Thread: 2012 NFL Power Rankings: Week 17

We came up a notch.

2012 NFL Power Rankings: Week 17


And the trend continues.
For the third straight week, there's a new team on top. With the San Francisco 49ers going down Sunday night, our voters (ESPN.com's John Clayton, ESPN.com's Ashley Fox, NFC East blogger Dan Graziano, AFC North blogger Jamison Hensley and NFC West blogger Mike Sando) have elevated the Denver Broncos, winners of a league-best 10 straight.


Can Denver, which almost fell out of the top 20 in early October, do something San Francisco, New England and Houston could not in recent weeks -- hold serve at No. 1? You have to like its chances.
The Broncos close out the regular season at home against the lowly Kansas City Chiefs (No. 32). A victory coupled with a Houston loss would give Denver the AFC's No. 1 seed for the upcoming playoffs.
So don't expect Peyton Manning & Co. to ease off the throttle in Week 17. There's too much on the line -- including the No. 1 spot in the final 2012 edition of these rankings next Tuesday.
One thing to remember: Denver's last close call came against Kansas City in Week 12 (a 17-9 victory). Still, all signs point to the Broncos bucking our December trend.

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2012 Power Rankings: Week 17
RANK	TEAM / RECORD	TRENDING	COMMENTS
1	Broncos 12-3	1 Last Week: 2	Ten consecutive wins and counting. Talk about hot entering the playoffs. (Fox)
2	Falcons 13-2	3 Last Week: 5	Matt Ryan completed all seven play-action attempts with three TDs against the Lions. (Sando)
3	49ers 10-4-1	2 Last Week: 1	Injuries to Justin Smith, Vernon Davis and Mario Manningham raise some concerns. (Sando)
4	Packers 11-4	2 Last Week: 6	The preseaon favorites could be peaking at the right time. Who'll want to play them in the postseason? (Graziano)
5	Patriots 11-4	1 Last Week: 4	The Patriots weren't the Patriots on Sunday, but they did enough to notch 11 wins for the third straight season. (Hensley)
6	Seahawks 10-5	1 Last Week: 7	The Seahawks are on a 100-13 scoring run at home and have put up 150 over the past three weeks. (Sando)
7	Texans 12-3	4 Last Week: 3	The Texans may win the No. 1 seed, but they've looked vulnerable in the past three weeks. (Clayton)
8	Colts 10-5	1 Last Week: 9	Bruce Arians may be the best interim coach ever. He handed a playoff team to Chuck Pagano. (Clayton)
9	Redskins 9-6	1 Last Week: 8	Six wins in a row since the bye, and one win away from their first division title since Bill Clinton was President. (Graziano)
10	Ravens 10-5	1 Last Week: 11	The Ravens will go as far as Joe Flacco takes them. Since he was drafted in 2008, Baltimore is 12-1 when he throws for more than 300 yards. (Hensley)
11	Bengals 9-6	2 Last Week: 13	Over the past seven games, the Bengals' defense has given up an average of 11.1 points and has held teams to one or no touchdowns six times (all wins). (Hensley)
12	Vikings 9-6	3 Last Week: 15	Didn't even need a huge Adrian Peterson day to win in Houston and keep their playoff hopes alive. Win next week and they're in. (Graziano)
13	Bears 9-6	1 Last Week: 14	They took care of business against Arizona, but they still need help. The Bears have to win and (gasp) root for the Packers against the Vikes. (Graziano)
14	Cowboys 8-7	4 Last Week: 10	The battered defense couldn't hold it together vs. Saints. Still, the Cowboys play a division title game for the second year in a row. (Graziano)
15	Giants 8-7	3 Last Week: 12	They can still get in as a wild card if they win and get help. But the bigger issue is that these Super Bowl champs appear out of gas. (Graziano)
16	Rams 7-7-1	1 Last Week: 17	A bounce-back effort from the Rams' defense gets the team back to .500 with one game to play. (Sando)
17	Saints 7-8	1 Last Week: 18	Did beating the Cowboys improve Sean Payton's chances of coaching in Dallas next season? (Sando)
18	Steelers 7-8	2 Last Week: 16	Pittsburgh is not in the playoffs because it can't win the close games. Five losses have been decided by three points. (Hensley)
19	Dolphins 7-8	-- Last Week: 19	Despite winning Sunday, the Dolphins were eliminated from the playoffs for the 10th time in 11 years. (Hensley)
20	Panthers 6-9	3 Last Week: 23	Rallying from 1-6 to 6-9 could be enough for Ron Rivera to keep his job as coach. (Sando)
21	Chargers 6-9	3 Last Week: 24	The good news for the Chargers, who are trying to close the season by winning three of their last four, is the Raiders are up next. (Fox)
22	Buccaneers 6-9	2 Last Week: 20	If anyone finds the real Josh Freeman, please return him to One Buccaneer Place, Tampa, FL 33607. (Sando)
23	Jets 6-9	2 Last Week: 21	A week after being eliminated from the playoffs, the Jets secured their first losing season of the Rex Ryan era, their first since 2007. (Hensley)
24	Browns 5-10	2 Last Week: 22	The Browns have followed up a feel-good three-game winning streak by losing by a combined 39 points the past two weeks. (Hensley)
25	Bills 5-10	-- Last Week: 25	Buffalo clinched its third consecutive season of double-digit losses under coach Chan Gailey and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. (Hensley)
26	Cardinals 5-10	1 Last Week: 27	How, again, did the Cardinals get to a point where Brian Hoyer is their best quarterback? (Sando)
27	Titans 5-10	1 Last Week: 26	The 55-7 loss to Green Bay has Bud Adams once again thinking about firing Mike Munchak. (Clayton)
28	Lions 4-11	-- Last Week: 28	They were 4-4. They are 4-11. Even if you expected a step back, this level of meltdown for last year's playoff team is striking. (Graziano)
29	Eagles 4-11	-- Last Week: 29	All that's left for Andy Reid is a chance to break the Giants' hearts one more time on his way out the door. (Graziano)
30	Raiders 4-11	-- Last Week: 30	The Raiders have won one of their past eight games. Not good. (Fox)
31	Jaguars 2-13	-- Last Week: 31	If you thought the Jags have had troubles at quarterback for two years, wait until they get Tim Tebow. (Clayton)
32	Chiefs 2-13	-- Last Week: 32	One more week and then Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt has some big decisions to make. (Fox