NFL Power Rankins - Week 12 - Final Edition

by One.Cool.Customer on Nov 24, 2009 1:16 PM CST

Here's the final edition of our weekly power ranking roundup heading into week 12.

1. Major Media Networks & Affiliates

Pete Prisco at CBSSports.com: 5th (+2)."They beat the Redskins, but they still looked off. They'll get it going Thursday against the Raiders."

SportingNews.com: 7th (+2). "Offense is inconsistent, but Wade Phillips is getting what he wants from his defense."

ESPN: 8th (+2). "Despite major problems on third down against the Redskins, the Cowboys did enough to win and keep their division lead. (Clayton)"

NationalFootballPost.com: 8th (+1). "An ugly win over the ‘Skins, but winning games in the NFC East doesn’t have to be pretty to count."

Michael Silver at Yahoo Sports: 8th (+-0). "How many Cowboys fans wish Jerry Jones had sought advice from Redskins safety LaRon Landry before trading for Roy Williams last year?"

[update] Don Banks' Power Rankings: 9th (+1)."The whole Dave Campo - Terence Newman sideline confrontation got as much juice wrung from it as possible, but it really wasn't much in my book. Newman's play has been an obvious disappointment this season, and somebody needed to say something about it at some point. Why not his own position coach in the second quarter of a lackluster performance against a division rival at home?"

Peter King in MMQB: 10th (-2). "Don't be alarmed. Really. But the Cowboys have scored on two of their last 23 possessions -- the garbage touchdown at Green Bay and the late game-winner over the Redskins Sunday. That's it. That's not doing a lot for your job security, Jason Garrett."

Fox Sports: 10th (+-0). "They may have sneaked out of their palace with a win, but don't be fooled — they were the second-best team on the field Sunday, at home against the 3-7 Redskins. Tony Romo should send Washington kicker Shaun Suisham some chocolates after two missed field goals helped Dallas escape and maintain the NFC East lead."

NFL.com's Brain Trust of Experts: 10th (-1). Jason La Canfora has the Boys ranked 16th. The ex Washington Post beat writer punishes us when his team couldn't.

2. Blogs & Other Media

ProFootballWeekly: 6th (+2). "Still looking for that offensive balance."

[update] ColdHardFootballFacts.com:7th (+-0): "Dallas needs to take care of business against Oakland Thursday, because they have a tough finish: games at the Giants, Saints and Redskins plus visits from the Chargers and Eagles."

Weii.com: 8th (+2). "The Cowboys need to figure out their offensive problems if they want to go deep into the playoffs. The offensive unit, particularly the passing game, has struggled greatly in the past two games."

[update] Fanhouse.com 8th (+1). "Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett should be awfully thankful that he's got more talent on his offense than Wade Phillips has sides on his Thanksgiving table. He's done a pretty poor job of putting them in position to succeed this season, but talent has won out just often enough for Dallas to feel good about themselves."

Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk.com: 9 (+1). "So does beating the Redskins by only one point really count as a "win" in the standings?"

Walter Football: 10th (+-0). "I found it hilarious that Terence Newman and Dave Campo were yelling at each on the sidelines during the Cowboys-Redskins game, only because I had no idea that Campo was on the coaching staff.

How did this happen? Wasn't he fired years ago? Why would you go back to an employer to take a lesser role? Do fired company vice presidents go back to the CEO and ask for a janitorial job? Campo obviously has no pride, but at least Jerry Jones didn't hire a Bingo announcer to shadow him around. " Farewell, Walter Football, we'll be just fine without you.

3. Statictics & Computer based rankings.

Great Blue North Draft Report: 5th (+2). This site calculates rankings by first round draft selection order based on own and opponent W/L record if the season were to end today.

tom slick publishes his Rankings on SBNation's The Falcoholic: 6th (-1). He weighs offensive and defensive points scored/allowed relative to all other teams to determine his rankings.

[update] AdvancedNFLstat: 8th (-3). Offense ranked No. 3 (+1), Defense ranked No. 21 (-4). This ranking model includes offensive and defensive passing and running efficiency, offensive turnover rates, defensive interception rates, and team penalty rates.

[update] Covers.com: 8th (+2). "Dallas has now put together back-to-back poor performances, scoring a total of 14 points in the process but went 1-1. Now comes the annual Thanksgiving Day romp."

[update] FootballOutsiders: 9th (-1). Offense ranked No. 5, Defense No. 18, Special Teams No. 8. These guys adjust their rankings for opponent strength.

Jeff Sagarin's NFL rankings: 10th (+1). These are rankings based on W/L record, points differential and schedule strength.

WhatIfSports: Cowboys 11th (-1). These guys simulate every possible matchup in the NFL 100 times, and use the winning percentages from those nearly 50,000 games to evaluate every team, with updated rosters and depth charts.

Here's how the NFC East and our next opponent fared:


	This Week	Last Week	This Week	Last Week	This Week	Last Week	This Week	Last Week	This Week
Great Blue North	5	7	11	15	9	11	27	26	25
CBSsports	5	7	9	11	11	12	27	27	28
tom slick	6	5	8	10	15	17	19	19	28
ProFootballWeekly	6	8	10	11	11	12	24	25	28
CHFF	- -	7	- -	14	- -	16	- -	25	- -
SportingNews	7	9	9	12	11	15	25	24	26
Advancednflstats	8	5	6	6	7	10	17	19	30
Yahoosports	8	8	10	12	14	16	24	24	27
NFP	8	9	9	10	12	16	24	24	26
Fanhouse.com	8	9	12	16	13	17	29	27	25
Weii.com	8	10	9	12	13	16	24	24	26
ESPN	8	10	10	12	11	16	24	24	28
Covers.com	8	10	12	16	9	15	25	26	28
FootballOutsiders	9	8	4	4	11	14	22	21	29
SBNation	9	9	10	10	11	15	24	26	28
SI.com	9	10	10	12	11	16	26	24	25
ProFootballTalk	9	10	12	13	11	15	26	25	21
NFL.com	10	9	9	12	12	15	24	25	27
Foxsports	10	10	13	14	15	18	26	26	28
Walter Football	10	10	14	14	15	18	25	26	28
Sagarin Ratings	10	11	11	19	9	18	28	27	28
Whatifsports	11	10	10	16	17	20	27	38	20
Average	8.1	8.7	10.0	12.5	11.9	15.3	24.6	24.6	26.6

