Power Rankings: Arizona Cardinals Still Flying High
By Scott Allen
Dec 15, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Arizona Cardinals running back Rashard Mendenhall (28) celebrates with Cardinals tight end Cody Sperry (83) after scoring scoring a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans during the first half at LP Field. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
This week’s power rankings for Raising Zona. A little movement here and there, however your Arizona Cardinals won’t be moving up the rankings again unless they beat the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. It can happen. You have to believe.
1. Seattle Seahawks – back on the winning track after shutting out the New York Giants 23-0.
2. San Francisco 49ers – the win over Tampa showed the Niners are once again on a roll
3. Denver Broncos – had to drop them after a poor home showing against the Chargers.
4. Carolina Panthers – how impressive have the Panthers been? They keep the heat up on Niners and Cardinals.
5. New Orleans Saints – they look very beatable on the road. In two weeks they’ve gone from possible #1 seed to maybe out of playoffs.
6. Kansas City Chiefs – Jaamal Charles is a beast as he scores five touchdowns in rout of Raiders.
7. New England Patriots – well hard to drop them when no one else near them in last weeks rankings was that impressive either.
8. Philadelphia Eagles – a blow out in Minnesota all of a sudden shows vulnerabilities.
9. Arizona Cardinals – blew a 17 point fourth quarter lead but found a way to win on the road
10. Indianapolis Colts – no problems against Houston.
11. San Diego Chargers- they won’t make playoffs but playing well in December once again.
12. Baltimore Ravens – they can’t get the ball in the end zone but still finding ways to win
13. Chicago Bears – Jay Cutler returns and gives the Bears another important victory
14. Cincinnati Bengals – are they a pretender or contender? 15 weeks in and I still can’t tell.
15. Miami Dolphins – another one of my top surprises this season. Still fighting for the playoffs.
16. Detroit Lions – 31 turnovers. I mean, you just aren’t making the playoffs much less winning a division playing like that.
17. Green Bay Packers – Matt Flynn unbelievably has the Packers thinking they can pull off an NFC North division title.
18. Dallas Cowboys – the defense puts in another stinker in the second half against the Packers. They’re done.
19. St. Louis Rams – still can’t figure this team out as they get an impressive home win over the Saints.
20. Pittsburgh Steelers – nice win over the Bengals but they are now playing for pride.
21. Tennessee Titans – almost came back down 34-17 with six minutes left in the game against the Cards.
22. Minnesota Vikings – where has this Vikings team been all season? Trounced the Eagles.
23. NY Jets – stuck with the Panthers for a bit on Sunday but Jets aren’t good enough to pull out wins against good teams on road.
24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – fun to watch at times but other times just make you shake your head and wonder what they are doing out there sometimes?
25. Cleveland Browns – tight game with Bears in second half till the defense stopped playing and just let the Bears do whatever they pretty much wanted.
26. Buffalo Bills – looked decent on the road in Jacksonville.
27. Jacksonville Jaguars – doing what they can with a sub par quarterback in Chad Henne.
28. New York Giants – awful. They didn’t score a single point at home against the Seahawks.
29. Oakland Raiders – speaking about awful defenses….
30. Atlanta Falcons – as bad as they’ve been, I can still picture them getting a win over the Niners or Panthers in next two weeks.
31. Washington Redskins – at least they tried to win on Sunday but came up short by a point to the Falcons.
32. Houston Texans – they’ve given up. Not even being competitive now.