NFL Power Rankings - Week 16 - Final Edition
by One.Cool.Customer on Dec 22, 2009 3:27 PM CST
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PrintHere's the final edition of our weekly power ranking roundup heading into week 16.
1. Major Media Networks & Affiliates
NationalFootballPost.com: 5th (+6). "Too big of a jump for the Cowboys? We don’t think so for a team that could go on a run with Romo at QB."
[update] Don Banks' Power Rankings: 7th (+4). "Shaun Suisham for Nick Folk sounds like replacing a problem with a dilemma, but in fairness to the ex-Redskins kicker, he was having a fairly solid season this year until missing that crucial 23-yarder against the Saints a few weeks back. Our favorite Folk hero, on the other hand, leads the NFL in missed field goals this season with 10, and he?s not likely to get a crack at increasing that total now that Dallas has dismissed him. Curious year all around for NFL kickers, whose accuracy has strangely dipped in 2009."
Peter King in MMQB: 5h (+5). "For one night, at least, the Cowboys were the best team in football. Now they have to win Sunday night at their nemesis, Washington, where they've lost three of the past four."
Two Cowboys make his Awards Of The Week Section:
- Defensive Player of the Week: DeMarcus Ware, OLB. "Sermonize if you wish about the intelligence of Ware playing six nights after being removed from the field on a body board, fully immobilized. But Ware was a force all night. At the end of the first half, he stopped a Saints' drive with a strip-sack of Drew Brees, leading to a Dallas field goal and a 17-3 halftime lead. Then, with the Superdome crowd exploding with 12 seconds to go at the Dallas 42, Brees went back on a last, desperate throw, and he never made it. Ware stripped him again, nose man Jay Ratliff recovered, and the Saints weren't unbeaten anymore. Ware saved his best game of the year for the most important game of the year."
- Coach of the Week: Jason Garrett, offensive coordinator. "I thought he had a brilliant gameplan, well-executed by Tony Romo and well-designed by himself. The Cowboys put up 439 yards and went 8-of-15 in third-down conversions in the deafening maw of the Superdome, where offensive players had trouble hearing adjustments by Romo at the line of scrimmage. On the vital fourth-quarter drive that ate the clock and should have resulted in a game-ensuring gimme field goal (that was missed) by headcase Nick Folk, Garrett had no problem with having Miles Austin, John Phillips and Sam Hurd be Romo's targets on consecutive plays with the season on the line. That's trusting your roster."
Pete Prisco at CBSSports.com: 5th (+4). "Can we put the December swoon talk to rest? Not if they lose this week at Washington we can't. But they get big props for beating the Saints."
Fox Sports: 8th (+3). "This is the Cowboys team people have been waiting for the past few years, and beating the undefeated Saints was the best win of the Wade Phillips era — partly because of the month showing on the calendar, but mostly because their playoff lives were hitting jeopardy mode. So now instead of three straight losses and being on the verge of missing the playoffs, Dallas controls its destiny and can capture the NFC East with wins in their final two games."
SportingNews.com: 8th (+3). "After a huge win over the Saints, they need to finish the job by making the playoffs."
Michael Silver at Yahoo Sports: 8th (+1). "How ridiculously resilient is DeMarcus Ware?"
NFL.com's Brain Trust of Experts: 9th (+4). Gil Brandt, of all people, has us lowest at 11th.
ESPN: 10th (+1). "The Week 15 victory over the Saints might have saved the Cowboys' season. "
2. Blogs & Other Media
Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk.com: 5th (+8). "If the Cowboys aren't careful, Jerry Jones might not be able to run off Wade Phillips."
Zac Wassink at Associated Content: 6th (+6). "Huge win for the Cowboys, yes, but Dallas doesn't belong in the top five of NFL power rankings this week."
The Big Lead.com: 6th (+4). "Now is not a great time to live in the state of Texas. “How ’bout them -.” Shut up."
ProFootballWeekly: 6th (+4). "Was there any doubt Ware was going to play?"
