NFL Power Rankings Summary (Week 16): Win Two And They're In

With just two games left to play, there really isn't much point to these power rankings anymore. Teams either make the postseason or they don't, where they rank on a power rankings list is largely irrelevant.

Of course, some would argue that this has been the case with all power rankings since Week 1 - but the world would drown in snark if the snark couldn't find its natural outlet via these power rankings. Keep that in mind as you browse through the power rankings below.

Major Media Networks & Affiliates

Week 16 Rankings (previous rankings in parenthesis)

ESPN: 18th (15th): "Romo was bad, but Bill Callahan was worse. Dallas ran on seven plays in the second half. With a big lead. And DeMarco Murray averaging 8.5 yards per first-half rush."

Foxsports: 18th (16th): "Dallas in December. Enough said."

NFL.com: 18th (16th). "Yes, we know Tony Romo audibled out of a run on his first interception. We also know that about 29 quarterbacks would have been sacked on that play, as the much-criticized Romo made Clay Matthews look absolutely silly. Secondly, if the Cowboys have the worst defense in the league, everyone wants Garrett fired and the play-calling is atrocious, then what or WHO has kept Dallas afloat at 7-7? Why aren't the Cowboys 3-11? Hmmm. "

CBSSports.com (Prisco): 18th (17th): "The defense has been putrid, but if they win the next two they are a playoff team. They sure don't look like it."

CBSSports (Kirwan): 19th (16th): "The Cowboys are like the Lions ... it's hard to have faith in them that they can close."

Blogs & Other Media

ProFootballTalk: 17th (13th): "Peyton Manning says whoever wrote the "Tony Romo is a great fourth-quarter quarterback" narrative can shove it where the sun don’t shine."

Newsday.com: 17th (14th). "The vicious cycle continues as Jerry Jones, Jason Garrett and Tony Romo are left to explain another second-half letdown and another trip back to .500."

Drafttek: 18th (14th). "If Dallas could win enough games, Dan Bailey would be the MVP; in the meantime, HC Jason Garrett must come under intense scrutiny for 2 issues: 1) Who's calling the plays? and 2) Why get away from an effective running game 2 weeks in a row?"

M-Live: 19th (17th): "Listening to some national talk radio following Dallas' collapse, it sounds like the fans want owner Jerry Jones to step down as general manager more than ever."

Shutdown Corner: 19th (17th): "They're such a flawed team. That's why they're so interesting. Week 17 against the Eagles with a division title on the line would be a treat."

WEEI.com: 20th (15th). "Pretty telling tweet from ESPN’s Ed Werder: "How bad is Cowboys D? The Cowboys are 1-2 this season when scoring at least 35 points. The rest of the NFL is a combined 51-2.""

NFC East blogs

Bleeding Green Nation (Eagles): 18th (14th). "Romo'd"

Big Blue View (Giants): 18th (15th). "You can't make up these Tony Romo interception tales better than this."

Blogging The Boys (The place to commiserate with fellow Cowboys fans): 18th (16th). "Throughout the season, the Cowboys have shown that they can overcome injuries, lack of depth, a questionable scheme, and lack of production by their star players often enough to at least stay in the hunt for a division title. But when you add inept coaching to the mix, it's just too much."

Statistics, Computer & Vegas rankings

BeatGraphs.com: 14th (11th). 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.

Pro Football Reference: 15th (15th). PFRs Simple Rating System (SRS) takes only two factors into account: strength of schedule and adjusted margin of victory.

Sagarin NFL rankings: 16th (12th). These are rankings based on W/L record, points differential and schedule strength.

Covers.com: 17th (12th). "The heat on head coach Jason Garrett, offensive coordinator Bill Callahan and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin will only get worse after blowing a 23 point halftime lead at home."

ColdHardFootballFacts: 19th (18th). This indicator ranks teams based on their average ranking across a range of CHFF's Quality Stats.

Oddsshark: 20th (22nd). Oddsshark use a multitude of stats to establish an offensive and defensive power ranking, which they then adjust for the strength of schedule.

Teamrankings.com: 21st (15th). This site measures the relative strength of all teams using team performance, home/away status, margin of victory and other factors.

Numberfire: 21st (18th). These rankings are based on expected point differential against a league average team. If the team's rating is 10, they would be expected to win by 10 points against a league-average opponent. This week, the Cowboys would be expected to lose by 1.4 points to such a league-average team.

The table below summarizes the power rankings for the four NFC East teams. As usual, we'll update the remaining rankings once they're available.

	Wk 16	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 15
Pro Football Talk	17	13	9	9	25	24	31	31
Newsday	17	14	13	9	25	21	31	31
Drafttek	18	14	12	9	25	23	31	31
ESPN	18	15	11	9	26	23	31	31
Foxsports	18	16	16	9	25	22	31	31
NFL.com	18	16	12	9	23	22	31	31
CBSSports.com	18	17	11	9	23	21	31	31
M-live	19	17	12	8	25	20	31	31
Shutdown Corner	19	17	9	9	27	26	31	31
WEEI	20	15	16	9	23	23	31	31
Avg.Opinion-based	18.2	15.4	12.1	8.8	24.7	22.4	31.0	31.0
Beatgraphs	14	11	7	6	20	14	31	31
Pro Football Reference	15	15	17	14	27	25	31	31
Sagarin	16	12	14	14	25	24	30	31
Covers.com	17	12	10	8	24	19	31	32
Cold Hard Football Facts	19	18	8	8	30	30	27	28
Oddsshark	20	22	8	11	18	20	29	30
Team Rankings	21	15	15	9	24	20	30	31
Numberfire	21	18	9	6	27	26	26	27
Massey Peabody	- -	8	- -	17	- -	18	- -	19
Football Outsiders	- -	15	- -	11	- -	27	- -	30
Avg. Stat-based	17.8	14.6	11	10.4	24.3	22.3	29.3	29
Total	18	15	11.6	9.6	24.5	22.3	30.2	29.9