Clubber's Week 16 NFL Power Rankings - sportsnet.ca

Previous Power Rankings

TW	LW	Team	Our Take
1	3		LenDale White ran for his 15th touchdown of the season as the Titans beat the Steelers to clinch home field advantage throughout the AFC play-offs. That was a good thing. Pulling out a "terrible towel" and stomping on it was a bad thing. LenDale might live to regret taunting the Steelers. For now though, White and the Titans are savouring their huge win in one of the marquee games of Week 16. What impressed me the most was the way the Titans overcame the loss of Pro Bowl defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. In fact, the man that replaced Haynesworth, Jason Jones, had a monster game with three-and-a-half sacks. Jeff Fisher did a masterful job preparing and motivating his team.
2	2		There is no athlete better at making a funny commercial than Peyton Manning. To top it off, Manning is a reporter's dream to interview. For a guy who is so personable, it is amazing to see him transform into some kind of quarterbacking cyborg during a football game. Manning completed his first 17 passes and ended up a sizzling 29 of 34 for 364 yards and three touchdowns in the Colts win over the Jags. The Colts have now won eight straight games and have clinched their seventh straight trip to the playoffs. When he is on his game, Manning is practically unstoppable. I was howling when the NFL Network's Chris Collingsworth called out the Colts offence in their futile attempt to run the ball. Collingsworth is right, when a stud like Manning is at the top of his game, let the dude throw the ball until his arm falls off.
3	5		In what turned out to be an epic battle with the Panthers, Tom Coughlin's Giants rediscovered the mental toughness that had been missing the last two weeks. It was the "wind" portion of the Giants earth, wind and fire backfield that came up huge. Derrick Ward shredded the Panthers for 215 yards and his 51-yard run in over-time set up the Giants game winning touchdown. Brandon Jacobs' third touchdown of the game was the difference and now the Giants know that the road to Super Bowl XLIII will run through the howling wind of the Meadowlands. Talk about making some impressive half time adjustments. Steve Spagnuolo's defence only allowed the Panthers to score seven points in the final two quarters and overtime.
4	1		Mike Tomlin was not a very happy man after the Steelers loss to the Titans. His Steelers got beat bad by a better team, plain and simple. As if the Steelers would need extra motivation if they meet the Titans in the playoffs LenDale White provided it by his stomping on a terrible towel. The Steelers won't need Tomlin, Dick LeBeau and the coaching staff to remind them what they did wrong. The eye in the sky never lies. In other words, one look at the game film and they will know what mistakes they made. Peter King of Sports Illustrated is the best football writer on the planet. Bar none. He noticed a very disturbing statistical trend from Ben Roethlisberger. King noticed that in the last three games, Big Ben has fumbled the ball six times and lost four of them. Roethlisberger is a great quarterback on a great team; however, all those fumbles are unacceptable in the post season.
5	4		I am not sure that I have ever watched a running back score four touchdowns in a game and his team still loses. John Fox had nothing to be angry about in the Panthers over time loss to the Giants. His team certainly left it all on the field and showed they are close to being every bit as good as the Giants. I say "close" because in OT the Panthers defence couldn't stop Derrick Ward when they needed to. In the end, the Panthers were outscored 21-7 in the second half and over time. Now, if the Panthers can beat the Saints in the Super Dome on Sunday, they clinch the NFC South and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
6	6		Late in the Ravens monumental win over the Cowboys, the cameras zoomed in on Ray Lewis's face. The man's eyes positively burn with competitive fire. With Lewis willing the Ravens defence to do their part, it was up to the Ravens offence to step up. Did they ever. Willis McGahaee and LaRon McClain shredded the Cowboys defence in the fourth quarter as the Ravens moved one step closer to clinching a play-off spot. McGahee's 77 yarder and McClain's 82 yarder turned out to be the coup de grace in the Ravens win over the Cowboys in what was the final regular season game played at Texas Stadium. Rookie quarterback Joe Flacco has the perfect temperament to be a Raven. He's tough physically and mentally and is smart enough to know that Mister Ray Lewis is the true leader of the Ravens.
