1/1

Giants

  12-4  

The defending champs head into the playoffs as the NFC’s top seed. Overall the Giants went (5-2) against teams headed to the playoffs including wins at Pittsburgh, at Philadelphia, at Arizona, home to Baltimore and Carolina, and losses at Minnesota and home to Philadelphia.

2/2

Titans

13-3

The Titans head into the playoffs as the AFC’s top seed. Overall the Titans went (4-1) against playoff bound teams including a win at Baltimore, home wins to Indianapolis, Minnesota and Pittsburgh, and a week 17 lay down loss at Indianapolis.

3/3

Colts

  12-4  

  The Colts will play at San Diego in the Wild Card round– a team that has had their number in some key games over the last several years… At any rate, I take you back to our week 10 power rankings when we projected the (5-4) Colts to lose at most one more game the rest of the regular season. They did us one better… They ran the table. Overall the Colts went (5-1) against teams headed to the playoffs including wins at Minnesota, at Pittsburgh, at San Diego, home to Baltimore, and home to Tennessee in a week 17 lay down. Their sole loss to a playoff bound team was in week 8 on Monday night at Tennessee.

4/4

Panthers

  12-4  

  Carolina earned the NFC’s 2nd first round bye thanks to a come-from-behind victory in the closing moments at New Orleans (a game the Panthers lead the majority of the way)… Overall the Panthers went (3-3) against teams headed to the playoffs including wins at San Diego, home to Arizona, a split with Atlanta, and losses at Minnesota and of course the week 16 overtime loss at Giants Stadium.

5/5

Steelers

  12-4

  The Steelers shut out the Browns in week 17, and unfortunately Roethlisberger suffered a concussion in this meaningless game… Overall Pittsburgh went (3-4) against teams headed to the playoffs including a close win over San Diego at home, two close wins over the Ravens, losses at Philadelphia, at Tennessee, and close losses at home to the Giants and Colts.

6/6

Ravens

  11-5

  Baltimore topped Jacksonville in week 17 and will head to Miami for a Wild Card game in a battle of teams peaking at the right time.

7/8

Falcons

11-5

  The Falcons nearly played their way into the NFC’s 2nd seed, but the Panthers squeaked out a victory at New Orleans– so the Falcons will head to Arizona for a Wild Card game.

8/12

Eagles

9-6-1

The Eagles both lucked their way into the playoffs (thanks to Tampa Bay’s implosion) and earned their way into the playoffs thanks to crushing the Cowboys. At any rate, the Eagles will head to Minnesota for a Wild Card matchup. The Eagles are a squad that was booed a lot this season. But they won plenty of games against teams headed to the playoffs going (4-2) overall including home wins over Pittsburgh, Arizona, and Atlanta, and a win at Giants Stadium, and losses at Baltimore and home to the Giants… Know any cities that would like to have a team and quarterback this good? You know what they say, “Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

9/9

Patriots

  11-5  

  It’s a sore spot for the league when an (11-5) team is left out of the playoffs, especially when other teams with records of (8-8) and (9-7) get in… I warned this could happen when the NFL expanded the number of divisions in each conference to 4, in exchange for reducing the number of Wild Card teams in each conference by 1. It’s simple math. Teams with excellent records are bound to get left out… And who would have ever thought New England would fall into this category after Brady went down in week 1? Matt Cassel evolved before our eyes, and the rest of the injury riddled Patriots went out winners of eleven games.

10/10

Vikings

10-6

  The Vikings won their way into the playoffs with a victory over the Giants who came to play more than some other teams in week 17. Minnesota will host Philadelphia in the Wild Card round. Overall the Vikings went (3-3) against teams headed to the playoffs including a win at Arizona, home to the Giants and Panthers, losses at Tennessee, home to Atlanta and home to Indianapolis.

11/13

Dolphins

  11-5

  They did it. Chad Pennington and crew really did it. Now they get the honor of hosting another team peaking at the right moment… Baltimore.

Cowboys

  9-7  

Dallas was simply embarrassed at Philadelphia in a battle for the NFC’s final Wild Card spot. I wonder if Drew Bledsoe tuned in for the game.

13/16

Saints

8-8

As we’ve pointed out a lot this season, the Saints lost far too many close contests, late in the game– exemplified by their week 17 home loss to Carolina in the closing moments.

14/19

Chargers

8-8

The Chargers exacted revenge on the Broncos and snuck into the playoffs where they will host the Colts in a Wild Card duel… Heck, you might even say they Chargers also exacted revenge on the Patriots for last season’s AFC championship game considering the Chargers are in the dance at (8-8) while the Patriots are out at (11-5).

15/18

Cardinals

9-7

  Warner and crew did their best to tune up for the playoffs topping Seattle at home. But was it enough to get back in shape to face the dynamic Falcons in the Wild Card round?

16/11

Redskins

  8-8

It’s hard to imagine Washington finishing (8-8) after starting (6-2), but that’s what a brutal schedule can do to you, especially when combined with some untimely, questionable in game decision making.

17/17

Jets

9-7

Pennington got the last laugh. Mangini gone. Favre to follow?

Buccaneers

9-7

  All the Buccaneers had to do to qualify for the postseason was to beat the (4-11) Raiders in Tampa. But Michael Bush ran for 177 yards and that was all she wrote.

19/20

Texans

8-8

  Houston finished at .500 thanks to a home win over the Bears that kept Chicago out of the playoffs… I think most would agree that prospects for 2009 appear quite bright.

20/15

Bears

9-7

The Bears couldn’t win their way into the playoffs at Houston.

21/25

49ers

7-9

Even fans of other teams are excited to see how the 49ers are going to do in 2009 under a full season of Mike Singletary’s leadership.

22/21

Bills

7-9

How did Buffalo finish (7-9) after starting (4-0)? I’ll put it to you this way… They’re not the first team to win several close games early in the season against weak teams, to then collapse against the tougher part of their schedule. I take you back to our week 5 rankings when we ranked the then (4-1) Bills 19th while other rankings had them top 5; we wrote, “Buffalo’s 4 wins have come against teams with an average power ranking of just 27.25.”

23/22

Broncos

  8-8  

  At San Diego with a playoff spot on the line, the Broncos’ defense did what it had done for much of this season… Not play very well… We live in a world with so much daily atrocity that we have to remember to keep football in perspective. But c’mon. Mike Shanahan getting fired? Are you #$%^&*! kidding me?

Jaguars

  5-11

  How to characterize the Jaguars 2008 collapse? I’ll just say, “windows of opportunities don’t stay open forever.”

25/24

Packers

6-10

  Green Bay certainly didn’t disappoint those who wanted to see the NFL’s first (0-16) team… Note for future readers of the power ratings archives generations from now– that would be Detroit. See final spot below.

26/26

Bengals

4-11-1

Congrats to the Bengals for ending the season on a three game winning streak.

27/29

Raiders

5-11

  Congratulations to the Raiders for finishing strong and playing a week 17 road game in Tampa like they were the team fighting for a playoff spot.

28/27

Seahawks

  4-12  

  What can I say? The Seahawks have seen much better seasons.

29/28

Browns

4-12

  Romeo, how do I rate thee performance? “Let me count the ways.” On second thought, the only positive that comes to mind is Cleveland had an excruciatingly difficult schedule.

Chiefs

2-14

  You would never know by looking at their record just how close Kansas City was to taking the AFC West this season!

31/31

Rams

2-14

  Credit the Rams for going into Atlanta playing to win, even though they didn’t.

32/32

Lions

0-16

  Marinelli fired by the (0-16) Lions? I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.