NFL Week 11 Power Rankings

Five Quick Hits

* Dear Cardinals: pay Anquan Boldin.

* The Texans should put Matt Schaub on IR. They're not going anywhere this season, and shouldn't jeopardize his future by bringing him back too early.

* Steve Mariucci needs to quit stalking Brett Favre. It is getting seriously creepy.

* No one snags defeat from the jaws of victory like the Oakland Raiders.

* I liked Cris Collinsworth in the booth this Thursday, describing the Jets' secondary responsibilities and the ways they shifted during the game.

***

If you ever wanted to create the appearance of point-shaving in the NFL, this weekend's game between Pittsburgh and San Diego was your baby. King Kaufman of Salon has the best summary I've read of the whole thing, but basically, Pittsburgh was robbed of a last-second touchdown that would have put them over the pointspread, and the reversed touchdown made tens of millions of dollars for bookmakers. That's even more damning when you consider that the Steelers were called for 13 penalties during the game, and San Diego for two.

I don't believe the fix was actually in, but if refs were going to fix a game, I do think that's pretty close to how it would look. Anyway, for the power rankings, brackets show last week's rank.

1. Tennessee Titans [1] — This is the first week I've seriously considered dropping them behind the Giants, who continue to roll over good competition. But this isn't college football — it's not like Tennessee scheduled weak out-of-conference competition. And Tennessee is only the third team this decade to start 10-0. The others were last year's Patriots and the 2005 Colts. Before that, you have to go back to the 1998 Denver Broncos, who began 13-0 before winning Super Bowl XXXIII.

2. New York Giants [2] — Last four wins have all come against teams with winning records. The schedule doesn't get any easier: the next five opponents also have winning records, and most of the games are on the road. They'll need Brandon Jacobs' knee to be healthy over that stretch.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers [4] — No one is ranked third this week. I have the Steelers here because they're probably the best team that's not the Titans or Giants, but third implies close to second, and the Steelers aren't. Tennessee and the Giants appear to be miles ahead of the competition. I have no faith in Ben Roethlisberger — does he like getting sacked? — and I'm not terribly impressed by the Steelers.

4. Carolina Panthers [3] — What happened to Jake Delhomme during the bye? In the two games since, facing the 2-8 Raiders and 0-10 Lions, Delhomme is 17-of-46 (37%) for 170 yards (two-game total!) with 2 TDs and 4 INT, earning a passer rating of 26.5. If Delhomme's play doesn't improve, the Panthers are going to be in a lot of trouble, because the schedule is about to get much harder.

5. Indianapolis Colts [11] — It's starting to look like the rumors of Peyton Manning's demise were greatly exaggerated. In the last three games, he has a passer rating of 104.0 and 7 TDs without an interception. For the season, Manning is 5th in passing yards, 6th in TDs, and has thrown for more first downs than anyone but Kurt Warner and Drew Brees.

6. Arizona Cardinals [6] — If the 49ers lose to Dallas in Week 12 (which is likely), and the Cardinals upset the Giants (which is not), Arizona will clinch the NFC West. The last time this team won a division title, they played in a different city and a different division. In 1974 and '75, the St. Louis Cardinals won the NFC East. Before that, you have to go back to the 1948 Chicago Cardinals.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [9] — Four wins in the last five games, but they haven't played like an elite team in more than a month. The Bucs are 2-3 on the road, with remaining visits to Carolina and Atlanta. They have to win at least one of those games to have a realistic shot at the division title.

8. New York Jets [16] — They've won four in a row, and six of the last seven. The loss was to Oakland, but I'm finally ready to forgive them for that. Returner and occasional third-down back Leon Washington continues to be a difference-maker. Washington is an easy choice for Pro Bowl return man in the AFC.

9. Philadelphia Eagles [5] — Brian Westbrook doesn't seem to be 100%. In fact, he doesn't seem 80%. Philadelphia's offense never got anything going against Cincinnati, while the defense (8 sacks) kept them in the game. DeSean Jackson and Westbrook are the playmakers on that offense, and they both had quiet games on Sunday. A lot of the blame has to go either to Westbrook's health, or, if he's in pretty good shape, to the playcallers. You can't give Donovan McNabb 60 passes and only leave 15 runs for Westbrook.

