That was an exciting week of football. Due in no small part to an exciting finisher in Carolina last night. But the 49ers' upset of the Jets, the Saints' upset of the Falcons, and the Eagles' upset of the Giants made week 14 possibly the best week of football yet. And here we go. 1 New York Giants 22.465 (1)Maintain their top spot despite the beating the Eagles handed to them. They've simply been dominating too many good teams in a row not to forgive one slip up. 2 Tennessee Titans 22.027 (2)Yes they were dominant against Cleveland. But they were dominant against Cleveland. The Titans now hold the easiest schedule of the season so far, and stay at number 2 despite being an impressive 12-1. A Baltimore win against Pittsburgh next week and the Titans will clinch home field with 2 games left to play. But if the Steelers can hold on, a Week 16 match up between Tennessee and Pittsburgh could easily decide the top spot in the AFC. 3 Pittsburgh Steelers 18.300 (4)While I was rooting for the Cowboys, NFC vs. AFC, there wasn't anything more exciting on Sunday than the Steelers' comeback. 4 Carolina Panthers 18.062 (5)I was able to catch the second half of last night's game and that was an outstanding effort by the 1-2 punch of Williams and Stewart. 2 TD's a piece and 7 YPC! Week 16 will be very interesting in the NFC when the The Panthers head to the meadowlands to face the Giants. Due to upsets in the divisional round you rarely get the top two teams in the AFC and NFC playing each other in the championship games. But Week 16 will at least give us those matchups. 5 Indianapolis Colts 16.250 (6)Another easy win for the Colts against Cincinnati. A week 15 match up against the hapless Lions awaits them. Yawn. Best hope for the rest of the AFC is they've been lulled by the weak competition by the time they hit the playoffs. 6 Baltimore Ravens 15.962 (9)Not many better DB's than Ed Reed. He single handidly won Sunday night's matchup against the Redskins in the first half. This team always shows up in prime time. 7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 15.712 (3)Couldn't outlast the Panthers on Monday night, but they remain one of the top teams in the league. Sure to nab at least the 4 seed in the NFC. 8 Philadelphia Eagles 14.088 (15)Biggest mover of the week, up 7 spots, with a fired up performance against the Giants. They did what few teams have done this year, make the Giants look beatable. New York hopes the Eagles game plan can't be copied by their remaining opponents. 9 New York Jets 13.342 (7)The football gods have given us plenty this year. 18-1. A brilliant Dolphin turnaround. And the last two weeks of Jets football. After Giants-Jets Super Bowl hype, the Jets drop two in a row against an average Bronco team, and a 4-8 49ers team. As a New Yorker, I love it. Of the Jets 5 losses, 3 have come on the west coast against sub .500 teams; San Diego, Oakland, and San Francisco. Week 16 brings another trip out west against Seattle. Can the Jets make it 0 fer 4? 10 Atlanta Falcons 13.119 (8)Not a good clutch performance against the Saints. This is when the games count most. Are the rookie head coach and QB up to the task? We'll find out against Tampa Bay this week. 11 New England Patriots 12.773 (11)Squeaked out a win agains Seattle, and yet even a Jet loss has them on the outside of the AFC East race looking in. The Jets or Dolphins finish 3-0, and the Patriots will be going home in January, no matter what they do. 12 Arizona Cardinals 12.631 (12) 13 Minnesota Vikings 12.273 (13) 14 Miami Dolphins 12.208 (17)The Dolphins move up just slightly. But they've swept their first division opponent since 2003 (Jets and Bills) and they are making believers out of Dolphin fans and the NFL. 3 more wins will get Sparano a coach of the year award. 15 Dallas Cowboys 11.977 (10)Biggest drop of the week. What else do they deserve for choking in Pittsburgh like that? They could rebound on Sunday night against the Giants. But with the Giants coming off a loss of their own, it may be over for Romo and the rest of Big D. 16 Denver Broncos 11.358 (16) 17 New Orleans Saints 11.281 (18) 18 Washington Redskins 10.027 (14) 19 Chicago Bears 9.838 (19) 20 Houston Texans 7.277 (21) 21 Green Bay Packers 6.350 (20) 22 San Diego Chargers 5.112 (24) 23 Buffalo Bills 4.173 (22) 24 San Francisco 49ers 4.085 (26) 25 Cleveland Browns 3.265 (23) 26 Jacksonville Jaguars 0.704 (27) 27 Oakland Raiders -0.119 (25) 28 Kansas City Chiefs -1.396 (28) 29 Cincinnati Bengals -1.673 (29)Their opponents so far are a combined 107-61 for the league's toughest schedule. 30 St. Louis Rams -2.385 (30) 31 Seattle Seahawks -2.788 (31) 32 Detroit Lions -7.173 (32)Culpepper is putting up a fight and giving this team a chance to win. Can they pull it off against the Colts, Saints, or Packers? Or will they be the first 0-16 team in league history?
His'n's Purely Mathematical Final Record and Playoff predictor Biggest change this week was Philly projecting out to a 10-5-1 over last week's prediction of 7-8-1 and leapfrogging a bunch of NFC teams including Atlanta to secure the 6th seed. The only other change being Carolina flipping positions with Tampa due to last night's win. AFC EAST *NYJ 11-5 NE 11-5 MIA 10-6 BUF 6-10 AFC NORTH *PIT 12-4 *BAL 11-5 CLE 5-11 CIN 1-14-1 AFC SOUTH *TEN 15-1 *IND 11-5 HOU 7-9 JAX 4-12 AFC WEST *DEN 10-6 SD 6-10 OAK 3-13 KC 3-13 NFC EAST *NYG 14-2 PHI 10-5-1 WAS 9-7 DAL 8-8 NFC NORTH *CHI 9-7 MIN 8-8 GB 7-9 DET 0-16 NFC SOUTH *CAR 12-4 *TB 12-4 ATL 10-6 NO 8-8 NFC WEST *ARI 10-6 SF 6-10 STL 3-13 SEA 2-14 AFC 1 TEN 2 PIT 3 NYJ 4 DEN Wild Card 5 IND 6 BAL NFC 1 NYG 2 CAR 3 ARI 4 CHI Wild Card 5 TB 6 PHI
