The Cowboys jump four spots on average in this week's NFL power rankings on the strength of their win over the Colts. The Giants and Eagles don't move at all despite winning their games and the Redskins drop three spots and now ranked below the Cowboys, despite having a (slightly) better record with 5-7.
Funny thing with these W/L records. There are currently only six teams in the NFL with a worse record than Dallas. Yet when you look at the record over the last four games, there are only four teams in the NFL with a better W/L record: The Patriots, Bears, Falcons and Saints have all won their last four games. Well, what can you say. Too little, too late.
After the break, we look at the where the NFC East teams are ranked by various power rankings. One ranking that is not included in our list is the one newly written and compiled by JasonB from Bleeding Green Nation. Check out the BGN Power Rankings here, and please remember to behave yourself when you visit.
[Note: 20 of 20 power rankings are now in.]
1. Major Media Networks & Affiliates
National Football Post: 15th (+8). "Too high for the Cowboys? Not with the way they are playing under Garrett."
USAToday.com: 17th (+3).
SportingNews.com: 18th (+3). "If only they had leaned more on the running game earlier and trusted their younger players."
NFL.com's Brain Trust of Experts: 18th (+6). Michael Lombardi, former NFL Executive for a number of teams and Pulitzer-Prize-worthy sportswriter, ranks the Cowboys 12th.
[updated] SI.com: 20th (+5). "As a kid, I grew up with an intense dislike of everything about the Cowboys, who were in their full-blown America's Team era in the '70s. But the funny thing is, I loved everything about Don Meredith, and I never held the Cowboys against him. He was the very best part of watching Monday Night Football, and I'd still take him as a color analyst (emphasis on the color) over any of today's talking heads. Come to think of it, I've never even heard of anyone not liking Don Meredith, and how many folks can you say that about? Rest in peace, Dandy Don."
CBSSports.com: 21st (+1). "They are playing much better under Jason Garrett and they can put a hurt on the Eagles playoff hopes Monday night. I say Garrett comes back as full-time coach now."
Fox Sports: 21st (+4). "Interim head coach Jason Garrett has really instilled some badly needed discipline with his players. And his 3-1 record since taking over for Wade Phillips is indicative of how the players have responded to him. But they'll have another serious challenge on their hands this week at home against the division rival Eagles."
ESPN: 24th (+2). "Have you noticed that the Cowboys are averaging 33 points since Jason Garrett took over?"
2. Blogs & Other Media
Fanhouse.com: 20th (+3). "Sweeping Philadelphia down the stretch will be difficult, but it's not out of the realm of possibilities that Dallas wins out to finish 8-8. Could Jason Garrett win Coach of the Year with half a season's worth of work?"
ProFootballWeekly: 20th (+5). "Losing Dez Bryant hurts as they were turning things around."
[updated] ColdHardFootballFacts.com: 21st (+5). "The Cowboys are winning under Jason Garrett, and that’s great, but how has a defense with talent at all three levels allowed 31.8 PPG over their last nine?"
ProFootballTalk.com: 22nd (+4). "Could Jon Kitna be a better quarterback than Tony Romo?"
SB Nation: 23rd (+2). "Did anyone see the Cowboys beating the Colts? (Cowboys nation raises their hand.) I sure didn't. Jason Garrett is proving he's the man for the job in 2011."
3. Statistics, Computer & Vegas rankings
AdvancedNFLstats: 17th (n.c.). Offense ranked No. 7 (n.c.), defense ranked No. 26 (+1). This ranking model includes offensive and defensive passing and running efficiency, offensive turnover rates, defensive interception rates, and team penalty rates.
Betus.com: 17th (+8). "Seriously, how come nobody is talking about Jason Garrett purposely screwing over Wade Phillips? Why is nobody even remotely suspicious? The weird thing is that even if he did ream Phillips out of a job on purpose, that just makes him more of a Jerry Jones type guy."
[updated] Weii.com: 22nd (+2). "The Cowboys are 3-1 since Jason Garrett took over as head coach. The Cowboys could be 4-0 if it wasn’t for a stupid fumble late in the game against the Saints. Garrett is making a strong case for Jerry Jones to take the "interim" out of his title. In the win over the Colts, the Cowboys intercepted Peyton Manning four times and scored 20 points off turnovers."
Jeff Sagarin's NFL rankings: 23rd (+1). These are rankings based on W/L record, points differential and schedule strength.
Covers.com: 24th (n.c.). "Dallas defeated the Colts in one of the most entertaining and action-packed games of the weekend. The Cowboys blew two different double-digit leads before prevailing in overtime."
WhatIFsports: 25th (-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.
FootballOutsiders.com: 26th (+2). Offense ranked No. 20 (n.c.), Defense No. 28 (+1), Special Teams No. 14 (-2).
Below is how the NFC East fared in this week's power rankings.
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| This Week | Draft Pick | Last Week | This Week | Last Week | This Week | Last Week | This Week | Last Week | |
| NFP.com |
15 |
18 |
23 |
7 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
24 |
19 |
| AdvancedNFLstats | 17 |
16 |
16 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
21 |
21 |
| Betus.com | 17 | 16 |
25 |
4 |
7 |
11 |
14 |
24 |
20 |
| USAToday |
17 |
16 |
20 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
13 | 24 |
21 |
| SportingNews |
18 |
15 |
21 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
25 |
24 |
| NFL.com |
18 |
15 |
25 |
6 |
10 |
10 |
11 | 24 |
19 |
| Fanhouse.com |
20 |
13 |
23 | 9 |
5 |
10 |
11 |
24 |
20 |
| ProFootballWeekly |
20 |
13 |
25 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
24 | 19 |
| SI.com |
20 |
13 |
25 |
9 |
9 |
11 |
14 |
24 |
19 |
| CBSsports |
21 |
12 |
22 |
6 |
8 |
11 |
10 |
18 |
19 |
| Foxsports |
21 |
12 |
25 | 7 |
8 |
11 |
11 |
25 |
20 |
| CHFF.com |
21 |
12 |
26 |
6 |
8 |
4 |
9 |
26 | 24 |
| Weii.com |
22 |
11 |
24 | 8 |
8 |
10 |
11 | 25 |
21 |
| ProFootballTalk |
22 |
11 |
26 |
10 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
24 | 23 |
| Sagarin Ratings |
23 |
9 |
24 |
7 |
7 |
10 |
13 |
22 |
19 |
| SB Nation |
23 |
10 |
26 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
10 | 25 |
22 |
| Covers.com |
24 |
9 |
24 |
8 |
7 |
10 |
11 |
23 |
21 |
| ESPN | 24 | 9 |
26 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
25 |
21 |
| Whatifsports |
25 |
8 |
23 | 3 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
22 |
13 |
| Football Outsiders |
26 |
7 | 28 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
29 | 26 |
| Average |
20.7 |
12.3 |
23.9 |
7.1 |
7.7 |
9.1 | 10.1 | 23.9 | 20.6 |