NFL Power Rankings: Round One Playoff Edition

The Tennessee Titans still have the best record in the NFL, even with a loss to the Colts on Sunday.  That game was more or less a throw-away game for the Titans, who will enter the playoffs with the third-best odds at +600 to win the Superbowl according to Sportsbook.com.  As far as the season has gone up to this point, however, they’ve consistently been the best team in the league.

Over in the NFC, the New York Giants are the cream of the crop, making them the 2nd best team in our power rankings heading into the playoffs.  Last week the Giants lost in Minnesota to the Vikings, but, given the situation, this game meant nothing to the Giants and everything to the Vikings and Minnesota still needed a last-second field goal to walk away with a win.

The Panthers beat the Saints in a dramatic finish in New Orleans this week, giving them their 12th win of the season and the NFC South division title.  With their epic running game the Panthers will be a team to be feared throughout the post season.

All the Indianapolis Colts have done is win 9 games in a row to finish 12-4 on the season and earn a playoff spot in the AFC.  No team in the NFL is hotter than the Colts right now.  Joseph Addai even played last week for Indy.  If he’s healthy for the playoffs, this is a very scary team.  Their win over the Titans last week didn’t have any significance as far as the playoffs go, but it certainly maintained the Colts’ momentum heading into San Diego for the first round of the playoffs.

The Pittsburgh Steelers made quick work of the Cleveland Browns last week, but had a scary moment when Ben Roethlisberger had to be carted off on a stretcher.  The good news is that Big Ben will be healthy enough to play in two weeks, but it doesn’t address the problem that contributed to his injury, something that has plagued the Steelers all season:  poor play by the offensive line.  Pitt still has the best defense in football, though, and that will help them tremendously in the post season.

Baltimore continues to impress heading into the playoffs, but losses during the regular season to the Steelers (x2), Giants, Colts, and Titans bring into question the Ravens’ ability to compete with the top-tier teams that are in the playoffs.  Before they can even worry about those teams, they’ll need to get past a Miami Dolphins team this week that is every bit as hot as Baltimore.  The Ravens are favored by 3 points over the Dolphins.

The Atlanta Falcons avoided an embarrassing loss by narrowly defeating the St. Louis Rams in Week 17.  It’s not exactly how you’d want to head into the post season, but the Falcons did manage to win their 3rd straight.  They play this week at Arizona, which has to be the easiest first-round opponent available.

The Dolphins did it.  They beat the Jets and earned a playoff spot just one year after going 1-15.  You have to hand it to Miami, they went out and made all of the right moves in the offseason.  Now they are reaping the benefits.  Their impressive run takes them back home to face the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs this week.  Miami is a 3 point underdog against the Ravens.

Everything just fell into place for the Philadelphia Eagles last week.  Two weeks ago, in a must-win situation, the Eagles tanked against the Redskins and all playoff hopes looked to be lost.  Yet, Philly destroyed the Cowboys and had the perfect situation happen with the Bucs and Bears losing their season closers.  When the Eagles are hitting their marks, they are as good as any team in the league.

The Vikings needed a last-second field goal to get into the playoffs, but here they are.  If they can get some consistent play at the quarterback position, they could fair much better than most are expecting them to.

The San Diego Chargers are another team that needed some help over the last couple of weeks to get into the playoffs, but they really stepped up to the challenge last week and took care of business against the Broncos to win the division and earn this spot.  The Chargers play the Colts in San Diego in the first round of the playoffs this week.  San Diego is a 1 point underdog.

Arizona ended the regular season on a positive note with a win over the Seattle Seahawks.  Prior to that game the Cards had lost 4 of 5 and given up over 33 points per game in that span.  It’s hard to imagine their defense all of the sudden getting good for the playoffs, but if their offense is moving like it should, the Cardinals are no easy win for anyone.

Editor’s Note:  This week’s edition of the power rankings does NOT include teams that did not make the playoffs this year.  For example, the New England Patriots would probably have ranked ahead of the Falcons, but because they have been eliminated from the post season, they are not included on this list.  -Steve Janus

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