NFL Power Rankings Week 17 Chiefs back in top 10 Eagles fall

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NFL Power Rankings, Week 17: Chiefs back in top 10; Eagles fall Published: Dec 26, 2017 at 03:27 AM Elliot Harrison Merry Christmas, everybody ... Merry Week 17 ... Merry ... As you look at the wrapping paper, which was so meticulously folded a day ago, now resting in shambles next to the periwinkle mock turtleneck you got (or a brand new "Settlers of Catan" travel game), the holiday memories probably come flooding back of Tyco Racing Sets, Z Cavariccis and Enya CDs. Of course, there are football memories, too. The longest game ever played came on Christmas in 1971, when Don Shula's outlasted Hank Stram's . Kansas City's Ed Podolak had 350 total yards in that game. Don't ask me to tally up the fantasy points. In a football sense, my most vivid Christmas memory came Dec. 25, 1995, when Dallas played at Arizona on "Monday Night Football." That year, it looked like the and were headed for a fourth straight NFC Championship bout in San Francisco. The 'Boys did not want to have to play again at Candlestick, a place they had frankly beaten themselves in the year before with three early turnovers. As they boarded the plane for Phoenix, they found out that the pesky had just upset the Niners. Thus, a win in Arizona now meant home-field advantage. The city of Dallas would be electric that Christmas night, after watching the trounce the Cards, 37-13. Kevin Williams, of all people (remember him?), caught nine balls for 203 yards and two touchdowns! Weird. Cool: That was also the night they filmed Go back and watch it. You'll see Troy Aikman, Dave Krieg and the great Larry Centers running all over the place. It's time for so many fan bases whose teams are vying for playoff positioning. All we can offer here is a favorable ranking, if they were good this year. Take a gander below, send along your holiday football cheer ... is the place. Let the di sension commence! For more in-depth analysis on the updated league pecking order, tune in to NFL Network every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. ET for the "NFL Power Rankings" show. Want to add YOUR voice? Provide your thoughts at the bottom of this page or tweet , and your comments could be featured on air. The lineup below reflects changes from . 12-3 1 The lurched a step closer to defending their crown with Taking that step meant pulling away in the second half, even if New England ... for the second straight week ... which makes non- fans hate the even more, which in turn fuels New England fans' desire to rub their team's succe s in the haters' faces. Once again, the offense did just fine with a different RB rotation, including adding 153 yards and two touchdowns. No ? No problem. No ? No problem. Well, unle s you'd been leaning on Burkhead in fantasy and that was your championship week, with a speedpa s to Wet'n'Wild on the line. Then you couldn't have cared le s about 12-3 2 The offense wasn't there ... in fact, Lambeau was devoid of it. Thankfully for Minnesota -- and appropriately, for the purposes of the No. 2 team's blurb -- the ' defense > the ' defense. For that matter, Minnesota's defense > the preponderance of the league. The interesting factoid to come out of the Vikes' win in Green Bay was that it was the first shutout Minnesota has pitched since Week 14, 1993 against the . Because I am such a nerd, I looked the game up. linebacker Jack Del Rio -- yes, Jack Del Rio -- picked off Rodney Peete twice and Andre Ware once. Trivia:Who was starting quarterback in '93?No cheating. Hint: He was there one year and took the Vikes to the playoffs. 12-3 3 The surprised on Christmas -- not by winning, but rather by playing down to a weaker opponent. Pittsburgh did what contenders are supposed to do against a depleted foe: . Consequently, was forced to run until the wheels fall off. The AFC's top running back received fewer than 20 touches for the first time since Week 1. He now has 406 on the year, easily the most in the NFL. With 's status up in the air, Pittsburgh needs its star back at full throttle. Healthy Bell >>> home-field advantage. 11-4 4 1 The earned even if it was a bit closer than most pundits anticipated. continued to stake his claim -- and, by extension, the claim of every overlooked running back over the years -- to the league MVP award. should have received serious consideration last year. Hopefully, Gurley, who racked up 276 (276!!!!!) yards from scrimmage Sunday, will do better with the voters this year. The effort of the day, though, must go to , who was all motor on to corral ... or upend ... or discombobulate . Heck, I don't know to call that final sack/tumble/Vlade flop. 11-4 5 1 The handled their busine s Sunday, at the homefront in defensive fashion. Put another way: Atlanta couldn't buy chunk yards on third down. New Orleans' new-look defense is starting to become old hat, adorned with an aggre sive fleur-de-lis. OK, well, maybe not. But Dennis Allen has turned in as solid a job as any coordinator in football. His unit held and the once powerful ' offense to 2-for-13 on third down in a game Allen's team to have. Allen deserves a Christmas bonus worth far more than membership in even if it is the gift that keeps on giving the whollllle year. 13-2 6 2 Home Killian Tillie Jersey -field secure, worry for sure. on the strength of an opportunistic defense. 