With the Chargers, Panthers, Dolphins, Broncos and Browns all losing this past weekend, the playoff picture is starting gain some clarity. And it\u2019s about damn time! Do you know how erratic this list has been all season? It\u2019s about time that we had some definitive contenders on the road to Superbowl XLIII.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Before we get to the Furious Seven, there are some things you need to understand. The Giants get the top billing because they\u2019re undefeated against their division. Same goes for Tampa Bay, which has the best conference record at 7-2 SU in the NFC South, while boasting the best division record with a 2-1 SU record. The division and conference records serve as the tie-breakers when it comes to teams entering the big dance at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
The Giants get the nod because they haven\u2019t lost to their own conference yet. Eli Manning has averaged 6.88 yards per pass this season, while lofting up 18 touchdowns and shredding any secondary that stands in his way. He\u2019s a long time gone from the days of the \u201cEli Pouty Face\u201d and is now one of the elite quarterbacks in the league.<\/p>\n
The loss of Brandon Jacobs is alarming, but the Giants simply leaned on their defense in times of need while dismantling the Cardinals. They\u2019ll have a stiff challenge against the Redskins\u2019 defense this weekend, but the Giants are well on their way to clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Is that necessarily a good thing considering that they won the Superbowl in four consecutive road games last year?<\/p>\n
Next Matchup: NYG -3 vs. Washington<\/em><\/p>\n It was bound to happen. When you are consistently grinding out victories, you\u2019re destined to give up one blowout game. The funny thing about this loss is that it\u2019s just what the Titans may have needed. Now the pressure of perfection is off their shoulders and they can focus on taking care of the horrific Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n Tennessee\u2019s defense, while giving up an absurd amount of point up to Leon Washington and the Jets are still ranked second in the league in points against (15.0) and have the best road passing defense with only 155.2 pass yards against per game on the road. Have fun, Daunte!<\/p>\n Next Matchup: Tennessee -11 vs. Detroit<\/em><\/p>\n Steeler Nation got a massive lift last week after they destroyed Cincinnati in some brutal weather 27-10. With Roethlisberger finally getting Willie Parker back in the fold with fourteen touches for 37 yards. It\u2019s not the best production ever, but Parker is an integral part of this team\u2019s balanced offensive attack. Again, the case for Pittsburgh will always be made because of their outstanding defense, which allows a league best 14.6 points against. They\u2019ll get their stiffest test to date when they face the 400-yard man himself, Matt Cassell and the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n Next Matchup: Pittsburgh vs. New England -1<\/em><\/p>\n Ok, I\u2019ll bite. Between a quarterback like Brett Favre, a bulldozer like Thomas Jones and a breakaway threat in Leon Washington, the Jets have landed, baby. There was a rampant fever surrounding this team heading in to the season, but being the squad that took down the Mighty Titans has delivered the street cred, and betting credence, the Jets have felt they have deserved. It\u2019s a mighty good thing that Favre had to brave the Wisconsin winters now that mother nature has turned in to a cold, hard bitch with the snowfall arriving early this year. <\/a>The Jets are balanced, confident and 7-4 ATS on the season. Two weeks ago they vanquished the Patriots. This week they toppled the Titans. Now they get to put the Broncos out to pasture.<\/p>\n Next Matchup: Denver vs. NYJ -7<\/em><\/p>\n The Bucs are your official \u201cunder the radar\u201d team of 2008. Responding to the dismal loss to Dallas a month ago, the Bucs have ripped off three wins. Granted, they\u2019ve been against KC, Minnesota and now Detroit, but wins are wins. For the easy-schedule Bucs, they\u2019ve made the most of it. The good fortune for the Bucs is two-fold. They lost Earnest Graham but got back the guy he replaced as Cadillac returned this past weekend. It\u2019ll take some time before Caddy gets his confidence back. The other part of their good fortune has to do with Carolina sputtering in to the dirt with Jake Delhomme\u2019s elbow falling off and the Saints getting off to another pitiful start. Well guess who\u2019s on the table this week? That\u2019s right \u2013 Drew Brees and the Saints. Let\u2019s see how good this Tampa Cover-2 really is\u2026<\/p>\n Next Matchup: New Orleans vs. Tampa -3.5<\/p>\n The Colts are damn lucky that the rest of the AFC is burning down to the ground. With a tight win over the Chargers, the Colts have thrust themselves in to the Wildcard picture. Peyton Manning has returned to being himself, and with that the running game has once again opened up. Addai put up 70 effective rushing yards and Manning had five receivers with 5+ catches each on the weekend. The surprising part? Reggie Wayne only had two catches.<\/p>\n Next Matchup: Indianapolis -4 vs. Cleveland<\/em><\/p>\n Yep, those Cowboys. Tony Romo threw for 341 yards against San Francisco, nothing three touchdowns. Terrell Owens counted for 213 of those yards as the high-flying Cowboys offense returned to form to crush their long-time foes, the 49ers. Dallas has to run the table to secure a spot with teams like Atlanta, Arizona, Washington, Minnesota and Chicago all in the mix to notch a playoff spot. The Cowboys were our favorites for the NFC heading in to the season, so they get the nod. But that defense has to get it\u2019s act together before we take them seriously as a solid sports betting play again.<\/p>\n Next Matchup: Seattle vs. Dallas -12.5<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Review, analysis of the 2008 Week 13 NFL Power Rankings, where does your favorite team stack up from the betting viewpoint? Handicapping preview by our nfl football betting experts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1646,184,66502,1618,830,840,844,5326,3125,1644,1645,869,1014,1015,1168,3126,1643,4906,5325],"class_list":["post-4769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl","tag-betting-analysis","tag-betus","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-futures","tag-nfl-handicapping","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-picks","tag-nfl-power-ranking","tag-nfl-power-ratings","tag-nfl-rankings","tag-nfl-ratings","tag-nfl-sportsbooks","tag-power-rankings","tag-power-ratings","tag-sportsbook","tag-team-rankings","tag-team-ratings","tag-week-13","tag-week-13-nfl-power-rankings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4769"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103483,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4769\/revisions\/103483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Tennessee Titans (10-1)<\/h3>\n
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3)<\/h3>\n
4. New York Jets (8-3)<\/h3>\n
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-3)<\/h3>\n
6. Indianapolis Colts (7-4)<\/h3>\n
7. Dallas Cowboys (7-4)<\/h3>\n