The New Orleans-Seattle matchup provided all of us football heads with a Power Rankings rarity: No. 1 vs. No. 2. But it might as well have been No. 1 vs. No. 32 -- come to think of it, Wade Phillips' defense might have given the 12th Man more of a challenge than the Saints did. As a matter of fact, those Texansdid give the 9-3 Patriots all they could handle down in Houston, part of a string of Week 13 contests that went down to the wire.
Circling back to the Seahawks, there is no way they aren't No. 1 after holding Drew Brees and Co. to seven points.
What a weird season 2013 has been. Glennon > Brees > Kaepernick? Or not.
This was in response to the risk I took in predicting the Saints would win in my weekly picks column. Seahawks fans certainly have had their share of pain, Alyx, and that goes all the way back to the Jim Zorn and Dave Krieg days. Things sure are on the up and up now.
I'll try not to screw that pick up like I did Saints-Seahawks. Although, if Bilbo fumbles at any point, I'm sure Bill Belichick will have him standing on the sidelines in street clothes. Or spying. Too soon?
It's never too soon to rank the rest of the member clubs. We know Seattle is No. 1, but take a look at the rest. Feel free to share your thoughts, or pain, at the usual place ... @Harrison_NFL.
Let the dissension commence ...
(Note: Arrows reflect change in standings from last week's Power Rankings.)
The Saints' secondary proved that New Orleans has almost no hope of winning a Super Bowl this season. That was as bad a performance as we've seen from a back seven. At one point, it looked as though Russell Wilson was simply told to seek out Malcolm Jenkins and let fly. What a butt-kicking.
While Cooper was getting burned, the Chiefs' offense showed for the second consecutive week that it could do some burning of its own, putting up 452 yards after posting 395 yards and 38 points versus the Chargers in Week 12. That kind of thing can be a confidence-builder come playoff time.
Really, things couldn't have gone better for the Lions in Week 13. I mean, when Kevin Ogletree is making one-handed catches in the end zone for you, it's your NFL week.
Miami is in a dogfight with Baltimore and San Diego for the AFC's sixth playoff seed. The Dolphins lost to the Ravens in Week 5 but did beat the Chargers in Week 11. Next up: the Steelers, and an opportunity to essentially eliminate one of their competitors for that spot.
That said, Alshon Jeffery made the catch of the day, if not the year. How about his season? Talk about all over the map. Consider his weekly yardage totals since Week 5: 218, 27, 105, 60, 114, 83, 42, and 249.
Thursday night's matchup with the
Steelers was a classic slugfest, but
John Harbaugh's group made the plays when it needed to. This was especially true of the very unit that Harbaugh used to specialize in: special teams. By the way, who's a better kicker than
Justin Tucker?
Noooooobody.
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It was nice to see third-round draft pick Stedman Bailey finally get involved. Everyone knows wide receiver has been the Achilles' heel of the Rams' offense for years. If Tavon Austin's former West Virginia teammate can take a step forward, maybe this position group won't be the weak link. Let's see how December plays out.
McGloin wasn't spectacular in Dallas, but he gave his receivers chances to make plays on the ball, and he managed the game very well. Is he going to wow you like Terrelle Pryor? No. Is Pryor just good enough to get you beat? Yes.
But we digress. Heckuva win by the Vikings, who didn't let adversity rule the day. Of course, that's easy to do when Adrian Peterson runs the rock 35 times for 211 yards.
For the most part, Mike Glennon has acquitted himself well, putting together a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 13:5 with a 90.3 passer rating -- though those numbers drop to 7:4 and 78.4 when a blitz is on. Thing is, those latter numbers will improve as the game slows down for him; i.e., this is totally normal. We like Glennon thus far. Whether he is the long-term answer is another question entirely.
Can a group of receivers perform more poorly? Pierre Garcon dropped a perfect pass on the last drive, then allowed the ball to get ripped right out of his hands a few plays later. Logan Paulsen dropped a pass during that final stanza, as well. @nflukhank posed the question: Who was the Redskins' last playmaking receiver? The answer: Art Monk.
You'll hear much talk about Gary Kubiak's future over the next few weeks. His fate is far less sealed than you'd imagine.
Follow Elliot Harrison on Twitter @Harrison_NFL.