The playoff’s first-round matchups are set, and our NFL Power Rankings take a final look at the teams that are still standing. With championship hopes on the line, every weakness is exposed and every strength is magnified as the road to the Super Bowl begins.
NFL Power Rankings
- Seattle Seahawks 14-3 (Last Week: 1)
The Seahawks have home field advantage and a defense that can carry them right into the Super Bowl. It is hard to imagine many of the NFC playoff teams having a chance on the road in Seattle. - Los Angeles Rams 12-5 (Last Week: 2)
The Rams are a very live wild card in the NFC. There are quite a few teams pulling for Carolina this week. - New England Patriots 14-3 (Last Week: 3)
New England was not highly thought of as the season kicked off, but the Pats came close to securing the AFC’s top seed. There are varying opinions on how good this team is because of their schedule. We will know for sure in a few days. - Denver Broncos 14-3 (Last Week: 5)
The Broncos defense, particularly their pass rush, carried Denver to the AFC’s top seed. The Broncos will need the offense to make some big plays to finish a dream season. - Houston Texans 12-5 (Last Week: 6)
The Texans are a guest that nobody wants knocking on their door. Finally healthy on offense, this team is more than capable of making a deep run in the AFC. - Jacksonville Jaguars 13-4 (Last Week: 7)
The Jaguars are the league’s most overlooked team. This is a balanced club that deserves and will start earning respect this week in Buffalo. - San Francisco 49ers 12-5 (Last Week: 4)
The Niners are healthier than they have been all year, but will it be enough for a serious run on the road in the NFC? - Philadelphia Eagles 11-6 (Last Week: 8)
The defending champions have weaknesses, but no team is hoping to play them. If Philadelphia can find a few big plays on offense, they are capable of a return to the big game. - Buffalo Bills 12-5 (Last Week: 9)
The Bills have not been able to make it through the AFC in recent years with stronger teams. Now they have to try it on the road. - San Diego Chargers 11-6 (Last Week: Unranked)
The Chargers travel cross country to face the Patriots in New England. Foxboro has been a final destination for many playoff hopefuls over the years. The Chargers will need the backups on their offensive line to play their best game of the year to have a chance. - Chicago Bears 11-6 (Last Week: 10)
The Bears are limping into January with two straight losses. The defense took the week off against San Francisco. Last week the Bears could not score on Detroit. Both sides of the ball need to come to the game against Green Bay. - Pittsburgh Steelers 10-7 (Last Week: Unranked)
The Steelers are a botched kick away from the offseason. DK Metcalf returns to the lineup this week. This is a flawed group, but it is never easy to play on Monday night in Pittsburgh.
- New York Jets 3-14 (Last Week: 31)
They did it. With one last push or lack thereof, the New York Jets have finished the season at the bottom of the rankings. This is the first time that the Jets find themselves in the last spot in the rankings. After five straight losses to end the year and having allowed twenty-nine points or more in each of those games, the New York Jets are the NFL’s worst football team.
We did not expect a Super Bowl, but this is equally unexpected. On paper there appeared to be enough talent to begin an ascent to respectability. There was a great deal of optimism around the young core of the team and the continued development of its new starting quarterback. Things that could have gone well for the Jets not only did not, but they went beyond what was thought to be worst case scenario.
What now? Well, things are the same as they have been after each of the Jets’ recent seasons. The team needs to draft well with the considerable draft capital that they “earned” through poor play as well as what they added from trading away some of the teams most talented players. The Jets need to attract free agents at positions of need to fill in the gaps, and they need to add a talented coordinator(s) to the staff. It is a simple formula, but it is one the team has been unable to execute for multiple years.
So, what will be different this time? Will the Jets finally nail the draft, add a franchise quarterback and multiple starters to replace the pieces they traded away? Will they find proven players in free agency that make a difference both on the field and in the locker room? It stands to reason that, after so many swings, the team has to make contact at some point. That may be different, or it could be more of what we have seen for so many years.
What will absolutely be different is this team’s brand in the minds of college draft prospects and current NFL free agents. The erosion of the Jet brand started years ago, and it has never been this pronounced. The jokes have been around for a while like they are for any team that has gone more than a handful of years without winning. The Jets are beyond humor now. The product on the field and the dysfunction away from it have never reached this level before.
The landscape has changed as well. College superstars are no longer broke. NIL deals mean that staying in school is a viable option for the top underclassmen who, in years past, would jump at the chance to be drafted by any NFL team. Now, the top players will have millions in the bank before they enter the draft, and those millions are about to become leverage. Leverage for underclassmen to stay in school another year, rather than join an undesirable NFL club and leverage for seniors to ward off interest for unwanted teams. With a few million in the bank, a player can easily afford to sit out a year and re-enter the draft the following year.
This is not the future. This is now for the Jets. The Raiders will likely select Fernando Mendoza with the first pick in this year’s draft. That means highly regarded Dante Moore, quarterback from Oregon, will be on the board for the Jets with the second pick, or will he? Moore, an underclassman, has not yet declared that he will enter the draft. He is worth more than two million dollars in NIL as a college quarterback. That’s two million bucks to stay at the University of Oregon, win another ten to twelve games, and chase the national championship again. There are multiple times that amount waiting for him with the Jets, but is the additional money enough? This is not the no-brainer it used to be. The Jets are not as attractive a destination as they used to be. Today’s kids are not the same as they used to be.
And what of free agents and top-tier coaches? Will the Jets be looked upon as an equal or better option than some other team ready to ink a deal worth a comparable amount of money? There are going to be players and coaches with enough options that the Jets will simply not be part of their decision process. The team will need to start paying a premium for its failures – singing players and coaches to far more lucrative deals than other teams would need to agree to.
I hope that Dante Moore or whomever the Jets desire with the second pick in the draft dreams of playing in NFL, and that passion for competing in the game at its highest level overshadows the concerns about joining a franchise in turmoil. I hope the Jets can find talented coaches, coordinators, and players in free agency because taking on the challenge of turning this franchise around is as attractive as it is daunting. I hope I am wrong about the present-day Jets; because, if I am right, we are in a very dark place where it will be hard to force any optimism even in the offseason, which has been the only time Jet fans have been able to have any optimism at all.