[update] Fanhouse.com: 7th (+6). "Is the December monkey really off their backs? Winning in the Superdome was a pretty good indication that this isn't the same team that folded up last year. That said, games against the Redskins and Eagles will offer every chance for the simian to hop back aboard. Doing what the Giants did in D.C. would be an awfully good way to shore up their playoff future."
Weii.com: 7th (+5). "DeMarcus Ware’s performance one week after being carted off the field is one for the ages. This is a huge, much-needed December win for the Cowboys that will have them playing with plenty of confidence going forward."
[update] ColdHardFootballFacts.com: 8th (+5). "The Cowboys’ subpar Scoreability (No. 23) is balanced nicely by their excellent Bendability (No. 3)."
3. Statictics & Computer based rankings.
AdvancedNFLstats: 5th (+3). Offense ranked No. 3 (nc), Defense ranked No. 13 (+4). This ranking model includes offensive and defensive passing and running efficiency, offensive turnover rates, defensive interception rates, and team penalty rates.
[update] WhatIFsports: 6th (+2). These guys simulate every possible match-up 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.
[update] FootballOutsiders: 7th (+2). Offense ranked No. 4 (nc), Defense No. 17 (+4), Special Teams No. 16 (nc). From their Quick Reads section: "Who leads the league in passing DYAR this December? You better believe it -- Romo's 498 narrowly holds the top spot over Philip Rivers' 478. If the original idea of Romo somehow being cursed in December wasn't absurd enough, he put that notion to bed on Saturday night. Next time: Romo takes a team-approved vacation without filling umpteen column inches in the process"
Great Blue North Draft Report: 7th (+3). 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.
Covers.com: 7th (+4). "Dallas limped into New Orleans with the December curse planted squarely on its back. So what do the Cowboys do? They defeat the Saints to keep pace in the playoff race."
Jeff Sagarin's NFL rankings: 8h (+6). These are rankings based on W/L record, points differential and schedule strength.
tom slick publishes his Rankings on SBNation's The Falcoholic: 9th (nc). He weighs offensive and defensive points scored/allowed relative to all other teams to determine his rankings.
Here's how the NFC East fared:
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
| This Week |
Last Week | This Week | Last Week | This Week |
Last Week | This Week |
Last Week | |
| Advancednflstats |
5 | 8 |
4 |
4 |
6 | 6 |
16 | 15 |
| CBSsports |
5 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
13 | 14 |
23 |
27 |
| NFP |
5 | 11 |
4 |
5 |
13 | 14 |
24 | 23 |
| ProFootballTalk |
5 | 13 |
3 | 5 |
13 | 14 |
25 | 22 |
| Whatifsports |
6 |
8 |
5 |
5 |
10 |
13 |
27 |
25 |
| ProFootballWeekly |
6 |
10 |
5 |
5 |
12 | 12 |
24 | 26 |
| The Big Lead | 6 |
10 |
5 | 5 |
13 | 14 | 23 | 22 |
| Assoc. Content |
6 |
12 | 4 |
5 | 10 |
16 |
28 |
24 |
| FootballOutsiders |
7 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
9 | 13 |
20 |
20 |
| Great Blue North |
7 | 10 |
5 |
5 |
11 | 13 |
27 | 27 |
| Covers.com | 7 |
11 |
4 |
6 |
11 |
14 |
25 |
26 |
| SI.com | 7 | 11 |
5 |
5 |
12 |
14 |
29 |
26 |
| Weii.com |
7 |
12 |
4 | 5 |
13 | 17 |
27 | 24 |
| Fanhouse.com |
7 |
13 |
4 |
6 |
13 |
17 |
28 |
25 |
| Yahoosports | 8 | 9 | 4 |
5 | 12 | 13 |
25 | 25 |
| SportingNews | 8 | 11 |
5 |
5 |
13 | 16 |
26 | 26 |
| Foxsports | 8 | 11 |
5 | 7 |
12 | 12 |
26 | 25 |
| CHFF | 8 |
13 |
5 |
6 |
12 |
16 |
26 |
24 |
| Sagarin Ratings |
8 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 16 |
24 | 26 |
| tom slick |
9 |
9 |
5 |
8 |
17 |
18 |
22 |
17 |
| NFL.com |
9 | 13 |
4 |
5 |
12 | 14 |
23 | 22 |
| ESPN | 10 | 11 |
5 | 5 |
12 | 14 |
27 | 26 |
| Average | 7.0 | 10.8 | 4.3 |
5.2 | 11.7 | 14.1 | 24.9 |
23.8 |
Another user-created commentary provided by a BTB reader.
