NFL Standings, Week 13

Quick hits from week 13

That was the most off I've seen Drew Brees since he first donned a Saints jersey. So many throws were late, or sailing, and Brees simply never looked comfortable. It was jarring, actually.
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Jim Harbaugh looked like a genius for 2 weeks. Kaepernick led his team to a dismantling of the Bears, and then went into New Orleans and beat the Saints. But this week Jim Harbaugh gets questioned, because the 49ers lost to the Rams in a game where the Rams scored 0 offensive touchdowns, and Kaepernick handed the Rams 8 points. The Rams scored their lone touchdown on a fumble return when Kaepernick pitched the ball over his teammate's head on an option play. And Kaepernick took a safety in throwing the ball away from his own end zone on a play that started on his 17 yardline. Both are plays Alex Smith would not have made, and not making those two plays probably gives San Francisco the win.
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Having not watched a second of the game, I still feel very safe in declaring the Cardinals-Jets game as one of the top 5 worst games in the last 20 years.
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At what point do we have to give in and simply say the Colts are on a spectacular run and all we can do is watch? Well, perhaps a better question is how the hell did Detroit give up that lead. And better yet, how did Detroit give up the game on the last play of the game where the Colts had to score from the Detroit 14 yard line?
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At some point, Denver's propensity to take its foot off the gas after they get out to a 2nd half lead is going to come back to bite them in the rear end.
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Wow Dallas is a complete and total mess.
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As someone who had to sit through an entire year of Tarvaris Jackson as my team's starting quarterback, I am so unbelievably excited to have Russell Wilson as my team's starting quarterback both now and for the foreseeable future. 
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Baltimore is still a total fraudulent team, and likely will be as long as they continue to employ both Cam Cameron as their offensive coordinator and Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback.
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Here are the updated NFL standings through week 13:

AFC
AFC EAST
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
y-New England Patriots	9	3	0	0.750	8-1	5-0	0.477	0.497
New York Jets	5	7	0	0.417	3-5	2-3	0.458	0.583
Buffalo Bills	5	7	0	0.417	4-6	1-3	0.283	0.497
Miami Dolphins	5	7	0	0.417	3-6	1-3	0.458	0.510
AFC NORTH
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
Baltimore Ravens	9	3	0	0.750	8-2	4-1	0.426	0.465
Pittsburgh Steelers	7	5	0	0.583	4-5	2-2	0.464	0.472
Cincinnati Bengals	7	5	0	0.583	5-5	1-3	0.333	0.431
Cleveland Browns	4	8	0	0.333	4-5	2-3	0.438	0.521
AFC SOUTH
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
x-Houston Texans	11	1	0	0.917	9-0	4-0	0.432	0.451
Indianapolis Colts	8	4	0	0.667	5-3	2-1	0.396	0.431
Tennessee Titans	4	8	0	0.333	3-6	0-4	0.438	0.556
Jacksonville Jaguars	2	10	0	0.167	2-6	2-3	0.500	0.576
AFC WEST
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
y-Denver Broncos	9	3	0	0.750	6-2	4-0	0.380	0.500
San Diego Chargers	4	8	0	0.333	4-5	3-2	0.229	0.493
Oakland Raiders	3	9	0	0.250	3-6	1-2	0.306	0.493
Kansas City Chiefs	2	10	0	0.167	0-8	0-4	0.333	0.507
x-clinched playoff spot, y-clinched division title, z-clinched first round bye, c-clinched conference title

NFC
NFC EAST
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
New York Giants	7	5	0	0.583	6-3	2-3	0.494	0.490
Washington Redskins	6	6	0	0.500	6-4	3-1	0.458	0.510
Dallas Cowboys	6	6	0	0.500	5-5	3-2	0.361	0.514
Philadelphia Eagles	3	9	0	0.250	1-8	1-3	0.556	0.500
NFC NORTH
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
Green Bay Packers	8	4	0	0.667	6-3	3-0	0.474	0.528
Chicago Bears	8	4	0	0.667	5-3	2-1	0.401	0.507
Minnesota Vikings	6	6	0	0.500	4-5	2-2	0.368	0.483
Detroit Lions	4	8	0	0.333	3-5	0-4	0.365	0.535
NFC SOUTH
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
y-Atlanta Falcons	11	1	0	0.917	7-1	3-1	0.386	0.389
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	6	6	0	0.500	3-5	2-2	0.292	0.451
New Orleans Saints	5	7	0	0.417	3-5	2-2	0.450	0.517
Carolina Panthers	3	9	0	0.250	3-7	1-3	0.389	0.528
NFC WEST
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
San Francisco 49ers	8	3	1	0.708	6-3-1	2-1-1	0.479	0.486
Seattle Seahawks	7	5	0	0.583	5-4	0-3	0.536	0.500
St. Louis Rams	5	6	1	0.458	5-3-1	4-0-1	0.492	0.535
Arizona Cardinals	4	8	0	0.333	2-6	1-3	0.500	0.545
x-clinched playoff spot, y-clinched division title, z-clinched first round bye, c-clinched conference title

And here is the playoff picture through week 13:

AFC
CURRENT PLAYOFF PICTURE
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
x-Houston Texans	11	1	0	0.917	9-0	4-0	0.432	0.451
y-New England Patriots	9	3	0	0.750	8-1	5-0	0.477	0.497
Baltimore Ravens	9	3	0	0.750	8-2	4-1	0.426	0.465
y-Denver Broncos	9	3	0	0.750	6-2	4-0	0.380	0.500
Indianapolis Colts	8	4	0	0.667	5-3	2-1	0.396	0.431
Pittsburgh Steelers	7	5	0	0.583	4-5	2-2	0.464	0.472
Cincinnati Bengals	7	5	0	0.583	5-5	1-3	0.333	0.431

NFC
CURRENT PLAYOFF PICTURE
Team	W	L	T	Pct	Conference	Division	SOV	SOS
y-Atlanta Falcons	11	1	0	0.917	7-1	3-1	0.386	0.389
San Francisco 49ers	8	3	1	0.708	6-3-1	2-1-1	0.479	0.486
Green Bay Packers	8	4	0	0.667	6-3	3-0	0.474	0.528
New York Giants	7	5	0	0.583	6-3	2-3	0.494	0.490
Chicago Bears	8	4	0	0.667	5-3	2-1	0.401	0.507
Seattle Seahawks	7	5	0	0.583	5-4	0-3	0.536	0.500
Washington Redskins	6	6	0	0.500	6-4	3-1	0.458	0.510
Dallas Cowboys	6	6	0	0.500	5-5	3-2	0.361	0.514
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	6	6	0	0.500	3-5	2-2	0.292	0.451
Minnesota Vikings	6	6	0	0.500	4-5	2-2	0.368	0.483

Interesting notes: 

• The playoff picture has no new teams compared to last week. There would be 3 new teams from last year (Indianapolis, Chicago, and Seattle)
• Since the NFL moved to the 4 divisions per conference format in 2002, there has never been more than 8 playoff teams returning from the previous season. The average number of repeat playoff teams is 6.  
• The remaining schedules for all teams in the playoff picture (AFC): 
• Houston (.646 - @NE, IND, MIN, @IND) -- hardest
• New England (.552 - HOU, SF, @JAX, MIA)
• Baltimore (.604 - @WAS, DEN, NYG, @CIN) 
• Denver (.375 - @OAK, @BAL, CLE, KC) -- easiest
• Indianapolis (.583 - TEN, @HOU, @KC, HOU)
• Pittsburgh (.479 - SD, @DAL, CIN, CLE)
• Cincinnati (.521 - DAL, @PHI, @PIT, BAL)
• The remaining schedules for all teams in the playoff picture (NFC): 
• Atlanta (.417 - @CAR, NYG, @DET, TB) -- easiest
• San Francisco (.521 - MIA, @NE, @SEA, ARI)
• Green Bay (.458 - DET, @CHI, TEN, @MIN)
• New York Giants (.583 - NO, @ATL, @BAL, PHI)
• Chicago (.458 - @MIN, GB, @ARI, @DET)
• Seattle (.479 - ARI, @BUF, SF, STL)
• Washington (.458 - BAL, @CLE, @PHI, DAL)
• Dallas (.521 - @CIN, PIT, NO, @WAS)
• Tampa Bay (.510 - PHI, @NO, STL, @ATL)
• Minnesota (.677 - CHI, @STL, @HOU, GB) -- hardest
• New England holds the edge in the 3-team fight for the AFC's 2nd seed with a better conference record than either the Ravens or the Broncos. Plus, the Broncos and Ravens play each other in week 15, so one of them is dropping to 3 conference losses. 
• Seattle's biggest challenger for the 6th spot will be the Washington Redskins. If Seattle loses one of their final 3 NFC games (San Francisco and St. Louis at home both look tough right now) and the Redskins win out, the Redskins would win the tiebreaker with an 8-4 NFC record versus Seattle's 7-5 one. 
• But the Redskins may be setting their sights higher, as the Giants' closing slate is pretty brutal, outside of Philly. 
• And while Seattle could struggle to hold off the Redskins, if they are able to win out, they would leapfrog the Bears/Packers week 15 loser (via head-to-head tiebreaker) and could leapfrog the 49ers if they lose one of their other 3 games as well (like week 15 at New England)
• While Houston still has some competition for the #1 seed (unless they beat New England this week), the Falcons have too easy a road for them to lose enough games to endanger their home field advantage. That's good news for Tampa Bay, as it's highly unlikely the Falcons will have anything to play for in their week 17 match up. 

A Quick Look Ahead to Week 14:

Dallas at Cincinnati (Sunday, 1:00 PM) - All of a sudden Dallas is part of a 3-team race for the NFC East, while Cincinnati is part of a 3-team race for the 2 AFC Wild Card spots.
Chicago at Minnesota (Sunday, 1:00 PM) - 2 weekends ago, Chicago smoked Minnesota coming off a terrible road loss to the 49ers. This weekend, Chicago gets Minny again, coming off a very tough loss at home to Seattle.
Baltimore at Washington (Sunday, 1:00 PM) - Can the Ravens defense slow down the Redskin offense? Given they couldn't keep Charlie Batch and the Steelers under 20 points, I'm doubtful.
Houston at New England (Sunday, 1:00 PM) - Houston can all but wrap up the #1 seed in the AFC with a win, which would give them the head-to-head tiebreaker over all of the other division leaders.