10. Baltimore Ravens [10] — The Giants exposed their defense and embarrassed the offense. The Ravens' three-headed running back — Willis McGahee, Ray Rice, and Le'Ron McClain — combined for 47 yards and a 2.5 average on Sunday. Quarterback Joe Flacco and wide receiver Mark Clayton combined for 74 yards and a 10.6 average.

11. Atlanta Falcons [7] — Playoff hopes took a hit this week, as Atlanta is now two games out of the division lead and tied for the last wild card spot. Week 12 offers a home game against Carolina, and if the Falcons lose, their chances of winning the NFC South are effectively over. I won't call the game a must-win, but it's pretty important.

12. Green Bay Packers [12] — This week, Terry Bradshaw claimed that if the Packers still had Brett Favre, they would "easily be 7-2 or 8-1." This season, Aaron Rodgers has more yards, a better TD/INT differential, and a better passer rating than Favre. But even if you believe that Favre is better than Rodgers — and I don't think that's clear at this point — I don't know how Bradshaw thinks the Packers could have won four more games with Favre at QB. I assume he's giving them the close losses to Minnesota and Atlanta, and that gets him to 6-3. Then what? Beat Tennessee? I don't think so. The nine-point loss in Tampa? That seems unlikely. The 11-point loss to Dallas in Week 3? No way. You wanna argue one of those? Fine. But "easily" 7-2? Maybe even 8-1? That's ridiculous. The things these people say about Favre just cannot be taken seriously.

13. Dallas Cowboys [19] — The returns of Tony Romo and Terence Newman make this a much more dangerous team. The worry is, as Jimmy Johnson said on Sunday, that "they're not a mentally tough team." The Cowboys should win the next two games, at home against NFC West teams that aren't Arizona, and they have to, because Dallas faces a murderer's row in the last four.

14. Miami Dolphins [14] — Consecutive two-point wins over 2-8 opponents. They still count, but that kind of performance doesn't inspire a lot of confidence as the team tries to put together a playoff run.

15. New England Patriots [15] — Randy Moss has 615 yards and 5 TDs. Last season at this time, he had 1,052 yards and 16 TDs. Matt Cassel had a great second half on Thursday night, but he needs to start finding Moss if the Patriots are going to be competitive against elite teams.

16. Chicago Bears [13] — How's this for a wide-open division? Three of the four teams in the NFC North are 5-5. The Bears still play host to Green Bay and at Minnesota. There's a potential trap in Week 12 at St. Louis, if Chicago looks ahead to the next week's division matchup with the Vikings.

17. Denver Broncos [21] — The only division leader that has been outscored this season (-23 net points). The next-worst is Pittsburgh (+59). But the Broncos have won two in a row to rebound after three straight losses, and the win in Atlanta — where the Falcons had been 4-0 — was a statement that the Broncos should be taken seriously. San Diego is not out of the division race, though. If the Chargers can make up one game, then beat the Broncos in San Diego, they'll probably take the division. Good news for Denver includes the likely return of Champ Bailey in the next week or two.

18. New Orleans Saints [17] — The lack of offensive balance is amazing. The Saints average 319.7 passing yards per game (first in NFL) and just 91.8 rushing yards (28th), a difference of 2,279 yards for the season. The other really skewed team is the Cardinals (2,189), but no one else is even near a 2,000-yard difference like that. They say defense wins championships, and I'm sure that offense does too, but a pass-only offense and a mediocre defense is no way to build a contender.

19. Washington Redskins [8] — The dumbest play I've seen this season was DeSean Jackson throwing the ball away before he reached the end zone in Week 2. The second-dumbest was Dan Orlovsky running out of his own end zone for a safety. And third place came on Sunday night, when Rock Cartwright dove into the end zone to touch a punt that had already stopped on the 1-yard line, setting up the Cowboys' first touchdown drive on the 20-yard line.