22 comments
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12 recs |
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Comments
Looks about right
We are somewhere between the 5-10th best team in the NFL at this point.
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by accidental innuendo on Dec 22, 2009 4:20 PM CST reply actions
Rankings mean nothing!!!!!!!!
Its this simple … win 2 more games and then you are 0-0 just like the rest of them.
by spadesking131313 on Dec 22, 2009 4:33 PM CST reply actions
point well taken... and especially true at this time of year...
If there is anything to these rankings in December, it’s the “change in ranking” number. Cowboys have a whole bunch of “+5” type changes. At least this measure of momentum can be considered relevant.
I personally LOVE this post. It saves me time mucking about on sites I might otherwise avoid. And introduces me to other sites that offer new perspective.
Great stuff, O.Cool
:)
Doomsday returns... Wade Phillips style.
Great timing...
I was just in the process of looking them up but knew you’d have ’em up in no time. Thanks for your time and effort into these things. After 5 minutes, I had just a handful of rankings and was already wanting to give it up, lol.
Superbowl, or BUST.
Sometimes, I feel ashamed when I have to use a Mike Florio link.
Dude just bugs me.
Hey OCC, while you were putting this together, did you notice—on average—how much the Saints fell?
I saw a dog today. Have you seen a dog? You probably have. How was school? Was it fun? Did you get a lot of homework? Huh? Do you have any friends? Do you have a best friend? Does he have a big coat, too?
Not by much
On most sites they’re no.2 behind the Colts, occasionally no.3 behind the Chargers. El Foolio Florio has them no. 4 behind the Eagles.
by One.Cool.Customer on Dec 23, 2009 2:06 PM CST up reply actions
Have you considered
Using Weighted DVOA instead of Total DVOA? Weighted is a better metric in my opinion because it gives more value to recent games. In that case, we’re 5 instead of 7 IIRC.
Ha, the Giants beat the Skinz and go up 2 spots in the ESPN rating to number 12, and Dallas goes up 1
to number 10. How stingy ARE those guys with any praise for Dallas? If we’d beaten them by the score at then end of 3 quarters 24-3, would we have gone up to 9? How screwed up is that? BSPN, indeed.
scout.com
http://profootball.scout.com/2/931902.html
He said Romo isn’t playing at a high level.
He couldn’t be more wrong.
"No matter where you go, you are what you are playa"-Jay Z
Twitter Account
by Wmillion on Dec 24, 2009 6:49 PM CST via mobile reply actions
His information comes from a "respected source..."
Translation: ESPN forums, where the inmates truly do run the asylum
Doomsday returns... Wade Phillips style.
Could that 'expert' be anymore of a moron?
If I had a nickel for every Super Bowl the Eagles have won, I would have zero nickels.
by Cowboyfan729 on Dec 25, 2009 2:47 AM CST up reply actions
Just another example of what passes for sports Journalism these days
These national sports writers are lazy. They just parrot the conventional wisdom at the time. In this case the guys is not only lazy but a little late on his information. The national media is starting to see Romo’s numbers this December and they are starting to be a little impressed. This guy obviously did not get the memo.
Exactly
Lazy journalism is what it is.
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by accidental innuendo on Dec 26, 2009 8:55 AM CST up reply actions
Money Quote by Peter King:
Garrett had no problem with having Miles Austin, John Phillips and Sam Hurd be Romo’s targets on consecutive plays with the season on the line. That’s trusting your roster."
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