By Andre Watson

Contenders:

Green Bay Packers

The Packers led by MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers has been nearly unstoppable when he has been at the helm dropping two games all year. They have also knocked off some of the NFC’s toughest competition, beating the Rams and going to Arizona and beating the Cardinals without star receiver Devante Adams. The Packers will also hold home field advantage meaning teams will have to travel to Lambeau in January, which won’t bode good weather.

Kansas City Chiefs

Good teams find a way, and that has been the case for the Kansas City Chiefs this year. At times it looked like everything was falling apart, and teams were figuring out Patrick Mahomes but while the offense struggled the defense has led the way for Kansas City. The AFC west champs will always be a tough out, as no one wants to face a healthy Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, and a playoff Andy Reid, and I would look to see Kansas City make another run at the Super Bowl.

Tennessee Titans

Two words. Derrick. Henry. With the superstar running back looking to make a return for the playoffs, this makes the Tennessee Titans as scary as anyone. Henry has proved to wreak havoc to defenses in the playoffs and this has been a TItans team who has stayed afloat without the All-Pro running back. It might not be as easy as plug and play. I believe he will come back and the team won’t miss a beat.

Pretenders:

Los Angeles Rams

The inconsistent play of Matthew Stafford has plagued this team down the stretch. This coupled with Stafford’s lack of playoff success makes this Rams team hard to get behind. Though they have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL with Stars everywhere the position that matters most is QB and if he isn’t on the team isn’t on.

New England Patriots

This year's feel good team won’t last long in the playoffs. Mac Jones has done a great job in his rookie campaign and this seems to be Bill Belichick’s best coaching job, but with the least explosive receiving core in the playoffs and the most limited QB in the playoffs, I don’t think the Patriots have enough to put together a win in this year's playoffs.

Dallas Cowboys

There are many problems with the Cowboys and particularly on the offensive end, but the issue that I see as the biggest problem is the struggles at home. The Cowboys are 6-2 on the road and put up some of their best performances on the road whereas many of their ugly losses like, the Thanksgiving loss versus the Raiders and the most recent loss versus the Cardinals came at home. If the Cowboys can protect Jerry’s World and make it out of the wildcard then they could be a problem…This issue is if they can actually make it out of Jerry’s World.

By Andre Watson

1. Tampa Bay: With a Dominant performance over the Buffalo Bills the Buccaneers jump to #1 in this week’s power rankings. Tom Brady and the Buccaneers offense are looking virtually unstoppable, averaging over 400 yards of offense per game. This coupled with a pass rush that is getting better each week Tampa Bay is looking like the frontrunner to win the Super Bowl.

2. Green Bay: The Packers hold their ranking at number 2. Like the Buccaneers, the Packers are led by a veteran QB and an electric offense. The Packers seem to be in a good spot as they have the NFC North locked up.

3. Kansas City Chiefs: 48-9. It’s that simple, the Chiefs are rolling and the Defense is playing better than they EVER have. Add that to having Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid holding down the fort on the offensive end and you’ve got a team that nobody is gonna wanna face in the playoffs.

4. New England Patriots: Falling 3 spots after the bye week, but nonetheless the Patriots are still favorites in the AFC, they have shown they can win games in many different ways. We’ve seen them win shootouts, blow teams out, win games on the ground, and quite frankly this might be Bill Belichick’s best coaching job thus far.

5. Arizona Cardinals: Though the Cardinals have shown to be dominant at times this season, losing DeAndre Hopkins could be a huge issue for Arizona as he was 5th in the NFL in receiving touchdowns and demands attention from defenses week in and week out.

By Andre Watson

1. New England Patriots

The Patriots are riding a 7 game win streak, and simply are just finding a way. Monday Night the Patriots totaled just 19 passing yards in a slugfest with divisional rival Buffalo and still came out victorious in a 14-10 battle. Defense has led the way for the patriots as they've only given up 10.4 points per game during the win streak. The upcoming road won’t be easy as they have a Sunday night match-up against the Colts and a rematch against the Bills but for now we have them ranked #1 in the NFL.

2. Green Bay Packers

When the lights shine the brightest you can count on the Packers showing up, they have arguably the two best wins in the NFL, beating the then undefeated Cardinals without star receiver Davante Adams, and beating the star studded L.A Rams. You could make the case when healthy Green Bay is the Team to beat in the top heavy NFC.

3. Arizona Cardinals

In the words of J.J Watt “Maybe we’re just better”. The Cardinals have been exactly that this season, as the only 10 win team so far the Cardinals have just simply been better than the competition this year. When the Cardinals have Kyler Murray they look unstoppable, dropping just one game to the Packers. In the game Murray missed, the Cardinals dropped to the Panthers 34-10 in Cam Newton's comeback game.

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

How can you have a power ranking without a Tom Brady led team? For the Buccaneers it's simple, fix the secondary play and you’ll be right back in the Super Bowl. Tom and the Offense are rolling, leading the NFL in Passing Yards and Touchdowns. The bottom line for this team is to stay in games long enough to let the GOAT take over and win like they did in the comeback against the Colts.

5. Baltimore Ravens

In recent weeks Baltimore has struggled to pass the ball, but nonetheless they round out our top The defense and special teams have proved to keep the Ravens in games. Which is huge, many times teams have to resort to passing every down to catch up, but with the Ravens keeping all games fairly close they have been able to rely on the running game.