's clutch quadricep helped, too. Not sure anyone -- and especially fans in Philadelphia -- knows what to think of at this stage. How much of his abysmal play was due to the conditions? How much was due to his receivers' inability to get open? A week after the procured four scores through the air, they couldn't muster 40 pa sing yards in the second half against the . Foles' errant to s to that darn near lost the game. Soo, ??? 11-4 7 1 Scary win for the , who almost sleepwalked their way into -- and letting an opportunity to win the NFC South slip away -- on their home field. Case in point: With the down four points, a furious pa s rush induced a holding call on Tampa Bay in the Bucs' end zone, which would have meant two points and po se sion to Carolina. But, , shoved a guy as the play was ending, so offsetting penalties meant the safety didn't count. Oy. Then converted on third-and-a-mile. Just when you thought it wasn't the ' day, Tampa kicker mi sed another long-range kick (like last week). and the other 10 guys on Carolina's offense put together a drive to win the game, That's football. 10-5 8 1 We waited for weeks with breathle s anticipation ... would happen? would it happen? would the saga continue following a "Rogue One"-like detour? Wait, no, I'm not talking about the new Star Wars movie. I'm talking about the Ody sey. We finally got the answer to the question of when he would reprise his role as the turns-it-over-at-the-worst-time guy. The sad part is, this came after Bortles back to about playing like trash. Nooooooooooooo! Don't get cocky -- that's the most sure-fire way to ensure you'll lay an egg on the field. Few pa ses the Jags quarterback fired were sure, at least, until it was More surprising: seeing Jacksonville's secondary get Jimmy G'd. 9-6 9 2 Gue s who's won three in a row after being written off? The , who climb back into the top 10 for the first time in two months after Kansas City took the AFC West title in the proce s, rendering rather meaningle s. Although, given the run Andy Reid's group is on, having taken down three playoff hopefuls in succe sive weeks, I'm not sure I'd want to sit my starters in preparation for the postseason. 9-6 10 2 Very quietly -- oh so quietly, in fact, so quietly that we should probably whisper it before we get let down -- The people of football have complained about Baltimore's quarterback for the last three years. Ever since he enjoyed another stellar postseason following the 2014 season, it seems as though just a cup of Joe was all anyone could tolerate, hoping the defense would win as many games for the as their QB. But here are Flacco's pa ser ratings over his last four games: 105.0, 88.9, 90.2 and 109.2. 9-6 11 2 fans particularly want to remember. For all the Steve Sarkisian criticism this season -- and the offense deliver another blah performance -- doesn't look close to the quarterback he was in 2016. Even on completions, shallow cro sers and out routes, he's throwing behind his intended targets or uncorking highballs. You simply can't place all the blame on the OC. Put the 2-for-13 mark on third downs on the offense. The 10 penalties didn't help, either, although there complaining about the officiating in this game. Shocking. 8-7 12 1 Football ain't pretty. Eight penalties, 14 points and 18 incompletions didn't add up to an outing Don Coryell would've put in his scrapbook. Then again, Coryell often couldn't get his defense to hold the other guys to 37 points, much le s seven. If the Bolts are to charge their way into the postseason, it will be on the strength of coordinator Gus Bradley's defense, which rebounded from in Kansas City to Save for a lone Charger breakdown on , and the rest of the offense were stonewalled. Spoke to safety this week, and he felt his unit could fare better than it did at Arrowhead. The made look so bad that folks were wondering why wasn't called upon. Enter the line you're thinking in your head here: ____. 9-6 13 4 The are like gum on the bottom of your shoe: They won't go away. That's partially because won't let them, and partially because Pete Carroll has instilled a culture of pride in his football team, one Mike Conley Jersey that can foster both locker-room battles and extreme resilience at the same time. however, the defense -- specially the secondary -- was the reason the were able to maintain playoff relevance. That group made Dak and Dez look pedestrian, and ended up walking into the tunnel having held the to three points in the second half -- , mind you. was so stre sed that he to tell Jason Garrett and to come holler at him. #Swag 8-7 14 4 First-and-goal from the 3: no Zeke. Second-and-goal from the 2: no Zeke. Third-and-goal ... you get the picture. Much blame is being directed Jason Garrett's way this week after It's headed toward Scott Linehan, who calls the plays, as well. Perhaps it's earned. was awful. was worse, although the ball he dropped that led to was thrown way too far behind him. And when you have a quarterback who sees the field and the defensive alignment and who audibles to the right play, a guy like can get the ball in a goal-to-go situation. Sure hope those millions of people who wanted to get rid of the old QB enjoyed the game. 5-10 15 4 can do no wrong right now. Win out and extend your undefeated record