gostkowski 54-yard field goal in the final seconds vs the Giants prevented the Patriots from their first loss of the season.
Here’s the Patriots’ remaining schedule: vs Bills (MNF), at Broncos (SNF), vs Eagles, at Texans, vs Titans, at Jets, at Dolphins.
Anybody can beat anybody in the NFL as we saw in Week 10 with the Lions beating the Packers in Green Bay, and the Texans beating the Bengals in Cincinnati. But the Patriots will be favored in all of their remaining games — and favored by a touchdown+ in most of them — and the game in Denver all of a sudden doesn’t look nearly as intimidating.
The injuries to wide receiver Julian Edelman and running back Dion Lewis could make things difficult, but it seems like every time the Patriots have such injuries, the replacements step in and do the job just fine. As long as they have Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Bill Belichick, they’re in pretty good shape.
2. Carolina Panthers (9-0; Last Week- No. 3)
The Panthers are averaging 28.3 points per game, the third-best scoring average in the NFL. They have scored at least 27 points in seven straight games.
Cam Newton has done an incredible job without great weapons on offense.
3. Arizona Cardinals (7-2; Last Week- No. 6)
A massive win by the Cardinals in Seattle on Sunday night. They made it clear they’re the team to beat in the NFC West, and proved they can handle extremely difficult road environments in primetime. That win will give them confidence for situations they may run into in January.
4. Cincinnati Bengals (8-1; Last Week- No. 2)
What the heck was that game? After everyone had finally started buying into the Bengals, they had the kind of letdown performance we’ve seen all too much of in recent years.
But it’s just one loss, and their only loss. And they need to get over it immediately with a Sunday night game at Arizona coming up next.
5. Minnesota Vikings (7-2; Last Week- No. 8)
Here is what we said about the Vikings in our Week 7 power rankings:
3-2, and their next four games are against teams that are all currently below .500. The Vikings still seem to be overlooked when people talk NFC playoff contenders, but they won’t be if they can take advantage of this favorable stretch of games.
Welp, they’ve done just that.
The Vikings’ ultimate ceiling may be limited, but they’re a high floor team at the same time, thanks to Adrian Peterson and a very good defense.
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