Herd Hierarchy: Colin Cowherd Ranks the 10 Best NFL Teams After Week 17 – January 5th
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10. Cleveland Browns (11-5) (7)
“I left a lot of good teams out but I’m going to give Cleveland number ten, and the reason is because of Kevin Stefanski and this offensive line. They have a negative point differential and you’re not going to win playoff games with a negative point differential. It’s hard to get to the playoffs doing that, and they’re the only playoff team of the 14 with that. It tells you that when they win it’s narrow, and when they lose it’s ugly. Their offensive line, which will now be missing their top guard, was the top rated, and I think they mostly do a good job of masking their bad and young secondary by controlling the line of scrimmage.”
9. Pittsburgh Steelers (13-3) (Unranked)
“I’ve been rough on them all year but I’ve always had a rule in the NFL – here’s how you win: find a quarterback, protect him, and then find players who will attack the other team’s quarterback. The Steelers have the fewest sacks taken in the NFL with 14, and yet they have the most sacks given with 56. Meaning they protect their quarterback and they get after yours. Quarterbacks that faced the Steelers this year had a passer rating of 76; that is astounding. For all of the running game issues they have, they protect their quarterback and they sack yours.”
8. Seattle Seahawks (12-4) (5)
“Seattle is a very shaky number eight, and a very shaky number three seed. Russell Wilson two of the last three games has under 200 yards passing. They are struggling throwing the football. It’s the worst passing offense in the league over the last three weeks. Do they snap out of it? I certainly wouldn’t want the playoffs to be a place where I ‘find’ my passing game. Jamal Adams is now dinged up in the back end of the secondary. There is so much I like about this team, but I do not like where they’re at. I don’t like the Rams matchup, which is a ferocious defense, great coach, and you just beat them a couple weeks ago so they know exactly what you do. I think this is a possible upset by the Rams this weekend.”
7. Indianapolis Colts (11-5) (Unranked)
“A team I haven’t shown any luck to, FINALLY the Colts are in. We know their defense and their coaching is good, but they couldn’t really run the football and that’s what they have to do with Philip Rivers. With no preseason it took them forever to figure out their running game, but they’ve figured it out in the last month. They’ve won 6 of 8, and figured out that Jonathan Taylor can spearhead a running game behind this great offensive line. That is the key to them; they take the ball away from Philip, who’s pretty good on scripted plays in the first half, but if you ask him to be dynamic in the second half you’re very limited.”
6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5) (6)
“I am worried because they are 1-5 against playoff teams. They were not very good at night, and maybe Brady goes to bed early. But they are very good against the run, and they take BIG chances defensively. I like that, they’re aggressive, sometimes to a fault. You can’t deny that Tom Brady is hot. Remember about four or five games ago when we couldn’t figure out what Antonio Brown was? They finally figured out how to integrate him into the offense. When Ronald Jones is healthy they have a very explosive running back. Brady has 40 touchdown passes this year, the most in Bucs history. Let’s be honest, Bruce Arians and Tom Brady have a lot of playoff experience, and that accounts for something.”
5. Baltimore Ravens (11-5) (7)
“Everybody sold their stock on Baltimore but I didn’t. Two-hundred-plus rushing yards in four of their last 5 games, and they're the only team in the NFL that averages more rushing than passing yards. I’m okay with that because they have an identity. They know what they are, and this year they’re playing with no pressure. Don’t tell me that that Lamar Jackson, who is younger than Joe Burrow, isn’t getting better. He was better in the red zone this year. First he got bigger in Year 2 and now he’s a little better in the red zone. Every time I show highlights of Lamar Jackson he’s throwing touchdown passes, so don’t tell me he can’t throw. He doesn’t throw like Justin Herbert, or Kyler Murray, but don’t tell me he can’t throw. He CAN, and situationally I think this team is a nightmare because you cannot duplicate them at practice all week with Lamar’s special talent.”
4. Kansas City Chiefs (14-2) (3)
“My eyes tell me that something is not right with Kansas City. Yes, they’re 4-0 against playoff teams, so I know that they’ve got the ability to pop, but folks, Mahomes has four straight games with a passer rating under 100 – the longest streak of his career. They’re the worst red zone defense, they don’t run the ball consistently, and I don’t feel like they’re playing particularly well right now. Something doesn’t look right to me. It can be running back health, or maybe Mahomes isn’t 100%. There’s something not meshing on this offense, and they’ve become very dependent on the BIG and explosive plays, and those are harder to get against better teams, coaches, and rosters in the playoffs.”
3. Green Bay Packers (13-3) (2)
“They did answer the ‘physicality’ questions this year with Tennessee. They don’t beat themselves – they have the fewest giveaways in the NFL. They don’t get penalized much, and they don’t give you the ball much, so YOU have to beat them. They’re a great team with a lead because with Aaron Jones, and with play-action, you don’t want to fall behind against Green Bay, and frankly, that’s what everybody’s doing. Matt LaFleur is very good on-script. He’s very good at dialing up plays and scripting the first 15 plays of the game. They take leads and they’re hard to beat because at times they’ve got a pretty decent pass rush.”
2. New Orleans Saints (12-4) (4)
“The Saints have the best roster in the NFL. Twenty-plus points in 24 straight games. We talk about the Chiefs offense, but this one is actually more consistent. Just the weapons – Alvin Kamara, Drew Brees, Taysom Hill, Michael Thomas, and Emmanuel Sanders – but it’s the DEFENSE that’s amazing. It’s top 5 in rushing, scoring, and passing. This is really a story of defense even with all those weapons. I also get Drew Brees and Sean Payton experience in the postseason.”
1. Buffalo Bills (13-3) (1)
“For the fourth straight week I have the Buffalo Bills at number one. I’m just going to give you something to simmer on for all you Chiefs fans. They’re the first team in the NFL to win their last three games by over 25 points entering the playoffs since the ’96 Packers, who won the Super Bowl. When you’re good, and you are on fire, you are no fun to play. They can attack you from all angles. Stefon Diggs looked like the best wide receiver, and Josh Allen looked like the best quarterback in the league. They’re protecting him, they can run when they need to, they’re excellent situationally late in games, and what they did to Miami was jaw-dropping. Everybody struggled against Miami’s defense, and then the Bills dropped a 50-burger on them. The Bills and the Bills Mafia are the number one team in the NFL.”
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