Crowe - NFL Week #13 Power Rankings

Crowe - NFL Week #13 Power Rankings

It’s hard to believe but we’re already two-thirds of the way through the 2021 NFL season.

So, what have three months of regular season play told us? Well, if nothing else, we now know that there's no one or even two teams that stand head and shoulders above the rest in either conference. In reality, it's former commissioner Pete Rozelle's dream – almost everyone in the league still has a shot at still making the playoffs.

Sure, last year's Super Bowl participants the Buccaneers and Chiefs are still making their cases as repeat conference champions, but they are in no way locked in to make it to Los Angeles in a rematch. The Ravens and the Cardinals sit atop the AFC and NFC respectively, both with flaws.

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Heck, even the Dolphins, who started the year at 1-7, still have a legitimate shot at postseason play now that they've won four in a row and have a soft schedule the rest of the way, including games with the Jets, Giants, and Saints.

What is definite though is that we have six weeks left of improbable results that should give us a tournament as competitive as anything we’ve seen in recent memory.

 

10. Buffalo Bills (7-4, Last week: ranked 10th)

Josh Allen celebrated Thanksgiving Night in New Orleans with four touchdowns over the defenseless Saints. Now, with 10 days to prep, the Bills welcome the Patriots to upstate New York on Monday night with first place in the AFC East on the line. In five games against the Pats, Allen’s thrown 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions while compiling just a 77.4 quarterback rating. Not exactly elite-type stuff for the fourth-year QB. The extra time will give head coach Sean McDermott some prep to cover for the loss of cornerback Tre’Davious White due to his torn ACL.

 

9. Cincinnati Bengals (7-4, Last week: ranked 10th)

The good news in Cincinnati is that the Bengals have awoken from their two-game slumber. After two surprise losses to the Jets and Browns, Cincy's roared back with routs over the Raiders and Steelers to climb back to just one game behind the Ravens in the AFC North. They can thank Joe Mixon, now the third leading rusher in the league at 924 yards to go with his 11 touchdowns.

 

8. Dallas Cowboys (8-4, Last week: ranked 7th)

After back-to-back Thursday games, the Cowboys returned to the win column, beating the Saints 27-17 to offset their Thanksgiving home overtime loss to the Raiders. Wide receivers Amari Cooper (COVID-19) and CeeDee Lamb (concussion) are back in the line-up but how quickly running back Ezekiel Elliott (knee) gets fully healthy will determine just how far this Dallas team can go in the upcoming NFC playoffs.

 

7. Tennessee Titans (8-4, Last week: ranked 5th)

There's no team in the league that could use the bye in week 13 more than the Titans. Tennessee's lost back-to-back games to the Texans and Patriots. They're without three huge offensive weapons in Derrick Henry (foot), Julio Jones (hamstring), and A.J. Brown (chest). Plus, to add insult to injury, they lost to the Pats by 23 while rushing for 270 yards. That’s hard to do, but surely explains Ryan Tannehill throwing for just 93 yards.

 

6. Baltimore Ravens (8-3, Last week: ranked 9th)

It continues to not look so pretty for the Ravens, but all they do is keep winning. Lamar Jackson threw four interceptions as the Ravens hung on to beat the Browns Sunday night, 16-10. In doing so, Jackson became the first quarterback since Andy Dalton in 2013 to throw four or more interceptions in a game and win. Jackson’s wing and a prayer touchdown to tight end Mark Andrews was a thing of beauty. Baltimore travels to Pittsburgh Sunday to take on a banged-up Steelers team as they cling to a one-game lead in the AFC North over the Bengals.

 

5. Kansas City Chiefs (7-4, Last week: ranked 4th)

Week 12 was a get-well week for the Chiefs. They got to rest, keeping its four-game winning streak intact. Plus, KC got to sit back and watch its closest rival, the Chargers, lose in Denver. If this keeps up, we’ll be talking about a three-peat AFC Championship in the making in Kansas City.

 

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-3, Last week: ranked 3rd)

Give the Bucs credit, they went into Indianapolis, held the league’s top runner Jonathan Taylor to only 83 yards, and rallied for a 38-31 victory. I guess Leonard Fournette was inspired by Taylor’s 5 TD performance against Buffalo in week 11, scoring four touchdowns of his own to power Tampa Bay to the win. The Bucs now have to deal with the adversity that’s come late this week with 3 player suspensions, including wide receiver Antonio Brown, for violating COVID-19 protocols including misrepresenting their vaccination status. The good news out of it is that Tampa Bay has been without Brown (ankle) since October 14th and has been just fine. Brown, along with safety Mark Edwards and free-agent wide receiver John Franklin are all eligible to return in week 16.

 

3. New England Patriots (8-4, Last week: ranked 6th)

It’s another week and another win for the hottest team in the league. The Patriots gave up 270 yards on the ground to Tennessee, but by turning the Titans over four times with the NFL’s top-rated scoring defense, they routed them 36-13 to take over the second seed in the AFC. This week, it’s a trip to Buffalo for a Monday night primetime matchup with the Bills with first place in the AFC East on the line. The winner will go for the sweep in Foxboro in week 16.

 

2. Green Bay Packers (9-3, Last week: ranked 2nd)

All the Packers wanted to do in week 12 was get a win and get to the bye in week 13 without further injuring quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his fractured pinky toe. They did both with a 36-28 victory over the stumbling Rams that wasn’t nearly as close as that final score. With the Packers 5-0 at home while just 4-3 on the road, that ever-looming home-field advantage as we get closer to January and that frozen tundra time at Lambeau Field.

 

1. Arizona Cardinals (9-2, Last week: ranked 1st)

Coming off the bye, the Cards should get a soft landing with a game at Chicago this week. It's also a good way to ease quarterback Kyler Murray (leg) and DeAndre Hopkins (hamstring) back into the lineup as both haven't played in a month.

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Games to watch in week 13:

Cowboys at Saints – Both teams are desperately in need of a win on Thursday night.
Chargers at Bengals – Good spot for both teams to show they are for real in the AFC.
Washington at Raiders – If either team is to make the playoffs, this is a game they must have.
Patriots at Bills – First place in the AFC East on the line on MNF.

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Last week:

10. TIE: Bengals/Bills
9. Ravens
8. Rams
7. Cowboys
6. Patriots
5. Titans
4. Chiefs
3. Buccaneers
2. Packers
1. Cardinals