7	8		It took Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals about 10 seconds to decide they wanted nothing to do with the Patriots or the weather at Gillette Stadium. Patriots quarterback and California native Matt Cassell wasn't bothered by the white out conditions at all as he threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns. My favourite play was when Wes Welker scored a touchdown and did a snow angel in the end zone. Of course, the NFL doesn't stand for the No Fun League for nothing. Walker was given a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for his really cool holiday end zone celebration. The weird thing is that the Patriots could end the season with an 11-5 record and still miss the post season. To go 11-5 without Tom Brady in the line up all year just isn't fair.
8	11		Let's be brutally honest, there is no other athlete in Atlanta right now who gets more "action" when he goes out for a night on the town than Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. "Matty Ice", as his teammates call him, is on the verge of being the next big thing in the NFL. Last year, the Falcons went through one of the worst seasons an NFL franchise could possibly endure. Drafted in the first round as the man who would rebuild the entire franchise after the Michael Vick debacle, "Matty Ice" had a lot of pressure on his broad shoulders. Ryan tossed his 14th touchdown of the season as the Falcons walked into Minnesota and beat the Vikings to clinch their first playoff berth since 2004.
9	10		Brett Favre is signed by the Jets and Chad Pennington is thrown to the curb only to land on his feet in Miami. Favre has thrown 21 interceptions and the Jets have lost three of their last four games. Pennington has only thrown six interceptions and the Dolphins have won eight of their last nine games. Favre and the Jets are in danger of missing the playoffs. Pennington and the Dolphins can clinch the AFC East title with a win Sunday at the Meadowlands when they take on, of all teams, the Jets. For a team that is used to practicing in sunny and warm weather every day, the Dolphins did a remarkable job of overcoming the frigid weather in Kansas City. My game ball would go to Tight End Anthony Fasano. The man caught two touchdowns and literally willed himself into the end zone on the second.
10	7		There is only one way Tony Romo is going to erase the prevailing thought throughout the entire NFL that he can't win a big game. Romo has to walk into "The Linc" on Sunday and beat the Eagles. Romo wasn't on the field when McGahee and McClain ran for those two long touchdowns in the fourth quarter. However, Romo is the golden boy starting quarterback for the Dallas "freaking" Cowboys. He has the big money and the hottie girlfriend. None of that means jack squat if Romo doesn't step up his game and win when it matters. That means walking into enemy territory in Philadelphia and beating their NFC East rivals.
11	NR		A colleague of mine in San Diego tells me that the city that Ron Burgundy made famous is going nuts. The Broncos are imploding and the Chargers are on the verge of a completely improbable run to the post season. Philip Rivers ripped apart the Bucs secondary tossing four touchdowns in the Chargers win in Tampa. Then the Chargers had to wait to see if the Bills could win a game in Denver for the first time since 1967. The Broncos were booed off the field as the Bills pulled off a wild win and set up an even wilder end to the regular season. Sunday in San Diego the Chargers host the Broncos to determine who will win the AFC West. Don't be surprised if you hear a lot of that cheesy, disco "San Diego - Super Chargers" fight song Sunday night.
12	9		Adrian Peterson and Tavaris Jackson committed the mortal sin of fumbling the ball away in a crucial game. If Peterson and Jackson hang on to the ball, there is a very good chance they would have beaten the Falcons and already have wrapped up the NFC North. In total, the Vikings fumbled the ball seven times and lost four of them. As it stands now, the Bears won in overtime on Monday night and the Vikings now have to beat the Giants to get into the post season. Yes, I realize that if the Bears lose to the Texans, the Vikings will still get in. If the Vikings are the kind of team a lot of people think they are, myself included, they need to step up with a big time effort against the Giants.

latest NFL news

headlines