Ahoy, it is I, not-Kenneth! TT here fiddling with the rankings since Kenneth is otherwise detained. Something to do with Santa. Pardon the late timing, the skeleton crew is doing the best it can. 
| Rank | Team | Notes | Last Week | EdgePower |
1 |
 |
(Lost to DAL) Even though New Orleans finally lost, it’s not enough to make them lose their top ranking. Even with the loss, New Orleans’ downstream schedule has proven to be more difficult than Indianapolis’, at least according to Beatpaths. New Orleans loses credit for their win over the NY Giants. |
1 |
87.50(96 – 0) / 128 #1 – #6 |
2 |
 |
(Beat CIN) Here’s something interesting – defeating Cincinnati puts San Diego in the same beatloop as one of their Oakland victories does. That says more about Oakland’s craziness than it does about Cincinnati’s quality. |
3 |
84.77(89 – 0) / 128 #1 – #6 |
3 |
 |
(Beat JAC) Since Indianapolis has already defeated Jacksonville once this season, they really only get one additional game added to their score, so it doesn’t help them that much. Meanwhile, San Diego leapfrogs them due to a victory that matters more to the network. |
2 |
84.38(88 – 0) / 128 #1 – #7 |
4 |
 |
(Beat SF) Philadelphia appears to be peaking at the right time, and doesn’t seem as plagued by inconsistency as they have in some prior seasons. Maybe they have finally put the elements together here. There’d be some real conceptual satisfaction to seeing Philadelphia battle San Diego down the line. |
4 |
79.69(78 – 2) / 128 #3 – #8 |
5 |
 |
(Beat BUF) The swap in orderings between New England and Dallas might look odd, but New England did get one additional game/edge out of the week, while Dallas’s win was taken out of the graph. The rest of the explanation has to do with shifts further downstream in the graph. |
6 |
77.73(73 – 2) / 128 #3 – #9 |
6 |
 |
(Beat NO) Dallas and New England were also technically tied the previous week, and the scores are still very close this week. A lot has been written about Dallas’ December curse but I think it’s baloney. It’s really just about lack of discipline, which are qualities that seem to be commonly ascribed to both Romo and coach Wade. |
5 |
77.34(71 – 1) / 128 #2 – #9 |
7 |
 |
(Beat NYJ) Boy that was an ugly win over the NY Jets and it’s hard to really give them credit for it. Atlanta had been eliminated from the playoffs after the Saints’ loss, too. |
7 |
72.27(67 – 10) / 128 #7 – #10 |
8 |
 |
(Lost to TEN) Tough loss for Miami. Beatpaths likes Miami slightly more than the playoff seedings do, but I believe Miami has to win out in order to make it in. |
8 |
68.75(62 – 14) / 128 #8 – #11 |
9 |
 |
(Lost to IND) Jacksonville with an expected loss – the only reason they rise in the rankings is because of Minnesota’s loss, below. |
10 |
63.28(51 – 17) / 128 #9 – #15 |
10 |
 |
(Lost to ATL) It would have also been difficult to give the NY Jets credit for the victory if they had won, too. But they hold on to their ranking because Atlanta was already ranked ahead of them. |
11 |
63.28(51 – 17) / 128 #9 – #15 |
11 |
 |
(Beat STL) For once, Houston holds relatively steady in the rankings! |
12 |
59.38(48 – 24) / 128 #11 – #16 |
12 |
 |
(Lost to CAR) Minnesota still has no beatlosses. I haven’t looked at past years but it seems like it should be rare that a team could be ranked this low this late in the season with no beatlosses. Who knows how the press will react towards Favre if they don’t win the Super Bowl, but according to beatpaths this team isn’t as great as they’ve seemed all season. |
9 |
58.98(23 – 0) / 128 #1 – #24 |
13 |
 |
(Beat DEN) Oakland finally asserts something of an identity so that not all of its victories are seen as fluke wins anymore. Still it’s very strange to see them with a beatwin to Cincinnati. |
24 |
56.25(44 – 28) / 128 #12 – #17 |
14 |
 |
(Lost to SD) An expected loss to San Diego, but a tough loss. Frustrating as a Denver fan, too! |
14 |
55.08(43 – 30) / 128 #13 – #18 |
15 |
 |
(Beat WAS) Even though Washington has looked tough here and there this season, it hasn’t translated to many wins, so the NY Giants get only a minor boost by defeating them. |
