NFL Power Rankings – Week 14

Who’s up, who’s down? Frank Schwab surveys the NFL landscape following the Week 13 games.

The Raiders acquitted themselves fine against the Chiefs. Derek Carr played well. Jared Cook had 100 yards. Everyone expected the Raiders to get blown out, and they lost by only a touchdown, 40-33. Hey, it’s all about small victories. (Tahir Whithead)

Rookie Dante Pettis’ 129-yard, two-touchdown day was a nice highlight. Pettis has played well with Pierre Garcon and Marquise Goodwin out of the lineup. He was a second-round pick, and it’s nice to see him paying off. (Dante Pettis)

First-year coach Steve Wilks needed that win on Sunday. Maybe he wasn’t going to get fired after one season, but it reportedly wasn’t totally off the table either. You’d assume a big win at Green Bay quiets any of that talk. (Stave Wilks)

Josh McCown was a nice story last season. But the Jets will be very happy when Sam Darnold can play again (it looks like it could be this week). (Josh McCown)

No Andy Dalton, no A.J. Green and a defense that has just cratered. Bengals tickets should be pretty cheap the rest of the season. (Marvin Lewis)

Did the defense really just quit on Blake Bortles? I mean, it’s either that or their first good effort in two months happened coincidentally right after Bortles was benched. (Marcell Dareus, Leon Jacobs)

It was a good for the Giants to beat the Bears. If nothing else, it helps build more confidence in what Pat Shurmur is doing. (Saquon Barkley)

Buffalo’s offense has been terrible most of the season, but that’s a talent issue. The Bills fight hard every game and they probably should have won at Miami on Sunday. (Josh Allen)

On Sunday the Lions’ leader in rushing yards was LeGarrette Blount, the leader in receiving yards was Levine Toilolo and the leader in receptions was Bruce Ellington. Matthew Stafford is struggling, but look at what he’s working with. (Matthew Stafford)

Baltimore has a good defense, but how does an offense like Atlanta post 131 yards at home? That’s incredibly poor. (Tevin Coleman)

On Nov. 18, Mark Sanchez was a free agent, out of football all year. Two weeks later, Sanchez became Washington’s starter when Colt McCoy broke his leg. It’s hard to see the Redskins winning another game. (Mark Sanchez)

Two starts for Jameis Winston on his latest chance: 49-of-68, 561 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 116.1 passer rating. This is going to be one interesting ride, as it pertains to his future. (Jameis Winston)

]There is going to be a lot of Mike McCarthy-Browns speculation. However, the main criticism of McCarthy in recent years has been that his offense is entirely stale, and that was with Aaron Rodgers. So would hiring him actually be the best move for the Browns? (Antonio Callaway)

Much was made out of the Packers saying Aaron Rodgers wouldn’t be involved in the search for Mike McCarthy’s successor. But why won’t he be? This is a fairly unusual situation. (Mike McCarthy)

The Dolphins are 6-6 and one of the strangest wild-card contenders you’ll find. They’re not very good, but they’re still alive. (Kiko Alonso)

Phillip Lindsay’s rookie season is why teams should always think twice about drafting a running back in the first round. Not that undrafted success stories like Lindsay are easy to find, but it can happen at that position. (Phillip Lindsay)

Get ready for a few weeks of discussion on Ron Rivera’s job security. The Panthers’ season has turned south (though there’s still time to save it), but the college football mentality of firing a coach anytime anything goes bad isn’t always the right path. (Ron Rivera)

The Colts were on a roll, then just had a bad day against a Jaguars team that finally decided to play hard for the first time in two months. The problem is the rest of the AFC wild-card contenders all took a step forward at the same time, and the Texans are now practically out of reach in the AFC South too. (Andrew Luck)

The Titans looked terrible in the first half against a bad Jets team, then rallied in the second half and won in the final couple minutes. That’s symbolic of how wildly unpredictable this team is. Yet, they’re still alive. (Marcus Mariota)

Even if the Eagles beat the Cowboys on Sunday, they still have the Rams and Texans after that. But if the Eagles win at Dallas, at least they’d have a chance to make something out of a disappointing season. (Nathan Gregory)

When the Vikings got blasted by the Bills in September, that was a sign of where this season was headed. They’re just a mediocre team, a season after they were really good. (Xavier Rhodes)

Another week, more reason to keep Lamar Jackson as the starter. Why not see where this goes? It’s working so far. (Lamar Jackson)

Bobby Wagner’s line on Sunday: 12 tackles, one sack, one interception, two passes defensed, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a touchdown. He’s pretty good. (Bobby Wagner)

There won’t be many better wins in the entire NFL regular season than the Cowboys beating the Saints last week. It might end up being the win that gets them a division title. (Dallas Cowboys)

For some reason the Steelers thought it was a good idea to defend Chargers star receiver Keenan Allen with a linebacker most of Sunday night. That’s a really strange coaching decision, to be polite as possible. (T.J. Watt)

Losses like Sunday happen. The Bears were on the road with a backup quarterback and lost in overtime. They were fortunate to force overtime, but it’s still not the worst loss. Also, nobody else in the NFC North is good enough to catch them. (Chase Daniel)

Lamar Miller is having a renaissance season. He has gone from 3.7 yards last season to 5.0 this year. Miller has 100 yards in four of the Texans’ last six games, and an 86-yard game too. (Lamar Miller)

How did Chargers cornerback Desmond King fall to the fifth round of the draft a year ago? He won the Jim Thorpe Award at Iowa and was a great playmaker there. He didn’t run well before the draft but he’s obviously fast enough to be a nice piece for a good Chargers defense. (Philip Rivers)

The Patriots have been a different team at home. They’re 6-0 at home and 3-3 on the road with three double-digit losses to questionable teams (Jaguars, Lions, Titans). Meanwhile they have four double-digit wins at home and close wins against the Texans and Chiefs, and they’re both first-place teams. (Trey Flowers)

If we’re simply talking about the loss of Kareem Hunt in a football sense, it’s not that big of a blow to the Chiefs. Hunt is a very good player, but Spencer Ware is capable. Depth is now an issue at tailback for the Chiefs. (Spencer Ware)

The Saints’ loss on a Thursday night at Dallas wasn’t anything to be ashamed of. But now, unless the Rams lose at Chicago this week, New Orleans is looking at the very real possibility of having to go on the road if they make the NFC championship game. (Drew Brees)

It stinks that defensive players practically can’t win the MVP, because Aaron Donald may deserve it. The best player in the league on the best team in the league should get more MVP consideration than he’s going to get. (Aaron Donald)