ARIZONA CARDINALS

Arizona Sports NFL Power Rankings Week 14: There’s a new No. 1

Dec 9, 2020, 7:23 AM

Tyrann Mathieu #32 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates after an interception in the final minutes ...

Tyrann Mathieu #32 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates after an interception in the final minutes of a game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on December 06, 2020 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

These NFL weeks that stretch out to Tuesday or Wednesday are for the birds, don’t you think?

The Pittsburgh Steelers played with fire long enough and they finally got their fingers burned. Alex Smith, one of the most inspiring comeback stories in recent sports history, engineered a comeback from 14-0 down, lifting the Washington Football Team to a 23-17 win over the Steelers, the first blemish on their 2020 schedule.

As such, the Kansas City Chiefs are back in the driver’s seat after a stressful win over the Denver Broncos. Taysom Hill and the Saints keep on winning, and they’ve leapfrogged Pittsburgh into the second slot this week.

And how about the trio of big jumpers this week? The Detroit Lions (up 7), the New York Giants (up 6) and Washington (up 5) were three of the saddest-looking teams in the league earlier this season.

Arizona Sports NFL Power Rankings Week 14

1. Kansas City Chiefs (11-1) ▲1
Wasn’t easy, but they got their 11th straight win against the Broncos.

2. New Orleans Saints (10-2) ▲1
The Saints are amazingly still unbeaten without Drew Brees over the last two seasons (8-0).

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-1) ▼2
They’re now 109-2-1 in the Ben Roethlisberger era when they have at least a 14-point lead.

4. Buffalo Bills (9-3) —
Against San Francisco, Josh Allen became the first QB to complete 80% of at least 40 passes with at least four touchdowns and no picks since Roethlisberger in 2014.

5. Green Bay Packers (9-3) ▲2
Aaron Rodgers has posted a passer rating of at least 107.6 in 11 of 12 games this season.

6. Cleveland Browns (9-3) ▲2
Baker Mayfield was masterful against Tennessee and his Office quote game is strong too.

7. Miami Dolphins (8-4) ▲2
Tua Tagovailoa showed no rust after a week on the sideline with an injury.

8. Los Angeles Rams (8-2) ▲2
Jared Goff did pretty much whatever he wanted in the win vs. Arizona.

9. Tennessee Titans (8-4) ▼4
Nice comeback against Cleveland falls short, but how do you fall behind by 31 at home in a game that big?

10. Indianapolis Colts (8-4) ▲1
Dodged a bullet in Houston on Deshaun Watson’s late fumble, but got the win.

11. Seattle Seahawks (8-4) ▼5
Russell Wilson was sacked six times in the loss to the Giants. He’s been sacked at least twice in every game this season and 19 of his last 20 starts.

12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5) —
Wonder if TB12 recharged his batteries on his new yacht.

13. Las Vegas Raiders (7-5) —
They won but get no bump after nearly becoming the Jets’ first victim.

14. Baltimore Ravens (7-5) ▲1
Lamar Jackson finished with a career-low number in passing attempts, but the Ravens ran for almost 300 yards on the Cowboys.

15. New England Patriots (6-6) ▲2
Cam Newton has thrown for 152 yards and two picks over the last two weeks and the Patriots have won both games. You figure that out.

16. Minnesota Vikings (6-6) ▲2
They’d be in the playoffs if they started today despite needing overtime to beat the lowly Jaguars.

17. Arizona Cardinals (6-6) ▼1
Kliff Kingsbury’s Air Raid offense hasn’t been off the ground in three weeks.

18. New York Giants (5-7) ▲6
Their spiderweb defense dumbfounded Russell Wilson and Seattle.

19. San Francisco 49ers (5-7) ▼5
The Niners are now 0-4 when their defense allows 400+ yards.

20. Washington Football Team (5-7) ▲5
Sure, everybody had WFT being the team to hand the Steelers their first loss, right?

21. Chicago Bears (5-7) ▼2
Zero net yards on three fourth-quarter drives spelled doom in loss to Detroit.

22. Detroit Lions (5-7) ▲7
Lions join the Texans and Falcons as teams to win their first game under an interim head coach this year.

23. Atlanta Falcons (4-8) ▼3
Relegated to trying to spoil Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes over the last four weeks.

24. Houston Texans (4-8) ▼3
Deshaun Watson lobbied for Will Fuller not to get traded. Fuller repays him by testing positive for PEDs.

25. Carolina Panthers (4-8) ▼3
Hey, at least Christian McCaffrey is coming back.

26. Denver Broncos (4-8) ▼3
I remember Broncos fans getting on me for not praising Drew Lock enough at the end of last year. I haven’t heard from them this year.

27. Philadelphia Eagles (3-8-1) —
Finally, we get to see what Jalen Hurts can do as an NFL starter.

28. Los Angeles Chargers (3-9) ▼2
You may never see a worse special teams performance than what the Chargers put out there against New England — the worst loss in franchise history.

29. Dallas Cowboys (3-9) —
The Dallas defense has given up 400 or more yards on six different occasions this season.

30. Cincinnati Bengals (2-9-1) —
How’d they manage not to lose three of their games?

31. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-11) —
Gardner Minshew is begging for his job back. Give it to him. At least he’s fun.

32. New York Jets (0-12) —
Now that Gregg Williams is gone, the path is clear to a 4-0 finish. Just kidding.

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Arizona Sports NFL Power Rankings Week 14: There’s a new No. 1