as an NFL starter into 2018? Sure, why not? Chuck touchdown pa ses sidearm? Di sect the top pa s defense in the league? Throw in a rushing touchdown for all the chicks? Sure, why not? Stare 10,000 bands and their songs into an iPod? Sure, why ... wait, that was a Chuck Norris joke. Have your agent ask for $25 million a year this offseason? Sure, why not? 8-7 16 2 Wonder if the will with the playoffs on the line, as the were going down, after division-mates in the and had destroyed Cincy the previous two weeks, was more Lions-y than stumbling into his own lineman. Holy cow, who saw that coming? Unfortunately, too many fans who've seen this team blow opportunities, even when provided with prime circumstances, could raise their hands in response to that question. Worse is that Detroit's season came down to two plays. What the ... never mind. The should be going 10-6 this year. Instead, they're going home next Monday. 8-7 18 2 Rage all around on the Sunday. A week after the worst rule (sports division) decided and, thus, po sibly home-field advantage in the AFC, it greatly hampered the ' and ' hopes of going to the playoffs. What irks so many on plays like the Benjamin play is that the blather we keep hearing about how only incontrovertible evidence matters in replays never seems to apply. Now the tiniest of minutiae that nobody cares about -- the equivalent of knowing that Captain Kirk is from Iowa -- carries enough weight to overturn an important touchdown. Did it beat Buffalo? No. Was it supremely relevant to the flow of the You bet. The 8-7 are going to win this week. So will the 8-7 Which means Peterman-gate -- a debacle that led to Buffalo -- will keep this group from the postseason. Sigh. 7-8 18 Few people around the country paid much mind to and for understandable reasons. Each team is headed to nowheresville as the year closes out. That said, Washington is wrapping the season up right. Jay Gruden said he had no plans to sit people, and the members of his 7-8 team seem to be legit focused on not seeing a losing record next to their names all offseason. For the second week in a row, DC Greg Manusky's pa s rush got after the quarterback, making life rough for . (Even rougher than his being in Cleveland for a cup of coffee.) and secured a pair of sacks apiece, and when they weren't getting home, the secondary was holding the fort. Next up: So 8-8 is uh, po sible, er, . 7-8 19 3 Say what you want about the . Maybe nobody cared about their with the , especially with the and and in full tilt. Well, was all this NFC matchup was. Arizona's defense dominated, not only pitching a shutout but pushing the 7-8 Cards toward a po sible .500 record. Considering Bruce Arians' squad lost , , and others this season, Arizona nobly stayed the course. No whining -- simply competing their a%*%s off. Next up: where Arians is 3-1. Fun game. 8-7 20 The showed up this past weekend (which was nice to see) after playing subpar football for weeks, but they couldn't close the deal against a top-tier team. Sometimes, even if it's not in an organization's DNA, a team must be able to move the ball quickly through the air. Generally, defenses will give away the short stuff in hopes of salting away the clock. That's e sentially the two-minute offense as we know it. Tenne see simply doesn't have the horses to sing in those situations, and unfortunately, the performance of the much-ballyhooed run game could be characterized as middling at best. Still, this resilient bunch had the ball with time to go down the field and earn the win. No can do, with an ugly to button up With Jacksonville struggling even more than the on Sunday, don't anticipate the Jags resting their starters for at Tenne see. Thus, this should feel like a playoff game. 6-9 21 Santa gave the a Christmas stocking full of bricks and JaMarcus Ru sell bobbleheads. It's not been their year. It's not been 's year. Mind-boggling, really. Oakland's promising quarterback was often discu sed as a dark-horse MVP candidate last season, a player whom Vader's team could ill afford to lose. That viewpoint morphed from opinion to axiom when Oakland was . This season? Carr's been off, his protection's been off and his receivers have been off the reservation. Both and recorded 1,000-yard campaigns last year. They've managed 1,166 yards this year. makes two straight lo ses snatched from the jaws of victory. 7-8 22 6 for the , if you watched. It was hard to get into the game this week, as the word was guys were already packing up for the season once the team was eliminated from playoff contention and the decision was made to sit . Unlike the , who gave the a contest Green Bay could generate nothing on offense. Not just in terms of points, either, as and Co. produced just 239 yards and two Dillon Brooks Jersey turnovers. The ACME Packing Company manufactured more output in 1921. 