With only two weeks left in the regular season, it’s time to change the format of my projected standings. At this point, we might as well just predict each of the remaining 32 games. So here goes:
| Week | Day | Visitor | Home | Time | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Sat | Atlanta Falcons | Detroit Lions | 8:30 PM | Atlanta Falcons |
| 16 | Sun | Oakland Raiders | Carolina Panthers | 1:00 PM | Carolina Panthers |
| 16 | Sun | New Orleans Saints | Dallas Cowboys | 1:00 PM | Dallas Cowboys |
| 16 | Sun | Tennessee Titans | Green Bay Packers | 1:00 PM | Green Bay Packers |
| 16 | Sun | Minnesota Vikings | Houston Texans | 1:00 PM | Houston Texans |
| 16 | Sun | New England Patriots | Jacksonville Jaguars | 1:00 PM | New England Patriots |
| 16 | Sun | Indianapolis Colts | Kansas City Chiefs | 1:00 PM | Indianapolis Colts |
| 16 | Sun | Buffalo Bills | Miami Dolphins | 1:00 PM | Miami Dolphins |
| 16 | Sun | Washington Redskins | Philadelphia Eagles | 1:00 PM | Washington Redskins |
| 16 | Sun | Cincinnati Bengals | Pittsburgh Steelers | 1:00 PM | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 16 | Sun | San Diego Chargers | New York Jets | 1:00 PM | New York Jets |
| 16 | Sun | St. Louis Rams | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1:00 PM | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| 16 | Sun | Cleveland Browns | Denver Broncos | 4:05 PM | Denver Broncos |
| 16 | Sun | New York Giants | Baltimore Ravens | 4:25 PM | New York Giants |
| 16 | Sun | Chicago Bears | Arizona Cardinals | 4:25 PM | Chicago Bears |
| 16 | Sun | San Francisco 49ers | Seattle Seahawks | 8:20 PM | Seattle Seahawks |
| 17 | Sun | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Atlanta Falcons | 1:00 PM | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| 17 | Sun | New York Jets | Buffalo Bills | 1:00 PM | Buffalo Bills |
| 17 | Sun | Baltimore Ravens | Cincinnati Bengals | 1:00 PM | Cincinnati Bengals |
| 17 | Sun | Houston Texans | Indianapolis Colts | 1:00 PM | Houston Texans |
| 17 | Sun | Chicago Bears | Detroit Lions | 1:00 PM | Chicago Bears |
| 17 | Sun | Green Bay Packers | Minnesota Vikings | 1:00 PM | Green Bay Packers |
| 17 | Sun | Carolina Panthers | New Orleans Saints | 1:00 PM | Carolina Panthers |
| 17 | Sun | Miami Dolphins | New England Patriots | 1:00 PM | New England Patriots |
| 17 | Sun | Philadelphia Eagles | New York Giants | 1:00 PM | New York Giants |
| 17 | Sun | Jacksonville Jaguars | Tennessee Titans | 1:00 PM | Tennessee Titans |
| 17 | Sun | Cleveland Browns | Pittsburgh Steelers | 1:00 PM | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 17 | Sun | Dallas Cowboys | Washington Redskins | 1:00 PM | Dallas Cowboys |
| 17 | Sun | Kansas City Chiefs | Denver Broncos | 4:15 PM | Denver Broncos |
| 17 | Sun | Oakland Raiders | San Diego Chargers | 4:15 PM | San Diego Chargers |
| 17 | Sun | St. Louis Rams | Seattle Seahawks | 4:15 PM | Seattle Seahawks |
| 17 | Sun | Arizona Cardinals | San Francisco 49ers | 4:15 PM | San Francisco 49ers |
I’m short on time this week, so let’s move on to the weekly Power Rankings.
[As always, the number of wins I’m projecting each team to finish the season with is in column 3. The fourth column – PWIN – shows how many wins I projected last week, and the difference column represents how many wins I added or subtracted this week. The “RSOS” column stands for the remaining SOS for the team, based on the number of projected wins I’m giving to each of their opponents. The “RHG” column stands for remaining home games.]
