Testaverde Touchdown: NFL Power Poll, Week 15

Rank (Last)	Team	Record	Notes
1 (1)		12-2	A great point I read somewhere on the internet this week: Everyone in the NFL seems to be suffering from a shortage of good defensive backs…except the Seahawks, who lost 2 of their top 3 CBs on their bye week and barely missed a beat. The bottom line? Pete Carroll knows defense, and specifically defensive backs.
2 (4)		10-4	As a Seahawks fan if you allowed me to remove one team from the playoffs to give my team an easier road, I would remove the 49ers without having to think twice. Especially after last week, when 6/8 division leaders lost.
3 (5)		10-4	Bug measuring stick game this week against a Saints team that a) thumped them good 2 weeks ago and b) does not show up on the road. If Carolina can't win this one, they're still a year away from being true contenders.
4 (2)		11-3	At some point the defense is going to have to up their game, or by late January we're going to be talking about another Peyton postseason flameout.
5 (6)		10-4	They have just been living the risky life for too long. That's not a way to make a sustained playoff run. Then again, I still trust them more than anyone else in the AFC in January.
6 (7)		11-3	I've been saying all season that Kansas City will beat the lesser teams but be outmatched against the upper echelon teams in the AFC. But at this point, who are the upper echelon teams that will outclass the Chiefs? We need to start taking them more seriously as a contender.
7 (3)		10-4	If the NFL moves all NFC playoff games and the Super Bowl to New Orleans, then I will feel good about the Saints' chances. It's not even an indoor/outdoor thing, as St. Louis plays in a dome and the Saints still looked like garbage against them.
8 (11)		8-6	Are they the most dangerous team in the AFC right now? The more you think about it, the less ridiculous that question seems.
9 (10)		9-5	This team has a great defense, but I just don't see how you can trust a team with Carson Palmer at quarterback. When he needs to raise his play (against the better teams), it just doesn't happen.
10 (8)		8-6	That thud you heard last week was everyone jumping off of the Eagles' bandwagon after that hideous loss to Minnesota.
11 (13)		8-6	I hear the groundswell for Joe Philbin as coach of the year for how he kept the team together when controversy threatened to rip them apart. But this ignores the fact that the controversy was caused by bullying issues in the locker room that Philbin didn't have control over or did nothing about. If you cause your team's problems, then mitigate the effect of those problems, does that really deserve an award?
12 (9)		9-5	Every time they look ready to take the next step as a team, they come up with an absolute stinker of a performance. And now they have Baltimore nipping at their heels and could very well miss out on the postseason altogether.
13 (12)		9-5	A few weeks ago, Indy looked like a clear one-and-done team in the postseason. Andrew Luck is still getting hit too much, and their defense has gone in the tank. But with the rest of the AFC struggling, does that open the door back up for Luck and the Colts?
14 (16)		7-7	They left their postseason run a little bit too late. It's like Norv Turner's ghost is haunting them.
15 (15)		8-6	If you're looking for coach of the year candidates, how about Marc Trestman? His team has no defense and had to start Josh McCown for a good month, yet the team is still in line to win the NFC North.
16 (17)		7-6-1	Full credit to Matt Flynn and the Packers for taking advantage of the Cowboys' epic half of failure. But it shouldn't take any playoff team 30 minutes of game-time to solve the current edition of the Dallas defense.
17 (20)		6-8	Good news: Even in a down year, the Steelers are still (barely) in the playoff picture in week 16. Bad news: the Steelers are in probably the worst cap situation of all 32 teams and have a very difficult offseason ahead of them.
18 (21)		6-8	What on earth happened to this team in the first half of the season??? And why did they start playing better defense after losing Sam Bradford?
19 (14)		7-7	The two words that best describe a Jim Schwartz led team: undisciplined and sloippy. In a related story, Schwartz will likely be looking for a new job if the Lions can't rally their way back into the playoffs.
20 (18)		5-9	Frustratingly, this offseason would be the time to extend starting quarterback Jake Locker, but his grade so far is incomplete due to injuries.
21 (19)		7-7	Their defense is horrid, their quarterback gets into trouble by trying to do too much, and there is a complete void of leadership in the organization. Other than that, they're good.
22 (22)		4-10	Does a 4-2 record since November 4th erase the 0-8 start with all the talent on this roster? Put another way, is Greg Schiano off the hot seat?
23 (26)		4-9-1	Is it promising that this team is continuing to play hard and get results at the end of a lost season? Or is it annoying that they waited for the season to be over to start getting results? Until this year, this was called the Carolina Panthers question.
24 (24)		4-10	Two more games until the Browns can (maybe) finally get the quarterback position right.
25 (23)		5-9	Has Archie orchestrated a trade back to San Diego for Eli yet?
26 (28)		5-9	The Bills need to do a much better job of keeping EJ Manuel healthy next season.
27 (25)		4-10	Two more games until the Jaguars can get started on infusing the roster with some NFL talent.
28 (27)		6-8	Geno Smith should thank his lucky stars that the Jets drafted him. His year hasn't been very good (though admittedly there's not much to work with on that Jets offense), but Jets fans are so thrilled their quarterback isn't Mark Sanchez that they're not giving him the usual treatment they give bad quarterbacks.
29 (29)		4-10	Two more games and this lost season will finally be over.
30 (30)		4-10	If current Raiders' owner Mark Davis (son of Al) is smart, he'll keep the current leadership structure intact even after another lackluster season. The team is finally free of salary cap hell and should improve substantially in 2014. Changing coaches and/or GMs would be judging their efforts with both hands tied behind their backs.
31 (31)		3-11	Can you imagine how much worse this season would have felt to Redskins fans if the team had an offensive nickname?
32 (32)		2-12	So, who do they take with the first overall draft pick?