Week 16 NFL power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Carolina (23-19-16-10-8-8-4-4-5-2-3-3-1-1-1)

2 Arizona (14-7-5-3-5-5-6-6-6-6-2-2-3-2-2)

3 New England (4-1-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-2-5-3)

4 Green Bay (1-2-1-1-1-1-2-1-4-5-6-4-7-6-4)

5 Seattle (2-4-4-6-6-6-8-8-7-7-9-9-8-7-6)

6 Pittsburgh (10-13-8-14-15-10-10-11-13-10-8-8-10-9-8)

7 Kansas City (9-9-9-12-17-28-31-24-20-20-17-10-9-8-7)

8 Denver (3-3-3-4-4-4-5-5-1-4-7-6-5-4-5)

9 Cincinnati (17-16-6-5-3-3-3-3-3-3-5-5-4-3-9)

SECOND TIER

10 New York Jets (26-21-11-13-9-9-9-10-11-9-12-16-11-11-10)

11 Minnesota (12-17-12-9-11-11-11-9-9-8-4-7-6-10-12)

THIRD TIER

12 Washington (27-28-19-20-18-17-19-18-19-21-20-23-18-21-17)

13 Oakland (30-32-30-21-21-19-20-16-10-12-14-20-17-19-13)

14 Philadelphia (6-12-23-23-25-20-12-14-14-15-18-22-23-14-11)

15 Houston (25-24-24-26-27-25-23-27-27-29-19-12-12-13-14)

16 New York Giants (24-23-22-16-12-12-14-12-15-13-13-13-16-18-16)

17 Buffalo (18-6-13-8-13-14-15-17-18-14-11-11-14-12-15)

18 Atlanta (22-18-10-7-7-7-7-7-8-11-10-15-19-22-23)

19 St. Louis (13-11-17-24-19-18-18-15-12-17-22-24-24-24-24)

20 Tampa Bay (20-31-31-29-29-24-22-23-22-22-23-17-20-16-18)

21 Chicago (15-27-32-32-30-26-25-26-26-24-21-21-15-17-20)

22 Indianapolis (5-8-20-18-20-15-17-20-21-16-16-14-13-15-19)

FOURTH TIER

23 Detroit (19-22-21-22-22-32-30-32-32-32-31-26-22-23-25)

24 San Diego (8-5-7-11-10-13-13-19-25-26-26-30-26-28-28)

25 New Orleans (21-20-25-27-26-29-26-21-17-19-25-25-25-25-22)

26 Miami (11-10-14-17-24-22-16-13-16-16-18-15-19-21-20-21)

27 Jacksonville (31-29-28-28-28-30-32-28-28-30-27-27-27-31-29)

28 Dallas (7-14-15-15-16-21-21-22-23-23-24-18-29-27-26)

FIFTH TIER

29 San Francisco (29-25-26-30-32-31-29-29-31-28-30-31-30-26-27)

30 Baltimore (16-15-18-19-14-16-28-31-24-25-28-28-28-29-30)

31 Cleveland (28-30-29-31-31-27-27-30-30-31-32-32-32-32-31)

32 Tennessee (32-26-27-25-23-23-24-25-29-27-29-29-31-30-32)

BIGGEST RISERS: Atlanta, St. Louis and Washington (5 spots), San Diego (4 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Miami (5 spots), Denver, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Philadelphia (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 AFC West 52

2 NFC West 55

3 AFC East 56

4 NFC North 59

5 NFC South 64

6 NFC East 70

7 AFC North 76

8 AFC South 96

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 NFC 248

2 AFC 280