The Arizona Cardinals are still one of the most surprising teams of the season, but they've lost the top spot in the consensus power rankings after dropping their Week 12 game against the Seattle Seahawks. It wasn't a close game, with Seattle completing a comfortable victory, 19-3. Arizona is still 9-2 on the season, and clearly ahead in its division, but there's a new team atop the power rankings: the New England Patriots (9-2).
Week 13 NFL power rankings: Cardinals fall, Packers continue to rise
The New England Patriots ride a seven-game winning streak to the top of our power ranking, while the Arizona Cardinals tumble after a disappointing defeat.
New England has won its last seven games and has a firm hold on the AFC East. The Patriots' Week 12 win against the Detroit Lions was a dominant showing in which free agent signing LeGarrette Blount put up a pair of touchdowns and Tom Brady added two more of his own, culminating in a 34-9 win. The Patriots are just too good to not be ranked first, given that the Lions have seven wins and are a very good team in their own right.
Way down at the bottom of the brackets are the Oakland Raiders, who came into Week 12 without a win. Surprisingly, the Raiders picked up their first victory against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football, which improved their standing in all power rankings and helped move them past the Jacksonville Jaguars who now occupy the No. 32 position.
Here is a complete look at the rankings:
Team | Record | ESPN | NFL.com | Football Outsiders | Average | |
New England Patriots | 9-2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.25 |
8-3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2.25 | |
8-3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5.75 | |
8-3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2.75 | |
Arizona Cardinals | 9-2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 17 | 7.5 |
8-3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 6.5 | |
7-4 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 8.5 | |
Kansas City Chiefs | 7-4 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 8.75 |
Seattle Seahawks | 7-4 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 7.75 |
7-3-1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 11.25 | |
7-4 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 4 | 10 | |
7-4 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 12.75 | |
7-4 | 13 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 11.5 | |
Detroit Lions | 7-4 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 14 |
7-4 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 15.75 | |
6-5 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 5 | 13.25 | |
7-4 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 19 | 17 | |
6-5 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 9 | 15.75 | |
4-7 | 19 | 23 | 21 | 24 | 21.75 | |
5-6 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 21 | 20 | |
5-6 | 21 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 20.5 | |
4-7 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 23.25 | |
4-7 | 23 | 21 | 23 | 18 | 21.25 | |
4-7 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 22 | |
Washington | 3-8 | 25 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 26.75 |
3-7-1 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 29 | 26.5 | |
3-8 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 25.75 | |
2-9 | 28 | 30 | 31 | 28 | 29.25 | |
2-9 | 29 | 29 | 27 | 32 | 29.25 | |
2-9 | 30 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 29.5 | |
Oakland Raiders | 1-10 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 26 | 29.25 |
Jacksonville Jaguars | 1-10 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 31.75 |
The four polls we use:
We use four different rankings to compile our weekly average. Our power rankings sources are from our in-house rankings, ESPN and NFL.com. We also factor in the DVOA rankings from Football Outsiders to add an objective statistical measurement to the formula.
See More:
