Home I Daily Fantasy Sports I DFS Featured Articles I NFL Week 12 Power Rankings
Week 11 dealt some surprises to experts and fans. Especially shocking was the Kansas City Chiefs loss to the Giants. At least the tendency for the New York team to allow at least one touchdown to a tight end continues. Kansas TE Travis Kelce was the latest scorer in that streak.
Since Week 12 already started on Thursday night and we are approaching the Playoff-deciding games, we decided to give you our take on the best NFL teams so far. Here is our power ranking list of the top 5 NFL franchises entering Week 12.
QB Drew Brees is doing a great job leading his offense but if we take a closer look at what is happening, we see that the veteran is not the main points generator. The Saints are among the highest scoring teams in the NFL this season with 34 touchdowns and the actual reason for that is the successful runs. QB Drew Brees has thrown for one or less touchdowns in three of his last five games. As for run plays, most of the Saints points come from RB Mark Ingram and RB Alvin Kamara. Combined, both have rushed for more than 1400 yards.
The Saints’ main competitor for first place in the NFC South division for now is the Carolina Panthers with a record of 7-3 and a favorable matchup ahead against the Jets. But let’s not underestimate the Atlanta Falcons (6-4) who also have theoretical chances of getting their hands on the Playoff stage.
It is quite amazing how the Steelers manage to lose games or have close matchups with such great player personnel. Both RB Le’Veon Bell and WR Antonio Brown lead their respective NFL rankings for rushing and receiving yards. For 10 games so far Brown has already passed the one thousand mark with 1026 passing yards. Still, the guys in black and yellow, as it has always been, are the pure favorites for reaching the Playoff phase as AFC divisional round leaders.
In NFL Week 12 the Steelers are playing at home against the Green Bay Packers, who clearly lack the presence of QB Aaron Rodgers (ribs). We had high expectations for the performance of the Packer’s backup QB Brett Hundley, but until now he hadn’t met them. Logic dictates the Steelers will increase their stats to 9-2 but this is football and the ball can always roll both ways.
The Steelers’ main rival – Baltimore Ravens, are way behind with a record of 5-5, struggling to stay above the Cincinnati Bengals (4-6).
It seems QB Sam Bradford’s injury wasn’t that unlucky for the Vikes after all. QB Case Keenum tops Week 12 Best DFS picks predictions. From a deep fantasy target Keenum transformed into the main points generator of his fantasy owners. His faithful partners in generating touchdowns and passing targets are WR Adam Thielen and WR Stefon Diggs.
After Thursday Night’s Football win against the Lions, the Vikes (now with a record of 9-2) confirmed their status as NFL 2017/18 top performers and lead the overall power rankings, at least until the end of this week when all the rest will have their NFL Week 12 games completed.
The Patriots have QB Tom Brady who, even after a shaky start and issues with the wide receivers later on, now leads the league in passing yards. Brady has thrown for 3,146 yards so far and sits comfortably on top of the table with more than 300 yards advantage from the next best QB — Seahawks’ Russel Wilson. When you add WR Chris Hogan, TE Rob Gronkowski and WR Brandin Cooks to the mix, it becomes clear why the Pats are leading the AFC East by such a margin. All three remaining formations in the Patriots division (the Bills, the Dolphins, and the Jets) have close records and ambitions to get the second-place ticket for the Playoffs train.
Last week WR Brandin Cooks, the deep pass deadly weapon for coach Bill Belichick, played his best game of the season so far. For 6 receptions he gained 149 yards and scored a touchdown against the Raiders. And these stats came despite him being constantly double-teamed by the Raiders’ defensive backs. In an interview after the game, coach Belichick has told the media that nobody works harder than Cooks.
This Sunday the Patriots travel to Miami to play a favorable matchup against the Dolphins. We expect to see the seventh consecutive win in the New England streak but shouldn’t be fooled by the recent poor Dolphins performance. They lost their last 4 games and desperately need a win to stay in the Playoff battle. If we see any Week 12 surprises, one of them might come from Miami.
The Eagles are the undisputed number one this season. While everybody was focussed on the NFL Open Game when the Super Bowl favorites from New England lost against the Chiefs, the terrible 49-ers offence, the disappointing performance (or lack of any) of RB David Johnson (wrist) and DL Myles Garrett (ankle) or the WR injury problems of the Giants, what we kind of missed was the absolutely top performance of the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles did great not only in taking full advantage of QB Carson Wentz, who actually did hint about his high class potential last season. They also unleashed what was left of the power in the ex-Patriot RB LeGarrette Blount. Now they are doing the same with the ex-Dolphin RB Jay Ajayi. It seems the Eagles are good at acquiring strong but already not gameplan-fitting players from other teams and know how to turn them into scoring beasts.
The second place in the NFC East division will be highly contested between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins, both with a 5-6 record.
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