17 |
52.34(10 – 4) / 128 #4 – #25 |
16 |
 |
(Lost to OAK) Of course, the other frustrating thing about Denver this week was them losing to Oakland. Denver always seems to lose a game each season they really should have won, but they had already done that with Washington – it was basically at that time the beatpaths system threw up its hands and gave up on Denver. But this game is a continuation of a lousy pattern with Denver, losing the winnable game that could have led to big rewards. |
15 |
50.39(2 – 1) / 128 #2 – #30 |
17 |
 |
(Beat GB) Crazy game for Pittsburgh, but they don’t get much of a boost from it given that Green Bay is a mid-ranked team, too. |
18 |
47.66(25 – 31) / 128 #14 – #21 |
18 |
 |
(Beat MIN) When they are good, there are pretty pretty good, and when they are bad, they are horrible I guess. The Steve Smith interview with Andrea Kremer after the game is a hoot, too. |
20 |
46.88(10 – 18) / 128 #9 – #25 |
19 |
 |
(Beat MIA) I should probably go back to picking Tennessee until they lose again. |
19 |
45.31(23 – 35) / 128 #15 – #22 |
20 |
 |
(Lost to PIT) This is another disconnect between beatpaths and the media, I think. Green Bay continues to confuse me because they apparently have a great defense, a great quarterback, and lately their qb isn’t getting sacked so much anymore, but… they still aren’t that strong a team according to the graph. |
16 |
43.75(17 – 33) / 128 #15 – #25 |
21 |
 |
(Beat CHI) Baltimore beats Chicago as expected, which is apparently another indication of an elite team. In some parallel universe, maybe. Still, Baltimore’s “net points” jumps out at me. Strange team. They are best positioned for a wildcard slot in the AFC, ranked at #21. |
21 |
42.97(14 – 32) / 128 #14 – #26 |
22 |
 |
(Lost to NYG) Washington holds steady after the loss to the NY Giants. |
22 |
42.97(7 – 25) / 128 #11 – #26 |
23 |
 |
(Beat DET) This is the other big mover of the weak. TEN->ARI re-emerges, which pushes Arizona down dramatically. That beatpath segment in the middle of the graph looks weak to me, though, partially from all the early-season Tennessee losses. |
13 |
41.02(14 – 37) / 128 #16 – #26 |
24 |
 |
(Lost to PHI) San Francisco is eliminated after a season that started so well. I remember Singletary reassuring his team that they’d meet Minnesota in the playoffs again after they had that close loss to them… turned out Minnesota might not be as good as they seemed, and San Francisco definitely wasn’t, either. |
23 |
37.89(11 – 42) / 128 #18 – #26 |
25 |
 |
(Lost to NE) Buffalo loses to New England but rises a bit due to beatpath changes beneath them, chiefly from Tampa Bay’s win. |
30 |
37.50(8 – 40) / 128 #16 – #26 |
26 |
 |
(Lost to BAL) Chicago continues its slow downward slide. Given how some of the announcers are behaving it doesn’t seem so controversial when they act down on Cutler anymore. Hopefully Chicago can improve their line and calm Cutler down. Given Denver’s apparent drop in offensive line quality, it’s possible to argue that Cutler is making Chicago’s offensive line look a lot better than it really is, which is a scary thought. |
25 |
32.81(9 – 53) / 128 #21 – #27 |
27 |
 |
(Beat SEA) Tampa Bay rises out of the cellar by beating Seattle handily, what? |
32 |
28.12(6 – 62) / 128 #20 – #27 |
28 |
 |
(Lost to TB) Really, Seattle? Really? |
26 |
17.97(5 – 87) / 128 #27 – #28 |
29 |
 |
(Lost to ARI) Detroit loses to Arizona as expected, and Tampa Bay pushes them down a bit as well. |
27 |
12.50(2 – 98) / 128 #28 – #30 |
30 |
 |
(Lost to HOU) St. Louis drops due to the lower-graph shuffling as well. |
28 |
11.33(0 – 99) / 128 #28 – #32 |
31 |
 |
(Beat KC) Cleveland shows something for the future in their latest game, even though it doesn’t matter much. I wonder if they’ll ever take seriously the option of putting Josh Cribbs at quarterback. |
29 |
8.20(1 – 108) / 128 #30 – #31 |
32 |
 |
(Lost to CLE) Kansas City can only be ranked #31 or #32, and since they lost to #31… here they are. |
31 |
4.69(0 – 116) / 128 #31 – #32 |