Week 12 NFL Power Rankings + Climbing & Crashing

Jason Behnken / Associated Press

Week 12 is here! We saw an abundance of upsets last week, most notably the Broncos taking down the surging Dolphins 20-13, this shocker showed some holes in the Miami offense as they benched their franchise QB for Fitzmagic. Houston and Deshaun Watson basically ended any hope New England had left as Watson piled up 380 total yards and defeated the Patriots 27-20. The Rams continued to make heads whirl on Monday Night as they picked off the goat Tom Brady twice in their 27-24 victory. The NFC West still features three teams that could absolutely make a run in the playoffs and the NFC East still features 4 teams with only 3 wins on the year, Dallas and Washington have emerged as favorites in that shameful division. The Playoffs are still wide open, with the current format of 7 teams from each conference getting a bid, we’re continuing with our top 16 teams in the league below.

Climbing: This week’s edition of “Climbing” includes two teams and it would be wrong not to. The Rams have been on a tear the last two weeks, they took out the Seahawks last week and the Bucs this week in primetime. The Rams defense has gotten the job done all year, they give up the least amount of yards per game in the league, 19.7 PPG, and a league low 11 passing touchdowns allowed. Jared Goff and co. have been able to drive the ball all year as they’re 5th in yards per game just shy of 400 with 397.3 per. The Colts also make our list with a similar scenario to the Rams, they’re coming off of two big time wins against the Ravens and Packers. Indy also boasts a very tough defense, 2nd in yards allowed, 3rd most takeaways, and 3rd in rushing yards allowed. Philip Rivers out dueled Aaron Rodgers on sunday and led his team back from a 28-14 halftime deficit. These two teams defenses couldn’t be ignored anymore, the big time wins led the Rams and Colts to a big increase in this week's rankings.

Crashing: What’s going on with Tom Brady in primetime? Tom and his Bucs are 1-3 in primetime and their offense hasn’t looked elite in any of those games. The goat himself has had two brutal mishaps on potential game winning drives in these games as he forgot what down it was against the Bears and threw a game sealing pick last night against the Rams. Not to mention the absolute disaster that was the Saints vs Bucs, a game which ended 38-3. The pass defense for Tampa has been able to come up with big plays as they have 14 picks on the year but they have also given up 20 TD’s through the air and also give up the 4th highest completion percentage per game. Don’t get me wrong the Bucs are a playoff team that will strike fear into their opponents in the postseason, but what we’ve seen down the stretch in big time games so far has raised some major concern.

Power Rankings: +/- indicates teams movement from last week's ranking, followed by current record and week 11 score.

Top 16:

#1 Kansas City Chiefs -- (9-1) / 35-31 @ Raiders (W)

#2 Pittsburgh Steelers -- (10-0) / 27-3 @ Jaguars (W)

#3 New Orleans Saints +1 (8-2) / 24-9 vs. Falcons (W)

#4 Green Bay Packers -1 (7-3) / 31-34 @ Colts (L)

#5 Indianapolis Colts +5 (7-3) / 34-31 vs Packers (W)

#6 Los Angeles Rams +5 (7-3) / 27-24 @ Buccaneers (W)

#7 Buffalo Bills -1 (7-3) / Bye

#8 Tennessee Titans +4 (7-3) / 30-24 OT @ Ravens (W)

#9 Seattle Seahawks -- (7-3) / 28-21 vs Cardinals (W)

#10 Tampa Bay Buccaneers -5 (7-4) / 24-27 vs Rams (L)

#11 Arizona Cardinals -4 (6-4) / 21-28 @ Seahawks (L)

#12 Baltimore Ravens -4 (6-4) / 24-30 OT vs Colts (L)

#13 Las Vegas Raiders +1 (6-4) / 31-35 vs Chiefs (L)

#14 Cleveland Browns +1 (7-3) / 22-17 vs Eagles (W)

#15 Miami Dolphins -2 (6-4) / 13-20 @ Broncos (L)

#16 Carolina Panthers +3 (4-7) / 20-0 vs Lions (W)

On The Edge: Vikings (4-7), Patriots (4-6), Chargers (3-7)

* Cover Photo Via: Jason Behnken / Associated Press

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