NFL Power Rankings Summary (Week 13): Cowboys Climbing As Giants Fall

Here's a rundown of the many power rankings published today and their take on where the Cowboys rank this week.

Major Media Networks & Affiliates

Week 13 Rankings (previous rankings in parenthesis)

CBSSports (Kirwan): 11th (16th): "The big win over the Giants put them in the driver's seat for the NFC East title. They have a strong conference record, too. But only the Cowboys can turn this mess into a golden opportunity. The defense is the issue."

CBSSports.com (Prisco): 12th (12th): "That was a big-time win against the Giants. The defense stepped up and showed some improvement."

Foxsports: 12th (14th): "The Cowboys swept the season series with the Giants for the first time since 2007 and are 4-0 against NFC East opponents this season. "

ESPN: 12th (14th): "Tony Romo went 3-of-3 on third down on the Cowboys' game-winning drive Sunday. Romo had six first downs on 31 third-down attempts since Week 8 prior to the drive."

NFL.com: 13th (16th). "If Tony Romo hasn't answered at least some critics this season, he never will. He's led two game-winning drives in the Cowboys' last two wins. For the season, this so-called "turnover machine" has 23 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. He certainly isn't the top quarterback in football, but he's creeping toward the top five. "

Peter King: 15th (- -): "Cowboys come off the canvas to save their season in New Jersey, thanks to a late Tony Romo drive and big days from Dez Bryant and Jason Witten. Biggest stat on the Cowboys’ side: Dallas is 4-0 in the division. That’s a huge potential edge heading into the final five games."

Blogs & Other Media

ProFootballTalk: 10th (15th): "Believe it or not, the Cowboys could be on track to winning the division."

M-Live: 11th (12th): "After getting drilled by the Saints on national television, Dallas went on the road and bested a surging Giants squad to keep pace atop the NFC East."

Drafttek: 11th (14th). "Whew! These last minute Cowboy finishes are making an old-(er) man out of me . . . although the bye week helped from a health perspective, the defensive injuries have made no lead safe, so I guess we all need to get ready for double doses of blood pressure medication."

WEEI.com: 11th (14th): "The Cowboys control their own destiny in the back-and-forth division that is the NFC East. Jason Garrett‘s team boasts a 4-0 record against division opponents."

Newsday.com: 11th (15th). "Cowboys finally win in a big spot and outlast the Giants in the cold and wind at MetLife Stadium. Huge step forward. Now we’ll see if they can put a run together and get out of this win one-lose one cycle."

Shutdown Corner: 16th (17th): "Tony Romo is carrying this team. They wouldn't be in the playoff race without him, that's clear."

NFC East blogs

Blogging The Boys (Your favorite blog): 11th (15th). "POW POW POW!!!"

Bleeding Green Nation (Eagles): 12th (14th). "The Cowboys won a game they needed to win, but didn't really look too sharp in doing so."

Big Blue View (Giants): 15th (14th). "The Cowboys' second win against the Giants has kept them alive for the division title."

Statistics, Computer & Vegas rankings

BeatGraphs.com: 7th (8th). BeatGraphs provide rankings that cannot be defeated by a chain of A beat B beat C scenarios. In the end, when all ambiguity is removed, if A has beaten B, A will be ranked above B.

Massey-Peabody: 8th (7th). These guys generate their predictions by working up from play-by-play data to calculate a performance figure for rushing, passing, scoring and play success.

Sagarin NFL rankings: 8th (10th). These are rankings based on W/L record, points differential and schedule strength.

Covers.com: 8th (12th). "Looking for the single-best pointspread team in the NFL this year? Look no further, now 8-3 ATS after knocking off the Giants in Jersey last Sunday."

Teamrankings.com: 8th (12th). This site measures the relative strength of all teams using team performance, home/away status, margin of victory and other factors.

Pro Football Reference: 10th (11th). PFRs Simple Rating System (SRS) takes only two factors into account: strength of schedule and adjusted margin of victory.

Football Outsiders: 12th (11th). FO have the Cowboys with the 12th-ranked offense, the 25th-ranked defense and the 3rd-ranked special teams.

WhatIfSports.com: 13th (10th). 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.

Oddsshark: 15th (18th). Oddsshark use a multitude of stats to establish an offensive and defensive power ranking, which they then adjust for the strength of schedule.

ColdHardFootballFacts: 17th (16th). This indicator ranks teams based on their average ranking across a range of CHFF's Quality Stats.

The table below summarizes the power rankings for the four NFC East teams plus the Cowboys' next opponent.

	Wk 13	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 12	Week 13
Pro Football Talk	10	15	11	12	23	18	29	27	27
M-live	11	12	12	14	21	18	29	28	27
Drafttek	11	14	12	13	23	21	28	27	26
WEEI	11	14	12	13	22	20	29	27	27
Newsday	11	15	12	11	20	14	28	27	27
CBSSports.com	12	12	11	11	23	17	28	27	26
Foxsports	12	14	9	12	23	16	28	26	27
ESPN	12	14	11	12	23	22	29	27	26
NFL.com	13	16	14	13	23	20	28	27	25
Shutdown Corner	16	17	10	14	26	24	29	27	25
Avg.Opinion-based	11.9	14.3	11.4	12.5	22.7	19.0	28.5	27.0	26.3
Beatgraphs	7	8	10	11	19	16	17	17	20
Massey Peabody	8	7	14	14	18	19	27	22	31
Sagarin	8	10	13	13	22	21	29	25	26
Team Rankings	8	12	13	7	18	11	28	26	29
Covers.com	8	12	14	14	17	15	27	24	30
Pro Football Reference	10	11	13	13	25	24	27	26	29
Football Outsiders	12	11	10	10	26	27	29	29	31
Whatifsports	13	10	9	9	21	19	26	26	25
Oddsshark	15	18	16	14	27	27	29	26	28
Cold Hard Football Facts	17	16	9	12	28	28	24	26	27
Avg. Stat-based	10.6	11.5	12.1	11.9	22.1	20.7	26.3	24.6	27.6
Total	11.2	12.9	11.7	12.2	22.4	19.8	27.4	25.8	26.9

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