New England Patriots moving back up NFL Power Rankings
Despite being on their bye week, the New England Patriots still moved up this week’s NFL Power Rankings on ESPN.
The New England Patriots suffered an ugly defeat at the hands of the Tennessee Titans in Week 10. It was some sweet revenge for the Titans, who were blown out by the Patriots during the AFC Divisional round this past January, 35-14.
Tennessee returned the favor in Week 10. They handled New England with ease, blowing them out 34-10.
It was a shocking loss for Bill Belichick and company, and not how they wanted to head into their bye week. Prior to this season, get away games were usually a success for New England. They would normally head into their bye on a high note with the offense clicking. This year, that was not the case.
After losing to the Titans, the Patriots fell in ESPN’s NFL Power Rankings. It was an expected drop, as the loss was surprising enough but the blowout was extra salt in the wound.
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It would not have surprised anyone if the Patriots had remained in the No. 6 spot, as they did not have a game this week. However, they actually moved back into the top-five during their bye week.
Heading into Week 12, the Patriots moved back up in ESPN’s NFL Power Rankings. While they did not play, everyone else ahead of them did, and they did not all come away unscathed.
The Los Angeles Chargers, who were No. 4 last week, suffered an ugly loss to the Denver Broncos. Late game execution cost them, as the Broncos never laid down and stole a victory with a game-winning field goal.
As a result, the Chargers dropped in the rankings, falling down to the No. 7 spot. That pushed the Patriots back into the top-5, ending a two-week skid of the team moving down the rankings.
An argument could have been made that they should have even jumped the Pittsburgh Steelers, the new No. 4 team this week. While the Steelers defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road, it was an ugly performance.
Pittsburgh needed a miraculous comeback to defeat the Jaguars. The Steelers scored three touchdowns in a 16:12 span of game time from the end of the third quarter to the end of the fourth quarter to pick up the come from behind victory.
Ben Roethlisberger had three interceptions in the game but scored the go-ahead touchdown to redeem himself. As usual, the Jaguars offense was mostly inept, unable to take full advantage of all the turnovers.
Rounding out the top-5 this week is the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 3, the Los Angeles Rams at No. 2 and the New Orleans Saints at No. 1. The Chiefs and Rams put on a spectacular showing on Monday Night Football that any football fan would have appreciated, with the Rams winning 54-51.
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The Patriots will be looking to keep pace with those teams when they return to the field this week. They will be taking on their AFC East rivals in the New York Jets. Given how both teams went into the bye week and how they have been trending, this game could get ugly, and fast.