5-10 23 1 Cla sic football The field looked like the top of a cinnamon roll, while the defense dominated against an old NFL opponent. Even the score felt 1965-ish. That was the year Chicago introduced two new dynamic rookies to the football world: Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus, both of whom became Hall of Famers. Mitch Trubisky might have a long way to go. There are those who would like every rookie quarterback to be . But look no further than the team on the other sideline at Soldier Field wearing orange helmets and white jerseys with brown trim to see the struggle of a rookie starter. Trubisky is holding his own -- and he's doing far more than that when he takes off out of the pocket. Of all the winning performances on Sunday, might have been the most impre sive. Sure, few families surrounded by the Christmas tree and that eggnog Uncle Eddy drained cared about the facing Cincy (other than those who are fans of the franchises or belong to a few NFC fan bases hoping Detroit would falter). Putting that aside, these were flat embarra sed the previous two weeks. They weren't even mildly competitive in either game. To come out and play that well defensively against the , who were fighting for a playoff spot, deserves as much notice as all the criticism around Cincy of late. By the way, what's a catch? The barely ran the football in barely completed 50 percent of his pa ses. And Miami didn't come close to converting a third down. At least the made up for it by going oh-fer on fourth down, too. Gotta stay consistent. ran the rock just 13 times, with no other running back getting the call. Thus, the offense didn't stay on the field, and the defense was unable to stay off of it. According to the final tally, Miami po se sed the ball for all of 22 minutes. Ugly, ugly, ugly. So watch Adam Gase's team come out like the '84 , with Cutler pulling a Marino, doing his best Mark Duper and Buffalo's playoff hopes going south (Florida), 38-17. Oh, he was calling the game in Kansas City. Poor guy. The same storylines often bubble back to the surface with players. qualifies. A week after he played brilliantly all anyone on the highlight shows cared about following was from Winston. The other i sue is pocket awarene s, which we saw in that key stanza when Winston let the ball squirt out of his hands, followed seconds later by a Lambeau leap by a defensive lineman. The three fumbles Sunday were killers. Yet, the franchise quarterback also completed 21 of 27 pa ses for 367 yards and a touchdown -- with no picks. Them's some sterling numbers. The yards per attempt (13.6) jump off the page. Considering what little help Winston has received from his running backs this year (66 rushing yards Sunday), it's more than understandable why the young QB pre ses so much, perhaps accounting for a morsel of the lack of composure. The ' winning "streak" pulled up lame subject to pa s rush and takeaways by the ' defense. returned to regularly scheduled programming, barely eking past 5 yards per attempt (7.5 is a good number) while turning the football over twice. The complete lack of a pa sing game forced Denver's defense to keep forcing stops. The secondary couldn't keep plugging holes in the fourth quarter, coughing up 14 points late. Needle s to say, this group doesn't play catch-up well. Er, they just don't play catch well. As feisty as the are, they are not talented enough to survive three turnovers in the thick of the playoff hunt. New York is, however, good enough to compile enough wins to ensure which is frustrating to a certain sect of fans. As gauged by the defense's performance, Todd Bowles' outfit was ready to play. The simply didn't get any production from the quarterback. Which brings up another frustration: Is that he can't even get on the field? Listened to part of on the radio, and I heard Mike Mayock giving Indy much credit for coming to play for 60 minutes in Baltimore. Agreed. Mayock, a former special teamer under Bill Belichick on the 1982-83 , must've been impre sed with to give the a chance late. The point here is that those guys in blue and white are playing for Chuck Pagano, and they have been all year. Effort isn't the i sue. If coaching is, then certainly personnel -- or the providing of it, anyway -- should be lumped into that Christmas stocking. What an important offseason this will be for GM Chris Ballard. Of all my favorite memories of games over the years, Nor was that 5-yard run authored It bears repeating that this team was ranked in the top 10 -- now, the are far worse than the actual . Instead of being involved in the playoff race as anticipated, New York is in a dead heat with the for the right to be bridesmaids to the at the bottom of these here rankings. For all those who stuck around for the fourth quarter of -- all 200 of them -- they were treated to the ridiculous catch of 2017. was the lone bright spot in a game where the simply couldn't stay with their opponent. Which is also what makes Hopkins' season so special. No matter how subpar the QB play, Nuk produces: 96 catches for 1,378 yards and 13 touchdowns with one week to go. Unreal. from the catalogue. Once again, the struggled to get anything going on offense -- and when they did, they couldn't do anything with the field position. Much like in . Much like Cleveland's entire 2017 season. The conducted four drives that reached the ' side of the field -- one ended in a field goal and three ended in turnovers. Now is that Hue Jackson has lost this team. Forget a win -- fans deserve to get a competitive team from Santa. *Follow Elliot Harrison on Twitter . And be sure to tune in to the "NFL Power Rankings" show on NFL Network every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. ET. * This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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