20. Minnesota Vikings [18] — Are the real Vikings the team that dominated the Packers, imposing their will on the opponent with their running game and pass rush? Or are the real Vikings the ones who were impotent against Tampa Bay, with almost nothing from the offense and an unspectacular day on defense? Looking at their other results, I think it's probably "impotent against Tampa Bay."

21. Cleveland Browns [22] — I lost in this week's Tony Kornheiser pool. I bet that 55% of his sentences on MNF would include the word 'Quinn', and the actual number was surprisingly low. How was I supposed to know Brady Quinn would be so inefficient (14-of-36, 55.9 passer rating) that Kornheiser would actually talk about other people?

22. San Diego Chargers [20] — It's amazing the difference one great player can make. I'm talking about Shawne Merriman. Despite what the Giants' success this year might lead you to believe, a devastating pass rusher is really hard to replace. Last season, with Merriman occupying opponents' attention, everyone else on the defense was more effective. And if you watched them against Pittsburgh on Sunday, the Chargers' defense just didn't seem to have any big plays in it.

23. Jacksonville Jaguars [24] — Maurice Jones-Drew had his second good game in a row, but they had a disastrous day passing the ball. David Garrard, who had been on something of a hot streak, went 13-30 for 135 yards and an interception, plus four sacks for -18 yards. If you finish a game with 117 net passing yards, and don't have either 300 rushing yards or +5 turnovers, you're not going to win.

24. Buffalo Bills [23] — Four straight losses. If I were a Bills fans, I'd be pissed at Mike Tirico for jinxing Rian Lindell right before his game-deciding kick. Seriously, talking about Scott Norwood wide right from the same distance? Why not just make a voodoo doll of the kicker next time?

25. Seattle Seahawks [26] — It was a less than triumphant return for Matt Hasselbeck, who committed four turnovers in the loss to Arizona. Hasselbeck actually has a lower passer rating (55.0) this season than Seneca Wallace (79.5). In fact, Hasselbeck has been so bad that next week, he could go 30-for-30 for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns, and he'd still have a lower rating (72.8) than Wallace. Seattle is 31st in the NFL in offense.

26. Houston Texans [25] — Sage Rosenfels has been disappointing in relief of Schaub, but Rosenfels is not the problem. This defense is terrible. I know Indianapolis has a good offense, but you just can't get carved up the way they did on Sunday, both on the ground and through the air.

27. San Francisco 49ers [27] — Mike Singletary got his first win as a head coach, and in dominating fashion, with San Francisco ahead 35-3 at halftime. This is a young team that will struggle with consistency the rest of the way, but they should be competitive in every game left on the schedule.

28. Cincinnati Bengals [31] — The tie against Philadelphia was at least a moral victory, and more importantly, it wasn't a loss. But the offense is still abysmal. They're 30th in rushing, 30th in passing, last in total yardage, and 31st in scoring. They've been a little better recently, but only a little.

29. Kansas City Chiefs [28] — Dropped to last in the league in defense this week. The Chiefs are allowing 402.5 yards per game. The Lions think KC's defensive unit should be embarrassed. The Washington Generals think the defense needs some pride. The Swiss Army thinks the Chiefs need to get committed on defense. The Buffalo Bills, who play here in Week 12, think Kansas City is doing just fine.

30. Oakland Raiders [30] — This season, the Raiders have exactly half as many third-down conversions (30) as their opponents (60). No other team has fewer than 38 third-down conversions.

31. St. Louis Rams [29] — After two or three weeks in a parallel universe where they aren't completely terrible, the real Rams are back. St. Louis has been outscored by a staggering 173 points this season, by far the worst in the league (Detroit is next at -135). The Rams have given up more than twice as many points (317) as they have scored (144).

32. Detroit Lions [32] — A lot of people feel sorry for the Lions right now. I was talking to a friend who's a fan of an NFC East team, and she was saying how sad it was watching Detroit's early lead (10-0 and 13-7) slip away. If it's not one thing in Detroit, it's another. On a day when the defense finally played well enough to win, the offense lost 4 turnovers.