NFL Rankings - 5 Dec

There is only one month remaining in the regular season, and three teams have already clinched their divisions, and another has been guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. That leaves only 8 more spots for the remaining 28 teams to fight over, and very few teams have been mathematically eliminated. Here are my current rankings, with teams grouped by similar level of performance and ESPN's Power Rankings in parentheses.

TW. (LW) Team (Record) Result (ESPN)
1. (1) New England (9-3) W (3)

2. (2) San Francisco (8-3-1) L (4)

3. (5) Houston (11-1) W (1)
4. (4) Denver (9-3) W (5)

5. (6) NY Giants (7-5) L (10)
6. (7) Seattle (7-5) W (12)

7. (3) Chicago (8-4) L (8)

8. (9) Atlanta (11-1) W (2)

9. (12) Cincinnati (7-5) W (11)
10. (8) Baltimore (9-3) L (6)
11. (10) Green Bay (8-4) W (7)
12. (11) Tampa Bay (6-6) L (15)
13. (13) Washington (6-6) W (14)

14. (18) Pittsburgh (7-5) W (13)

15. (20) Saint Louis (5-6-1) W (19)
16. (14) New Orleans (5-7) L (18)
17. (15) Minnesota (6-6) L (17)
18. (23) Miami (5-7) L (20)
19. (19) San Diego (4-8) L (25)
20. (16) Dallas (6-6) W (16)
21. (17) Detroit (4-8) L (21)
22. (22) NY Jets (5-7) W (22)
23. (25) Arizona (4-8) L (27)
24. (26) Buffalo (5-7) W (23)

25. (24) Cleveland (4-8) W (24)
26. (21) Carolina (3-9) L (28)
27. (28) Indianapolis (8-4) W (9)

28. (27) Tennessee (4-8) L (26)

29. (30) Philadelphia (3-9) L (30)

30. (29) Jacksonville (2-10) L (32)

31. (31) Kansas City (2-10) W (31)

32. (32) Oakland (3-9) L (29)

Cincinnati has now won 4 straight games after losing 4 straight before that, but the last three wins have all come against the AFC West, and none of those wins came against Denver, the team that has run away with the division. The Bengals' only wins against possible playoff teams have been against the Giants and Redskins, and 4 of their five losses came against potential playoff foes. They play two more winnable games before facing the two top teams in their division again.

Saint Louis has the number of every team in its division, but unfortunately cannot seem to beat anybody else. The Rams are 4-0-1 against the other NFC West teams, but are only 1-6 against all other opponents. Even stranger is that they have not lost to Seattle or San Francisco, both of which have been top 10 teams for almost the entire season.

Miami followed up an upset victory over Seattle with a near win over New England, the best team in the league, and suddenly the Dolphins are feeling pretty good. The bad news is that they will almost definitely go 2-2 over the final 4 games, since they have home games against Buffalo and Jacksonville sandwiched between visits to the two best teams in my rankings.

I've been saying all year that Carolina is better than their record shows, due to the huge number of close games they've lost to good teams, but losing to Kansas City, even on the road and with an inspired opponent, is inexcusable. They are already guaranteed a losing record, and there's only one game left on their schedule that they should win, which is against Oakland just before Christmas.

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

Thursday

Denver at Oakland - Broncos by 17

Sunday

Saint Louis at Buffalo - Bills by 1
Dallas at Cincinnati - Bengals by 9
Kansas City at Cleveland - Browns by 11
Tennessee at Indianapolis - Colts by 5
Chicago at Minnesota - Bears by 3
San Diego at Pittsburgh - Steelers by 6
Philadelphia at Tampa Bay - Buccaneers by 16
Baltimore at Washington - Redskins by 3
Atlanta at Carolina - Falcons by 5
NY Jets at Jacksonville - Jets by 5
Miami at San Francisco - 49ers by 16
New Orleans at NY Giants - Giants by 11
Arizona at Seattle - Seahawks by 13
Detroit at Green Bay - Packers by 8

Monday

Houston at New England - Patriots by 12

NBA

New York at Charlotte - Knicks by 13
Portland at Indiana - Pacers by 7
Minnesota at Boston - Celtics by 3
Golden State at Detroit - Pistons by 4
Denver at Atlanta - Hawks by 4
Chicago at Cleveland - Bulls by 1
LA Lakers at New Orleans - Lakers by 1
Milwaukee at San Antonio - Spurs by 17
Orlando at Utah - Jazz by 6
Toronto at Sacramento - Kings by 1
Dallas at LA Clippers - Clippers by 15

College Basketball

(6) Florida at Florida State - Gators by 20
(10) Gonzaga at Washington State - Bulldogs by 16
USC at (18) New Mexico - Lobos by 19
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at (19) Michigan State - Spartans by 33
South Florida at (23) Oklahoma State - Cowboys by 20
UAB at Middle Tennessee - Blue Raiders by 25
Boise State at Utah - Broncos by 9

Prediction Results

NFL: 9-7 (.563) 120-71 overall (.628)
Upsets: 1-2 (.333) 17-16 overall (.515)
NBA: 3-3 (.500) 172-84 overall (.672)
College Basketball: 10-4 (.714) 215-50 overall (.811)
Upsets: 0-3 (.000) 15-20 overall (.429)