NFL Rankings - 10 Dec

Seattle held on to the top spot this week even though they lost, since the loss was by 2 points to the #4 team on the road. The Seahawks still own the league's best record and lead the league in average margin of victory, in addition to playing in the best division in the league. Here are my full rankings, along with each team's predicted final record and playoff seeding:

Rank	LW	Team	Rec	Rating	Pred	Ch	Seed
1	1	Seattle	11-2	-13.3177	13-3	-1	N1
2	3	Denver	11-2	-12.1829	14-2	+1	A1
3	2	Carolina	9-4	-10.476	11-5	-1	N5
4	4	San Francisco	9-4	-9.49723	11-5		N6
5	5	New Orleans	10-3	-9.36702	12-4	+1	N2
6	6	Kansas City	10-3	-7.65271	12-4		A5
7	8	Arizona	8-5	-5.62151	9-7
8	9	Cincinnati	9-4	-5.31628	11-5		A3
9	7	New England	10-3	-4.30944	12-4		A2
10	11	Indianapolis	8-5	-1.76649	10-6		A4
11	14	Philadelphia	8-5	-1.51214	10-6	+1	N3
12	16	San Diego	6-7	-1.39444	7-9
13	10	Saint Louis	5-8	-1.35487	6-10	-1
14	15	Miami	7-6	-1.33412	9-7	+1	A6
15	12	Dallas	7-6	-0.89869	9-7
16	13	Detroit	7-6	-0.66054	9-7		N4
17	19	Chicago	7-6	0.800452	9-7	+1
18	17	Tennessee	5-8	0.895037	7-9
19	21	Tampa Bay	4-9	0.914894	5-11	+1
20	18	Baltimore	7-6	1.143252	8-8
21	20	Green Bay	6-6-1	2.510075	7-8-1
22	23	Atlanta	3-10	3.082366	4-12
23	22	Pittsburgh	5-8	3.512964	6-10	-1
24	24	Buffalo	4-9	4.396152	5-11	-1
25	25	NY Giants	5-8	5.361596	6-10
26	29	Cleveland	4-9	5.754124	5-11
27	28	Minnesota	3-9-1	6.252585	4-11-1
28	27	Houston	2-11	6.795128	3-13
29	26	Oakland	4-9	6.959432	5-11
30	31	NY Jets	6-7	8.790792	7-9	+1
31	30	Washington	3-10	9.014576	4-12
32	32	Jacksonville	4-9	10.81847	5-11	+1

Denver moved back to #2 after coming back from a 21-10 deficit to blow out the Titans 51-28, outscoring the opposition 41-7 in the final 32 minutes. Peyton Manning was able to prove he can play well in cold weather, racking up 397 yards and 4 touchdowns with no picks and a playoff berth-clinching win. There's really no competition for top team in the AFC.

New Orleans bounced back from their embarrassing loss in Seattle last Monday with a big win over Carolina, which was big in many ways. The Panthers are their only competition in the division, meaning the winner will probably get a first-round bye while the loser has to play a road game on wild card weekend. A win next week will clinch a playoff spot for the Saints, since they hold the tiebreaker over Arizona, the best team on the outside of the playoff picture.

Philly's 5th straight win gave them the lead in the NFC East, and by beating the Lions they gave themselves a stronger chance at the #3 seed, since the Lions are in line for the NFC North title. Nick Foles did throw his first pick of the season in the blizzard, but a 20:1 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions is still completely amazing.

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

New York at Cleveland - Knicks by 1
Miami at Indiana - Pacers by 6
San Antonio at Toronto - Spurs by 6
Oklahoma City at Atlanta - Thunder by 4
Boston at Brooklyn - Celtics by 3
Minnesota at Detroit - Timberwolves by 1
Milwaukee at Chicago - Bulls by 13
Phoenix at LA Lakers - Suns by 1

College Basketball

(13) Kansas at (19) Florida - Gators by 1
Chowan at Campbell - Camels by 25
Hartford at Central Connecticut State - Blue Devils by 5
Monmouth at St. Francis (NY) - Terriers by 13
Fordham at Colgate - Raiders by 15
Evansville at Xavier - Musketeers by 17
Cincinnati Christian at IUPUI - Jaguars by 32
Albany at Brown - Bears by 12
Oakland at Indiana - Hoosiers by 14
Green Bay at Eastern Michigan - Eagles by 4
Hiwassee College at Chattanooga - Mocs by 33
Mars Hill at Furman - Paladins by 19
Central Penn at Towson - Tigers by 37
South Dakota at Kansas State - Wildcats by 12
IPFW at Bradley - Braves by 3
Savannah State at Northern Iowa - Panthers by 18
South Dakota State at Minnesota - Golden Gophers by 22
Dartmouth at Illinois - Fighting Illini by 13
Arkansas-Little Rock at Tulsa - Golden Hurricane by 13
Cal State Bakersfield at Nebraska-Omaha - Mavericks by 17
Boise State at (11) Kentucky - Wildcats by 9
(20) Gonzaga at West Virginia - Mountaineers by 4
Colorado College at Northern Colorado - Bears by 33
Idaho State at Utah - Utes by 22
NJIT at Seton Hall - Pirates by 12
Pacifica College at San Diego - Toreros by 37
Nevada at California - Golden Bears by 10

Pick of the Day

Minnesota

The Golden Gophers take on the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State in the battle of the small nonthreatening mammals tonight. Minnesota should have no trouble getting me win # 33.

Prediction Results

NFL: 0-1 (.000) 128-78 overall (.621)
Upsets: 0-1 (.000) 19-29 overall (.396)
NBA: 4-2 (.667) 196-112 overall (.636)
College Basketball: 11-0 (1.000) 1329-338 overall (.797)