| Team | Rec | Wins | PrvWin | Diff | RemSOS | RemHG | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Texans | 12-2 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0.563 | 1 | One game away from clinching the #1 seed in the AFC. That's huge -- they won't need to beat both Denver and New England to get to their first Super Bowl. |
| Atlanta Falcons | 12-2 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0.375 | 1 | A statement win for the Falcons? Unfortunately for Atlanta, regular season games have little upside for them. |
| Denver Broncos | 11-3 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0.219 | 2 | I'm still projecting the Broncos to win 13 games. More interestingly, will Peyton Manning become the first player since Ken Anderson to win MVP and Comeback Player of the Year in the same season? |
| New England Patriots | 10-4 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 0.281 | 1 | Tom Brady leads the league in ANY/A; if it holds, he will win the ANY/A crown for the third time in his last five full seasons. |
| Green Bay Packers | 10-4 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0.438 | 1 | One of the underreported stories of the year: Aaron Rodgers is having a bad year by his lofty standards; he ranks 15th in NY/A after ranking 1st last year. |
| San Francisco 49ers | 10-3-1 | 11.5 | 10.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | Most non-topical 49ers comment ever: I am really excited to see what LaMichael James does in the playoffs. |
| Seattle Seahawks | 9-5 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0.563 | 2 | The 49ers comeback may end up hurting the Seahawks more than the Patriots. Three road games is a tall order for what may be the best team in the NFC. |
| Chicago Bears | 8-6 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0.281 | 0 | Last year the Bears started 7-3, but Jay Cutler got hurt and Chicago finished 8-8. This year Chicago started 7-1 but now needs help to make the playoffs. |
| Indianapolis Colts | 9-5 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0.5 | 1 | For the 2011 Colts, week 16 was when the worst team in the league won at home against an AFC South playoff team. Andrew Luck needs to make sure the same result doesn't happen in 2012. |
| New York Giants | 8-6 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0.406 | 1 | The Ravens started 9-2, the Giants started 6-2. This game has morphed from a potential SB preview to a 'which team can sink the fastest' battle. |
| Dallas Cowboys | 8-6 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0.469 | 1 | Did you know that Tony Romo is on pace to throw for around 4900 yards this year and leads the NFL in 4th quarter comebacks? |
| Baltimore Ravens | 9-5 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 0.594 | 1 | That offense without Cam Cameron looked an awful lot like that offense with Joe Flacco from the last five years. |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 7-7 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0.438 | 2 | Ben Roethlisberger started the season white hot -- the Steelers need him to finish that way if 2012 won't be considered a lost year. |
| Washington Redskins | 8-6 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0.438 | 1 | Will Robert Griffin III play this weekend? Washington can probably beat the Eagles without him, but I don't love the idea of Kirk Cousins going up against the Cowboys in week 17. |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 8-6 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0.563 | 1 | This team has the feel of an 8-8 team, and if they don't want to end up that way, they're going to have to beat one of the big brothers of the AFC North. |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 6-8 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0.609 | 1 | Tampa Bay is 2-7 in one-score games, arguably the worst such record in the league. |
| Minnesota Vikings | 8-6 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0.813 | 1 | Adrian Peterson is more likely to break Eric Dickerson's record than the Vikings are to make the playoffs. |
| New York Jets | 6-8 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 0.375 | 1 | The Mark Sanchez era is over, for now. It's only six games too late, and now the Jets won't be able to really find out what they have in either Tim Tebow or Greg McElroy. |
| Miami Dolphins | 6-8 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0.563 | 1 | Not a terrible inaugural season for Joe Philbin, especially after how things looked after Hard Knocks. |
| Carolina Panthers | 5-9 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0.313 | 1 | Cam Newton and the Panthers just keep winning. |
| St. Louis Rams | 6-7-1 | 6.5 | 7.5 | -1 | 0.594 | 0 | Sam Bradford did not have a great season, but he showed enough improvement considering the lack of weapons around him to give Rams fans hope. |
| San Diego Chargers | 5-9 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 0.344 | 1 | Norv Turner can't save his job with wins over the Jets and Raiders, right? Right?! |
| New Orleans Saints | 6-8 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.531 | 1 | Drew Brees still leads the league in both passing touchdowns and interceptions. For the second year in a row. |
| Buffalo Bills | 5-9 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.438 | 1 | An embarrassing performance against Seattle; Canadians aren't going to become Bills fans anytime soon. |
| Tennessee Titans | 5-9 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0.438 | 1 | Did Titans fans enjoy that win over the Jets? They couldn't have, right? |
| Cleveland Browns | 5-9 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 0.688 | 0 | While it seems like the Browns have made some progress this year, will they be rebuilding in 2013? |
| Arizona Cardinals | 5-9 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0.672 | 1 | I like what Aaron Schatz said on twitter: They should put Larry Fitzgerald in the Pro Bowl just so he can play with a real quarterback at least once this year |
| Detroit Lions | 4-10 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 0.719 | 2 | Calvin Johnson is going to break Jerry Rice's record, but fans should take the achievement with a grain of salt considering the record number of Lions pass attempts. |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 4-10 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 0.594 | 1 | Even Andy Reid has to know he only has two more games left with the Eagles, right? |
| Oakland Raiders | 4-10 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0.406 | 0 | Will we see more of Terrelle Pryor this week? |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 2-12 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 0.563 | 1 | Jaguars should have the #2 pick locked up, and hope for a "slip" by the Chiefs in the next two weeks. |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 2-12 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 0.719 | 1 | A miserable season in Kansas City is about to come to an end. |