For a summary of all NFL teams using some of the same rankings, go to NFLpowerranks.com

Another user-created commentary provided by a BTB reader.

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Comments

I don't get some of these rankings.

Yeah, the Cowboys looked bad against the Redskins, but they won. They’ve won 5 out of 6, actually. Fox has us behind 3 teams with worse records that also lost. The Steelers have lost 2 of their last 3, including to the Chiefs last week, who are just as bad as the Redskins. The Broncos have lost 4 in a row, and the Ravens are only a .500 team. NFL.com has the Eagles ahead of us, even though they have lost 2 of 3, including 1 to us.

There’s no way to defend having the Cowboys lower than 8th, except on these “metrics” based rankings, and those are actually strength rankings, not power rankings, because they measure how the team compares in specific aspects of the game.

by Baked Potato Soup on Nov 24, 2009 2:01 PM CST reply actions

I should have said "rationally justify," not defend.

Any ranking that has the Steelers, Eagles, or Broncos ahead of us is garbage, except the metrics based specific strength rankings. I don’t really give a crap about the rankings most of the time, but I think a lot of these rankings are using predictions rather than current performance. These are supposed to be current power rankings, not how you think the team will do in December rankings.

by Baked Potato Soup on Nov 24, 2009 2:04 PM CST up reply actions

Style points..we didn't get any last week.

If it had been most other teams though, the consensus in the media would have been how Romo led the charge and saved the day at the end. Instead we get wow did they look abysmal, barely beating a 3-7 team. What will they say if we keep winning, but just by 3-4 points?

by Benthere on Nov 24, 2009 2:27 PM CST up reply actions

Right, I understand that.

But the Ravens, Broncos, and Steelers all lost last week, have lost at least 2 of 3, and have worse records than the Cowboys. I understand style points, but the same Redskins beat the Broncos, the Steelers lost to the Chiefs (who we beat), and the Ravens have lost 5 of 7. The Eagles have lost 2 of 3, including head to head with us. The Steelers have lost 2 straight, and the Broncos have lost 4 Straight. The Cowboys have won 5 of 6, have a better record than all those teams, and are coming off of a win, unlike 3 of those 4. I think winning has way better style than losing, especially getting beat down like the Broncos or losing to a crappy team, like the Steelers.

by Baked Potato Soup on Nov 24, 2009 3:49 PM CST up reply actions

I'm with you all the way..It really can only be explained as bias.

The sites that use statistics or some kind of formula, while not totally accurate, are a better measure. These so called “experts” are nothing more than homers for whatever team they like. They might as well list them as “My favorite teams ranked in order of how much I like them..and also a little bit of how they’re playing, but not so much..”

by Benthere on Nov 24, 2009 5:03 PM CST up reply actions

LOL exactly right, but I've said it all along, the lower we are in the stupid

rankings the better, because a. give the team a chip on the shoulder and b. other teams tend to underestimate us

by dcfanz on Nov 24, 2009 5:55 PM CST up reply actions

these are meaningless!!!

guys get paid money to have opinions about football teams…theirs is no better than yours

these are their opinions, and it means NOTHING!

Of course you should be ahead of the Eagles, Steelers, and Broncos

"What did it feel like? That collision, I didn't feel nothing, because he was pretty much defenseless. It was like running through a cardboard box. Seriously. Cardboard box."- Sheldon Brown on his pounding of Reggie Bush in the '06 Playoffs

by jalarsen1 on Nov 24, 2009 6:29 PM CST up reply actions

Well, their opinions should be better, or at least explainable.

Because I don’t get paid for mine. I understand that they are entitled to their opinion as well as anyone, but by publishing their opinion, they open it up to analysis and criticism.

As you said, these guys are paid for their opinion, and therefore, they should be able to back their opinion with some kind of logic or explanation, even if it is simply, I don’t like that team because I am a fan of this team.

Power rankings are analysis just like any other article, from supposedly informed or knowledgeable sources.

by Baked Potato Soup on Nov 25, 2009 12:53 PM CST up reply actions

Campo

ouch, that’s pretty mean. but based on that, maybe we can keep Wade on as DC next year lol.

by scottmaui on Nov 24, 2009 2:09 PM CST reply actions

+ ∞

by sduncan24 on Nov 24, 2009 2:53 PM CST up reply actions

OCC

Could you please stop using Walter Football?

This is the only blight on an otherwise polished weekly repertoire. Keep bringing it strong.

Ich bin ein Berliner--JFK

by HudBaby on Nov 24, 2009 2:50 PM CST reply actions

I'm thinking about doing my own power poll.

Maybe OCC can use a Cowboys biased poll to counter balance that one. I’ll make sure to include snide remarks about all the other NFC East teams, too. Of course, I won’t have the same edge since I don’t have Championship Envy like Eagles fans.

by Baked Potato Soup on Nov 24, 2009 3:41 PM CST up reply actions