NFL Power Rankings and Week 14 NFL Picks

     Our picks last week weren't that great, so we took a solid hour or so to rank every NFL team in an effort to recalibrate for the stretch run. Below the rankings will be our picks.

Rank	Team	Record	PT Diff.	Outlook
1	Seahawks	11-1, 1st in NFC West	+154	With their offensive line back at full power, Seattle is dominant again.
2	Broncos	10-2, 1st in AFC West	+147	Still being pushed by New England, which in the long term will be a positve.
3	Saints	9-3, 1st in NFC South	+82	Won't hold their blowout loss in Seattle against them.
4	Panthers	9-3, 2nd in NFC South	+128	Their defense is talented enough to duplicae the Seahawks game plan against New Orleans.
5	Patriots	9-3, 1st in AFC East	+61	Hard to believe their leaky run defense won't be their undoing in January.
6	49ers	8-4, 2nd in NFC West	+100	Looked like themselves with Crabtree back, but too far out to run down Seattle in the NFC West.
7	Bengals	8-4, 1st in AFC North	+76	If they win out and New England loses a game, Cincinatti will have a first round bye.
8	Chiefs	9-3, 2nd in AFC West	+84	As overvalued as Kansas City was when they were undefeated, they are underrated now.
9	Lions	7-5, 1st in NFC North	+39	Have taken full advantage of their division rivals' injury woes.
10	Cowboys	7-5, 1st in NFC East	+26	Sean Lee will be back, which will stabilize the defense (relatively speaking).
11	Eagles	7-5, 2nd in NFC East	+19	Nick Foles is the real deal, but their defense will eventually undermine them.
12	Cardinals	7-5, 3rd in NFC West	+28	Quietly were one of the best teams in the third semester of the regular season.
13	Colts	8-4, 1st in AFC South	+11	They'll win the AFC South by default, but they won't be favorites against K.C. in Round 1.
14	Ravens	6-6, 2nd in AFC North	+14	Miracously, the defending Super Bowl champs have rallied to take pole position for the 6th seed.
15	Dolphins	6-6, 2nd in AFC East	+4	Sunday's match against Pittsburgh is an elimination game.
16	Bears	6-6, 2nd in NFC North	-9	Josh McCown has done everything he can to keep the Bears afloat while Cutler has been out.
17	Steelers	5-7, 3rd in AFC North	-15	Big Ben needs to run the table for Pittsburgh to have a chance to make the postseason.
18	Rams	5-7, 4th in NFC West	+1	Tons of reason for optimism based on what the Rams will get in next year's draft.
19	Chargers	5-7, 3rd in AFC West	+2	Another team that needs to run the table, but they get Denver and Kansas City in December.
20	Packers	5-6-1, 3rd in NFC North	-11	We're one more loss away from Aaron Rodgers getting shut down for the year.
21	Titans	5-7, 2nd in AFC South	-3	Too much Ryan Fitzpatrick involved for Tennessee to net the 6th seed.
22	Bills	4-8, 4th in AFC East	-40	A bad loss in their "home" game in Toronto has Buffalo looking ahead to 2014.
23	Giants	5-7, 3rd in NFC East	-60	At least they've made a respectable effort after their disastorous start.
24	Buccaneers	3-9, 3rd in NFC South	-68	Advanced metrics did say that Tampa was the best 0-8 team in NFL history.
25	Raiders	4-8, 4th in AFC West	-63	Can't figure out why this team is trying, but good for them.
26	Falcons	3-9, 4th in NFC South	-79	For nothing else, at least Roddy White didn't look washed up last week.
27	Vikings	3-8-1, 4th in NFC North	-77	Is it too early to preorder a Matt Schaub 2014 Vikings jersey?
28	Jaguars	4-9, 3rd in AFC South	-171	The Jags actually outscored opponents by a touchdown over the last five games.
29	Browns	4-8, 4th in AFC North	-66	Josh Gordon is my favorite fantasy football player of all time.
30	Jets	5-7, 3rd in AFC East	-121	I don't see the Jets winning the rest of the season.
31	Redskins	3-9, 4th in NFC East	-93	St. Louis will have a lot of fun with the second overall pick next year.
32	Texans	2-11, 4th in AFC South	-100	This year is a disaster, put Houston will turn it around fast with the #1 overall pick.

Chiefs (-3.5) over REDSKINS

           Washington is a good team to play when you’re trying to get back on track.

Vikings (+7) over RAVENS

            A.P. keeps this close.

PATRIOTS (-12.5) over Browns

            Cleveland has entered full-on tank mode in an effort to secure a top-5 pick.

Raiders (+2.5) over JETS
            New York’s offense has the least talent of any unit in THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.

BENGALS (-6.5) over Colts

            Cincinnati virtually locks up at least a #3 seed (meaning no Kansas City in round 1) with a win.

EAGLES (-3) over Lions

            I think I’m 2-11 picking Eagles’ games this year.

Dolphins (+3.5) over STEELERS

            The extra half point is huge.

BUCCANEERS (-3) over Bills

            Tampa Bay wishes the regular season started in November.

PACKERS (-3.5) over Falcons

            Green Bay has to win eventually without Aaron Rodgers…right?

BRONCOS (-13) over Titans

            R.I.P. the 2013 Tennessee Titans, whose season died when Jake Locker hit I.R.

CARDINALS (-6) over Rams

            St. Louis is much scarier at home than on the road.

CHARGERS (-3.5) over Giants

            San Diego’s season is on life support.

49ERS (-2.5) over Seahawks

            This is the game that will get everyone excited about the 49ers.

Panthers (+3) over SAINTS

            Asking New Orleans to beat Carolina after getting beat on by Seattle six days earlier is a tall order.

Cowboys (-1) over BEARS

            Does Dallas have the discipline to take full advantage of Chicago’s shoddy run defense? We’ll find out.
 

Last Week = 5-10-1 (ouch!)

Season = 93-90-8
Thursday = 1-0