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Jim Lang's Power Rankings: November 18, 2008

TW LW Team Our Take
1 1 If the Giants could demolish the vaunted Ravens’ run defence for 207 yards, imagine what they could do to a lesser team? The Giants don’t get to play many weak teams. They play in the NFL's toughest division and have a brutal schedule. Of course, none of that bothers Tom Coughlin and the Giants. They just go about their work and keep pounding on teams. I emailed Giants GM Jerry Reese about his team’s offensive line and their ability to open holes for the running game anywhere on the field. Here's what he told me: "Our offensive line is a hard working group who has shown very good balance this season, which gives us the ability to run left, right and between the tackles up the middle.” That's why the Giants trio of Earth, Wind and Fire has run for over 200 yards the last three games.
2 2 On the road in Jacksonville, down 14-3 at the half, and the Titans still had the jam to come back and win. The incredible comeback story that is Kerry Collins did it once again. Collins shook off an early interception to toss three touchdowns as the Titans improved to 10-0. Albert Haynesworth had an incredible game for: seven tackles, one sack and a forced fumble. The Titans will get another good test this week when they host Brett Favre and the Jets.
3 4 Best stat of the week had to come in the aftermath of the Steelers win over the Chargers at Heinz Field. In the history on the NFL (over 12,800 games played), no team had ever won a game by a score of 11-10. Of course, after the game, we all found out that refs blew the call and cost gamblers in Vegas millions of dollars. I loved the snow and wind blowing through Heinz Field. That’s Steelers weather and it seemed to inspire all-pro safety Troy Polamalu. My game ball goes to James Harrison. The rock-hard Steelers linebacker had four tackles, one sack, one interception and a forced fumble.
4 3 The Rodney Dangerfields of the NFL won again. And I am talking about the Dangerfield that made "Caddyshack" one of the great sports movies of all time! The Panthers are a bit of a mystery in the NFL. Coming up on December 8th, the Panthers will take on the Bucs in the Monday night game. This will be a great opportunity for the Panthers to strut their stuff on football's biggest stage in the regular season.
5 6 For the first time since 2004, the Jets are on a four-game winning streak. It's not like Brett Favre is putting up sick numbers or anything. It's the fact that the mere presence of Favre gives the Jets a certain swagger, a sense of confidence that has made a huge difference with the team. With Favre, you can sense that the Jets believe they can find a way to win any game. Winning in overtime, on the road in Foxboro, likely doesn't happen with Chad Pennington. With Favre, anything is possible for the Jets. How cool was Jericho Cotchery's "David Tyree" like catch?
6 6 Every time I see Jeff Garcia and the Bucs winning a game like they did against the Vikings, I am reminded of those classic "Dirty Harry" movies from the 1970s. Good old Clint would whip out his .44 Magnum and start blasting away. It wasn't pretty. But like Garcia with the Bucs, he gets results. I'm not saying that Garcia walks around with a .44 Magnum, but the dude does whatever it takes to win. Once again, linebacker Barrett Ruud led the way for the Bucs defence. The Bucs sacked Gus Frerotte five times and held Adrian Peterson to under 100 yards.
7 11 Tony Dungy is a quiet, God-fearing man who has earned the respect of friend and foe alike. However, even head coach Tony Dungy would have been a little upset at the way the Colts offence played in the first half of their win over the Texans. Whatever Dungy said, it worked. In the second half, the Colts scored 24 points and won their third straight. Peyton Manning has thrown for seven touchdowns and zero interceptions over the course of the Colts’ three-game winning streak. The way they're playing now, the Colts are one of the AFC's most dangerous teams.
8 9 Want an incredible stat? Kurt Warner has only played 103 games in his NFL career. In that time, Warner has had 46 300-yard games. Next on the NFL's all-time list is Warren Moon with 49. It took Moon 208 games to hit that mark. The Cards have their faults, but man, do they have a frightening passing game. With Anquan Bolden and Larry Fitzgerald to work with, Warner is liable to put up even more off the hook passing numbers the rest of the season.
9 5 Funny, Matt Cassell and the Patriots lose to the Jets in overtime and all the talk this weekend on all the preview shows was how much money Tom Brady's back-up is going to make in the off-season as a free agent quarterback. You can’t hang this loss on Cassell. Heck, Cassell was the Pats’ leading rusher. There’s no doubt, if Cassell keeps throwing for 400 yards and three touchdowns, he stands to become a very wealthy man.
10 NR It really makes little sense that the Broncos are winning. They can’t play defence. They are down to something like their fifth string running back. But what they do have is a great receiver in Brandon Marshall and a gutsy quarterback in Jay Cutler. Cutler battles Type 1 diabetes and as Rick Reilly outlined in a recent edition of ESPN the magazine; the Broncos quarterback is forced to test his blood levels on the sideline during games. With the Chargers finding new ways to lose, the Broncos look like a good bet to win the AFC West.
11 8 That was a tough, physical football game with the Cowboys Sunday night. Unfortunately for the Skins, they couldn’t handle the power and intensity of Marion Barber. There’s also the cold, hard fact that the Cowboys were a far more desperate team the than Redskins. A healthy Clinton Portis would have made a big difference. I pity poor Jason Campbell. The Redskins quarterback took a pounding against the Cowboys.
12 NR Not the prettiest win over the Raiders, but at the end of the day, the Dolphins are 6-4. Joey Porter is having an incredible season and goes into Week 12 with a whopping 13 and a half sacks. The Dolphins took a lot of heat when they drafted Ted Ginn Jr. Now their investment in Ginn is paying off and he is evolving into an invaluable playmaker for the Dolphins. Huge game this week in Miami when the Dolphins host the Patriots. Both teams are 6-4 and both teams are trying to keep pace with the Jets in the AFC East.