NFL Power Rankings Week 11: Teams in Tailspins
By Dean Holden
SLR’s Week 11 NFL Power Rankings: 16-9
Nov 10, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton (13) dives for a first down against St. Louis Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree (52) at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
16. St. Louis Rams (4-6) ▲8
Wait, what? Sam Bradford goes down for the season and suddenly this team starts playing statement games? File this under too little, too late, but that defense is showing it’s a force to be feared. Robert Quinn and Chris Long are downright dangerous together. Even Tavon Austin started proving his draft status. There are plenty of pieces in place for next season. It’s almost kind of too bad they’ll have to wait that long.
15. Green Bay Packers (5-4) ▼3
Remember when Peyton Manning missed an entire season, the Colts were terrible, and people started talking about giving Manning the MVP for proving his worth with his absence? That’s the Packers and Aaron Rodgers right now. A couple more games like that, and Rodgers won’t have a playoff hunt to come back to.
14. Cleveland Browns (4-5) ▲4
Jason Campbell has some time to get used to starting in the Browns’ offense, and the Bengals lost. That’s a pretty decent bye week. This team is going to frustrate a lot of teams in the second half.
13. Chicago Bears (5-4) ▼2
The Lions fan in me felt great about Detroit’s chances to shut down a Bears two-minute offense — until I saw Josh McCown take the field. I’ve been hinting at this, so I might as well put it down: the Bears offense has been running better with McCown under center than Cutler. Maybe that’s because of Cutler’s injury and maybe not, but this week’s game should be all the excuse head coach Marc Trestman needs to hold Cutler out. There is no hurry to get him back on the field, especially now that he’s injured again.
12. Arizona Cardinals (5-4) ▲4
The Cardinals are above .500, which conflicts with what you might think from watching them actually play. This isn’t what you’d call a team of consistency, but they play strong defense every week, and they may have found something special in Andre Ellington.
11. Cincinnati Bengals (6-4) ▼2
They’ll get credit for charging back into the game and forcing overtime in a game that looked lost, but they would never have been in that situation if they moved the ball at all in the first three quarters. That last-second Hail Mary covers up for the fact that the Bengals were in the midst of an awful two-minute offense to that point, in which Andy Dalton was sacked twice. To say they’re trending down is being kind, but at least the rest of the AFC North is struggling as well.
10. New York Jets (5-4) ▲3
Take an extra week to savor your win over the Saints. You’ve earned it. Also, maybe take this time to figure out some more ways to get Chris Ivory the ball, because he seems to be a solid offensive strategy.
9. Indianapolis Colts (6-3) ▼6
This blowout loss may seem like it’s out of nowhere, but remember they barely avoided an upset loss to the Texans just a week earlier. They still look like a lock for the playoffs (the Titans are the closest competitor, and they just lost to the Jaguars), but they have things to fix in all three phases. This is a team that can beat anyone, but is equally capable of having a total stinker.