We forgot to say . . . Merry Christmas! Definitely not a good one for Oakland folks, because they lost to a potentially "ruined" team after the Eagles lost Carson Wentz. On Christmas, we remember the "good 'ole days," where Don Shula's Dolphins versed Hank Stram's Chiefs in the Christmas of 1971 and Edward Pololak ran for 350 yards. We don't feel like tallying that up in the fantasy points, but it's A LOT. For everyone who doesn't celebrate this awesome day, they won't feel AS bad because we're in our final week of regular season! Let's get the Week 16 power rankings over with!
1st Rank: New England Patriots (--)
2nd Rank: Minnesota Vikings (--)
3rd Rank: Pittsburgh Steelers (--)
4th Rank: Los Angeles Rams (+1)
5th Rank: New Orleans Saints (+1)
6th Rank: Philadelphia Eagles (-2)
7th Rank: Carolina Panthers (+1)
8th Rank: Jacksonville Jaguars (-1)
Let's talk about the top eight going into the final week. The Patriots, Vikings, and Steelers stand at first, second, and third, respectively, with both teams holding a 12-3 record. Pretty cool. The Rams move up after a nail bitter win against Tennessee. The Saints are at 5, after beating the Falcons so they do not sweep 'em AGAIN. The Eagles move down two because Nick Foles is just NOT ready to play in the playoffs. The Panthers rise after a close win and the Jaguars lose to a strong 49ers team. Wonder what Jimmy G is doing to that TEAM. Let's move on to the next eight.
9th Rank: Kansas City Chiefs (+2)
10th Rank: Baltimore Ravens (+2)
11th Rank: Atlanta Falcons (-2)
12th Rank: Los Angeles Chargers (+1)
13th Rank: Seattle Seahawks (+4)
14th Rank: Dallas Cowboys (-4)
15th Rank: San Francisco 49ers (+4)
16th Rank: Detroit Lions (-2)
These next eight are just all over the place, you might not be able to even track your OWN team. The Chiefs rise up to the top ten after a strong win against Miami, the Ravens take care of business against the Colts, the Falcons lose to the Saints, the Chargers, slowly ruining those playoff chances after a loss to the Jets, the Seahawks barrels through the Cowboys, and the next seed receiving the end of THAT, the 49ers just putting away games, this week, not any different, and finally, the Lions lose to a struggling Cincinnati team. Okay, now let's head down to the 17th through 24th ranks.
17th Rank: Buffalo Bills (-2)
18th Rank: Washington Redskins (--)
19th Rank: Arizona Cardinals (+3)
20th Rank: Tennessee Titans (--)
21st Rank: Oakland Raiders (--)
22nd Rank: Green Bay Packers (-6)
23rd Rank: Chicago Bears (+1)
24th Rank: Cincinnati Bengals (+3)
As you can see, there isn't much change occurring in these spots. Some of these teams are just packing it up for the season. The Bills get swept AGAIN by the Patriots, the Redskins stay as spot after they performed similarly, the Cardinals SHUT OUT the Giants, the Titans lose a close one to the Rams, the Raiders lose to the Eagles even without Carson Wentz, the Packers just giving up hope after getting shut out by the Vikings, the Bears beating the Browns in the snow, and finally, the Bengals, who surprising pull off a win against Detroit. Pretty good stuff by these teams, but playoffs are rolling in.
25th Rank: Miami Dolphins (-2)
26th Rank: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (--)
27th Rank: Denver Broncos (-2)
28th Rank: New York Jets (--)
29th Rank: Indianapolis Colts (--)
30th Rank: New York Giants (--)
31st Rank: Houston Texans (--)
32nd Rank: Cleveland Browns (--)
Finally, we have THESE teams. The bottom of the barrel. Somewhere no team wants to be, but we have eight every year. The Dolphins under perform in a loss to Kansas City, the Buccaneers stay as put, the Broncos lose in Washington, the Jets beat a lousy Chargers team -- wasn't the best experience -- the Colts lose to the Ravens, the Giants lost to the Cardinals, the Texans lost to the Steelers (even with that AMAZING one-hand catch by Deandre Hopkins) and lastly, the 0-15 Browns. Will they be the second team to lose all regular season games?
Whew. We're happy that's over with, because we know we're all HYPE for the final week of the regular season. Hopefully we get to see some of those higher teams putting their backups in order to rest their starters. However, we recommend that the Eagles keep their starters in order for Foles to gain some practice with the Eagles offense. Because at this point, with the way the Eagles offense is performing, we may have a major upset. But we'll just wait till those playoffs arrive.