Week 14 Power Rankings

   

Here I am appearing late in the season after going ghost for over a year. Found some motivation to enjoy my sports blog hobby between work and family life. Please enjoy my tier list in order of how the ranking machine orders them. The 9k ranking machine takes in values among multiple stat categories and ranks the teams on how well they perform in-game, minus any referee shenanigans (looking at you Kansas City). This is not a perfect calculation however it is unbiased.

Big Ballers

This tier includes our top-four-ranked teams with hardly any surprises besides the omission of the Chiefs. Detroit, Philly, and Buffalo have built their organizations to be perennial powerhouses and are reflected in the rankings. The Steelers are, of course, the surprise of the season firmly holding the AFC North race, behind an amazing defense and clean QB play from both Wilson and Fields they have been able to hang with any team in the NFL, and if they continue to be hot down the stretch could mess up someone's whole year come playoffs.

Winners

These teams are not the greatest, but they are hard to beat by lesser talent. These teams have a combined four losses to teams ranked below them which is impressive. The big complaint is the Chiefs being this low. What can I say? Kansas City plays bad football and almost every week has narrowly eked out a win in stunning fashion. The Chiefs are 10-0! in one-score football games and in a perfect world they would lose most of them. We all know seeing KC in at least the AFCCG is inevitable, but the machine punishes everyone equally.

Good with Flaws

Here are the teams that could beat anyone but could also lose to anyone. The Texans and Bucs are riddled with injuries, Commanders lack experience, and my beloved Chargers are just plain boring. If these teams somehow pull it together and catch a spark I would not be surprised by a deep playoff run from any of them.

Mid(West)

I often have thought to myself how average the NFC West has been this year and the machine thinks of them similarly. Only one of these teams is going to the playoffs and I won't be surprised if it comes down to who has the best division record. While the rest of the league is fighting to beat everyone, these teams are just looking to beat each other into the dirt until one survives. 

  On the other hand, we have Denver who could be way better if they weren't so unlucky. Bo Nix has been overshadowed in the ROTY race by the electrifying Jayden Daniels and if they played better in the 4th quarter of games they could be atop the AFC West and the AFC in general.

Pick Up the Slack

A lot of these teams came into the year with high expectations and just fumbled their way to the bottom. Between Tua's concussions, Bengals' bad luck, Kirk's untimely interceptions, and random Joe Flacco appearances, they'd all be winners in some fashion. 

Plain Bad/ Toilet Bowl

All these teams suck. Although I have a feeling that if Jameis had a full season the Browns may have been a good bit better. I do dislike the ranking of Carolina, the machine holds this team back because of their terrible start to the season, but I think everyone can agree that we have seen major improvement from the Panthers and Bryce Young.

Projected Playoff Standings

AFC

1. Bills

2. Steelers

3. Chiefs

4. Texans

5. Ravens

6. Chargers

7. Broncos

NFC

1. Lions

2. Eagles

3. Buccaneers

4. Seahawks

5. Vikings

6. Packers

7. Commanders

I'll be back and hopefully better than ever. The ranking machine may have a few tweaks before the season is done and I hope that this calculation can do a wonderful job at predicting matchups in the future.