NFL Week 12: Recap & Power Rankings

This season has been pretty wild so far and Week 12 was another rough week with the picks. I stumbled into a 7-8 week after not listening to my gut in one game and not changing a last-minute pick in another, but it wasn’t going to be pretty either way. Christen went 6-9 on the week and our group winner only finished at 9-6. Somehow, I’ve managed to keep gaining ground on the Over/Under where I was terrible last year, and I’ll take what I can get at this point. Here’s the latest chart:

Nick – W	Nick – L	Nick – T	ATS – W	ATS – L	ATS – Push	O/U – W	O/U – L	O/U – Push	Christen – W	Christen – L	Christen – T
7	8	0	4	11	0	8	7	0	6	9	0
Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous	Previous
101	63	1	87	76	2	74	71	3	98	64	1
Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall
108	71	1	91	87	2	82	78	3	104	73	1

There’s an unspoken rule when it comes to the Seahawks in primetime: it’s never allowed to be normal. Washington survived a late rally to beat Seattle 17-15 in a game that included a blocked-extra-point-return-score and an onside kick recovery by the Hawks that was overturned because one of their players (who wasn’t even involved in the recovery) was standing two feet to the left. Washington dominated the time of possession with an efficient ground game while Russell Wilson looked like a shadow of the player we have known. His finger is obviously an issue, as he struggles with the easiest of throws, but his decision-making has been poor as he tries to force things to work. The dam is about to break in Seattle and Washington jumped into the last Wild Card spot with the win.

The Sunday night showdown between the Ravens and the Browns was an anticlimactic, turnover-riddled mess. However, Baltimore ultimately got the job done and held on for 16-10 W thanks to a strong defensive performance and the Browns continued struggles to score. Cleveland may be better of with Case Keenum right now as Baker Mayfield battles injury. They’ll have the bye week to think about it before they come back and face the Ravens again, this time in Cleveland.

In America’s Game of the Week, Green Bay rebounded with a big 36-28 win over the Rams and stayed in contention for the NFC’s #1 seed. Sean McVay’s team has now lost 3-straight but showed more life and better integration of their new players in this game. However, their defense isn’t anywhere close to last year’s dominance. Switching to a 3-4 and moving Aaron Donald outside was a mistake and it shows the weakness at the interior linebacker position. The Packers played just as you’d expect with solid games out of their big-3 and solid 3rd down efficiency.

The 49ers and Vikings went at it in an entertaining afternoon clash in San Francisco. It was tied 14-14 at the half before SF exploded to start the 3rd quarter with a quick TD drive and a bad interception from Kirk Cousins to set up another TD 30-seconds later. He’s played well on the year but Minnesota’s defense continues to struggle, giving up more than 200-yards on the ground in this one. The Niners ultimately won it 34-26 but, most importantly, the Vikes may have lost Dalvin Cook for an extended period as he separated his shoulder right as they had found late life after a kick-return-TD.

Denver improved to 6-5 on the year and picked up a potentially important tie-break game over the Chargers 28-13. The Broncos are always tough at home and beat LA there last season too. I figured their best method to victory was via the ground and that was the case as they efficiently played defense and controlled the clock. Justin Herbert is a very good young player but not the best QB in the league, as so many Bolts fans were quick to say after Week 1. He has the skills and nice stats on paper but he’s thrown 10-TDs and 6-INTs over their last five games and it’s not surprising to see them lose three of those. There’s still a lot of season left, but he’ll have to better if they’re going to be a playoff team.

One of the most interesting games on the schedule lived up to the hype as the Buccaneers rallied in the second half to beat the Colts in Indianapolis, 38-31. Carson Wentz and the Indy passing attack dominated the first half and gave them a 10-point lead. However, Frank Reich didn’t want to run the ball with the lead and decided to play with fire, begging the Bucs’ defense to test Wentz. They responded in kind and sack-fumbled him to start the second half and picked him off on the Colts’ next possession, scoring off of both to take the lead. The Colts did get a Jonathan Taylor TD to tie it late but gave Tom Brady the ball with way too much time and eventually Leonard Fournette punched in his 4th TD of the game. Wentz underthrew a hail mary attempt that was intercepted to end the game.

The New England Patriots kept rolling right along with a dominant win over the heavily wounded Titans, 36-13. Tennessee managed to run for 270-yards but couldn’t do much with it and didn’t score after the half. All the injuries to the skill positions have caught up to the Titans and they may be rethinking letting Corey Davis go. The Pats hold the AFC East lead heading into their Monday night showdown with the Bills.

Not to be outdone, the Bengals demolished the Steelers 41-10. This is a game where I figure a healthier Pittsburgh defense would get a key division game back, but that wasn’t even close. Joe Mixon ran through the defense like it wasn’t even there, posting a career-high 165-yards and 2-TDs. Cincy is in good shape right now while the loss drops the Steelers to the bottom of the AFC North.

Somehow the Jets beat the Texans despite Zach Wilson not looking good in his return. Tyrod Taylor played fairly well after an interception killed their opening drive, but the Texans punted, missed a FG, and turned the ball over on downs down the stretch. Elsewhere in the AFC East, the Dolphins picked up a dominant 33-10 win over the Panthers. Carolina has come back to earth after Cam Newton’s return and just lost Chrisitan McCaffrey for the season so they are facing a very tough road to the playoffs.

Right when it looked like Philly was gaining momentum and figuring out who they are, they went into New York and lost to the Giants 13-7 in an ugly one. Jalen Hurts played like garbage as a passer and it was his 3-INTs that really were enough to swing the game. Miles Sanders also got hurt again too. The G-Men are still at the bottom of the NFC East but they are finally starting to get healthy and only a game back of Washington who holds the #7 spot currently.

As soon as I heard Cordarrelle Patterson was playing, I went to switch my pick to Atlanta but it was too late. The Falcons beat the Jags 21-14 and Patterson had two TDs. It’s really amazing to look at his career trajectory and what he does to their offense. Jacksonville continues to go through growing pains but they are figuring out who they are and I see some potential heading into next season.

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Green Bay retakes the top spot for now but the biggest gains belong to the Pats and the Bengals while the Cowboys, Rams, and Titans continue to slide. Here’s the rest of the Power Rankings:

1. Packers 9-3 (+1)

2. Cardinals 9-2 (-1)

3. Buccaneers 8-3 (+1)

4. Patriots 8-4 (+4)

5. Ravens 8-3 (+1)

6. Titans 8-4 (-3)

7. Bengals 7-4 (+4)

8. Chiefs 7-4 (+1)

9. Bills 7-4 (+4)

10. Rams 7-4 (-5)

11. Cowboys 7-4 (-4)

12. Colts 6-6 (=)

13. Raiders 6-5 (+5)

14. 49ers 6-5 (+3)

15. Broncos 6-5 (+6)

16. Chargers 6-5 (-6)

17. Browns 6-6 (-2)

18. Vikings 5-6 (-2)

19. Steelers 5-5-1 (-5)

20. Washington 5-6 (+3)

21. Falcons 5-6 (+3)

22. Saints 5-6 (-2)

23. Dolphins 5-7 (+2)

24. Eagles 5-7 (-5)

25. Panthers 5-7 (-3)

26. Giants 4-7 (+1)

27. Bears 4-7 (+1)

28. Seahawks 3-8 (-2)

29. Jets 3-8 (+2)

30. Texans 2-9 (-1)

31. Jaguars 2-9 (-1)

32. Lions 0-10-1 (=)