LVSC Week 13 NFL Rankings

Every week Las Vegas Sports Consultants, the world's largest oddsmaking company, releases their top polls/rankings for the major sports. They describe their polls as ones in which "teams are ranked purely by the numbers, without media, regional, league, conference or any other biases – just the facts as determined by LVSC’s team of experts." Because they use the same information that is used to make the betting lines, it is perhaps the most complete and accurate poll. We will post the updated college football poll here every Tuesday and the updated NFL rankings on Wednesdays.



Two moves of note this week. First, the San Diego Chargers continue their climb up the ladder as they jump ahead of the Steelers into the fifth spot. I have been saying for the last few weeks that the Chargers are really hitting their stride, and that continued with a dominating victory over the Chiefs. Sure the Chiefs are not a great, or even good, team but those can be the toughest games. As I said with a Saints big win over Tampa two weeks ago, the truly great teams win the games they are supposed to win and do not look past opponents. The Chargers are not going to go quietly. The other move that caught my attention is the Patriots drop from second to fourth. Clearly, Vegas has taken notice that the Pats defense can not slow down the top offenses. I'm not sure I would even have them ahead of the Chargers at this point. In the NFC, the Saints and Vikings will battle it out for a Super Bowl trip. In the AFC, I'll take the Colts and the Chargers.

The Most Impressive Teams Today

In looking at today's games, two teams really stood out. New Orleans went down to Tampa Bay and beat the Buccaneers 38-7. While Tampa Bay is far from a top flight team, these are the games that have a tendency to jump up and bite the favored team. These are the games that an undefeated team has a tendency to look past. It is easy to get up for the big games, but it isn't quite as easy to get up for the games that everyone knows you're supposed to win. Top teams always win the games they are supposed to win and that's what the Saints did on Sunday. The second team that caught my attention was the San Diego Chargers. I have been saying for the past couple of weeks that the Chargers really seem to be hitting their stride and Sunday that continued. They went into Denver and took over the division lead with a dominant victory over a division foe. While the Broncos may not be quite as good as their record, they are still no pushover. That is especially true at Invesco. The Chargers defense, however, went into Denver and completely controlled the game. The offense didn't put up huge numbers, but they still managed to put 32 points on the board. The Chargers again continue to build momentum and, if this keeps up, they are going to be very tough to beat come playoff time.