As Week 15 begins, we’ve hit the home stretch in the NFL. As we enter their 4th quarter of the season, 13 teams currently sit either 6-7 or 7-6. Every team has at least three losses and only three teams have fewer than four wins. In other words, parity is at an all-time high in the NFL.
The rankings saw some significant movement this week as the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals each moved up eight spots, while the Packers, who were looking to crack the top 10, dropped five spots with their ugly road loss against the Giants.
The Prime Time Pick’em had its worst week so far this season, going 1-3, moving the season record to 28-20. However, with 3 Saturday games this week, we have a chance to really improve on that overall record. To start the week, we get another less-than-tasty Thursday night matchup as a pair of teams under .500, using backup quarterbacks will hit the field. I guess I’ll take the Raiders over the Chargers, but I don’t feel good about it. On Saturday I’ll take the Bengals over the Vikings, the Colts over the Steelers and the Broncos over the Lions. On Sunday night we get a pair of division leaders as the Ravens travel to Jacksonville; give me the Ravens. And we end the week with the Seahawks hosting the Eagles on Monday night. Both teams desperately need a win to feel good about themselves and my gut says to take the home team, but I’m going to take the Eagles instead.
Here are the rankings as we head to Week 15. Teams’ previous ranking in ( ).
1. San Francisco 49ers (2): It’s starting to feel like not only is Brock Purdy not the MVP in football, he may not even be in the top 3 MVPs on his own team. And that’s not a slight at Brock, that’s simply stating how important Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams are to this team.
2. Dallas Cowboys (3): The Cowboys did it folks, they beat a team with a winning record, and they did it in impressive fashion. If Dallas and San Fran played this week, how much different would the results potentially be vs. when they matched up earlier this season?
3. Baltimore Ravens (4): They may be the highest ranked AFC team, but does this really feel like the most dangerous team in the conference?
4. Philadelphia Eagles (2): Back-to-back weeks where the Eagles appear to have been exposed. Will they be able to get things fixed by January?
5. Buffalo Bills (13): I’d pay a lot of money to know what was going on inside the heads of Bills fans everywhere before we learned that Kadarious Toney was offsides.
6. Miami Dolphins (5): Blowing a 14-point lead with 3 minutes left at home against a bad team is not exactly the type of football you want to be playing in December.
7. Cleveland Browns (12): If Joe Flacco somehow leads this team to a Super Bowl, he’s going into the Hall of Fame whether you like it or not (frankly I don’t like it).
8. Kansas City Chiefs (6): If I’m being honest, this is still the team to beat in the AFC in my eyes. I’m not betting against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid until they are dethroned.
9. Detroit Lions (7): This team has lost two of three and frankly are lucky they haven’t lost five in a row.
10. Jacksonville Jaguars (8): How the hell Trevor Lawrence was able to play this week after what we saw his ankle do last week is remarkable. Assuming no major setbacks, he should be relatively healthy by the start of the playoffs and I really like this team as a dark horse to make a deep run.
11. Houston Texans (9): They’re currently sitting in the #8 seed but they have three division games left (none against the Jags) and essentially control their own destiny.
12. Los Angeles Rams (10): Gut-wrenching loss for the Rams this week, but they have 3 very winnable games coming up (four, if SF doesn’t have anything to play for in the final week of the season) and are still very much alive for a wild card spot.
13. Denver Broncos (16): Denver is one of six teams tied for the final playoff spots in the AFC. The way they have played lately, I like their odds of getting in, as they still have games against the Patriots, Raiders and Chargers on the schedule.
14. Minnesota Vikings (15): Somehow, they still own the #6 seed, but if they continue to play the way they have the past two weeks, they’ll lose their four remaining games.
15. Cincinnati Bengals (23): Jake Browning looks like one of the best backup quarterbacks in football as he has led the Bengals offense to 34 points in each of his last two games.
16. Green Bay Packers (11): Turnovers, penalties and missed kicks have haunted this team all season. They’ve now lost five games by four or less points.
17. Indianapolis Colts (14): Despite the loss, the Colts remain clinging to the final AFC playoff spot. They have three of their final four games at home, and their lone remaining road game is against the Falcons.
18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (19): And just like that, the Bucs are back on top of the NFC South. They’ll face a tough test this week as they travel to Lambeau.
19. New Orleans Saints (22): Despite having the same record as Atlanta and Tampa Bay, the Saints sit in third in their own division. A win against the Giants this week would give them control of their own playoff destiny, as they still have one game left against each of the teams ahead of them.
20. Pittsburgh Steelers (17): Never in NFL history has a team over .500 lost back-to-back games against teams with records of 2-10 or worse. To make it worse, the Steelers lost both of these games in their home stadium.
21. Seattle Seahawks (18): Seattle has now lost four straight and if they have any hope of grabbing a wild card spot, it feels like beating Philly this week is an absolute must.
22. Atlanta Falcons (21): Tough loss at home for the Falcons as they fall out of the division lead in the NFC South. While the schedule is relatively soft the rest of the way, three of their final four are on the road.
23. New York Jets (24): Zach Wilson played one of the best games of his career and kept the Jets’ slim playoff hopes alive, for now.
24. Tennessee Titans (25): Tennessee gets their first road win of the season, but still are not a threat in the AFC South.
25. Chicago Bears (28): Don’t look now but the Bears, yes the Bears, are two games out of a playoff spot.
26. New York Giants (27): Tommy DeVito has led this team to three straight wins. There’s no way this guy is starts for the G-men next year, right?
27. Los Angeles Chargers (20): The Chargers have scored 23 total points in their last three games, and that was with a healthy Justin Herbert. Now that he appears to be out, their season is all but over.
28. Las Vegas Raiders (26): After two straight wins to start his coaching career, Antonio Pierce’s squad has now lost three straight and playoff hopes are on life support.
29. Arizona Cardinals (29): As of now the Cardinals have a top-3 pick in next year’s draft; playing Kyler Murray has cost them at least one spot, possibly more.
30. Washington Commanders (30): Not firing Ron Rivera during the bye certainly surprised me, as they’ve lost four straight. However, they may not win any of their final four games, so maybe their new ownership decided against setting an interim coach up for failure.
31. New England Patriots (31): Yes, they won on Thursday but no, they aren’t moving up in the rankings; this team stinks.
32. Carolina Panthers (32): I thought alternate spread of +19.5 was a good bet this week. And it would have been if their kicker didn’t miss a field goal. This team is abysmal.
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