NFL Power Rankings: Cowboys keep No. 1 spot

Last year, Washington won the NFC East by two games at 9-7. Kam Chancellor has returned to the lineup and Michael Bennett is expected back soon. It’s the classic “show me what you’ve got game” between a team moving the delicate balance between contender and pretender and the Washington Redskins. I can’t find a challenger from the rest of the field. The Falcons are now at 3-1, while the Buccaneers are at 2-1. They have the game’s best offensive line, so dominant that it creates tunnels instead of holes for the game’s best running back, a player perfectly adept at creating space for himself anyway. Eventually their luck is going to run out. The Ravens feature arguably the best rushing defense in the league. Every NFC team has now seen their bye week come and go, and most of their playoff hopes will be determined in the final 6 games of the season. And I’d give the Seahawks a slight edge.

31 – San Francisco 49ers 1-9 (LW: 31) – Everyone thought Chip Kelly’s 49ers would be really bad this year, and they are.

Pittsburgh started out 4-1 before hitting a four-game losing streak. Their remaining opponents have a combined record of 35-24-1. The opposing team has the advantage of field position, which puts a hard burden on the Eagles’ defense.

Don’t look now, Dallas. NFC North I think the Minnesota Vikings will make a come back.

The game of the day is clearly Redskins-Cowboys (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX). During the three-game losing streak, the criticism was the Giants overpaid for those pieces and Jerry Reese appeared to be on thin ice. The Colts have no chance without him.

Even on the weekend, in what turned out to be a fairly routine victory for the Seahawks, the Eagles lost little respect, proving again that they’re in the tier just below “belonging”.

Also complicating matters is the fact that the Thanksgiving late game is part of NBC’s Sunday Night Football package, not the Thursday night slate that’s shared across NBC, CBS, the NFL Network and, this year, Twitter. Depending on how you look at them, the Giants can either inspire confidence or have you awaiting a disturbingly familiar Big Blue decline.

Still, even a 5-1 finish to the season wouldn’t guarantee Philly a playoff spot. Especially when the AFC North leader is… For the sake of this theory, we will assume that the Giants and Cowboys will both win their Week 13 matchups on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-5) and the Minnesota Vikings (6-4), respectively. They’re closer to being an average team than they are an actually good team.

Nine out of the Giants’ 10 games have been decided by 7 points or fewer this season, something only eight other teams have experienced since 1940.

You know what else people like, but maybe as not as much as they used to?

Titans (-3.5) at Bears: The Bears are in full-scale disarray.

Giants (-7) at Browns: The winless Browns are running out of chances to record their first win and avoid matching the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only 0-16 teams in National Football League history.

Bucs (5-5): Seahawks (7-2-1), at Chargers (4-6), Saints (4-6), at Cowboys (9-1), at Saints (4-6), Panthers (4-6).

Detroit has gone 4-1 over their last five games and now leads the division.

26 – Los Angeles Rams 4-6 (LW: 25) – Jared Goff completed 54.8% of his attempts for 4.3 yards per attempt, zero touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a 65.8 passer rating. The two AFC wild card teams, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos, are sitting at 7-3. The loser falls into third place. Three of the four are at home, where the Broncos are 4-1 this season. The Packers are 0-3 straight-up and ATS in November.

Things only got worse as scandal after scandal seemed to rock the team, first with the accusation that defensive tackle Jay Bromley had sexually assaulted a woman, then with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.’s temper tantrums and finally with the revelation that kicker Josh Brown had physically abused his ex-wife. It’s now or never for the Pack.