Fantasy Football

2018 NFL RODS Power Rankings: Week 16

And the best team in the NFL is...

By Paddi Cooper@PaddiCooper Dec 27, 2018, 11:00am EST

This is it then. Just one more week of the 2018 regular season until we crown this season’s champion, and with three quarters of the Week 17 match ups having some kind of playoff implications, we should see a competitive week to finalise the rankings.

Heading into the final week of the season, we have a new leader for the first time in six weeks as the Ravens have edged ahead of the Saints to take the overall lead and are one win away from securing the AFC North title and a home playoff game. Despite only really staking their playoff push since Lamar Jackson took over from Joe Flacco, the Ravens have never been lower than sixth in the RODS rankings and have consistently been the only team in the NFL with a top 10 rated offense, defense and special teams. The Saints are only just behind in second place, though after securing homefield advantage in the NFC playoffs, their Week 17 clash with the Panthers carries little meaning and could see starters being rested which you would think could impact their chances of securing top spot.

Behind the top two, the Bears still could take top spot but face the toughest match up of the top teams in week 17, on the road in Minnesota who need to win to take the final wild card spot in the NFC.

The Rams and Vikings were the big movers in Week 16, as they moved up to fourth and fifth respectively. The Rams had the highest grade of Week 16, posting a +74.3% grade, their highest of 2018 as they ran all over the Cardinals in a 31-9 victory. The Vikings had the third highest rating of the week with +51.4% in their victory over the Lions, their second best rating of 2018.

In terms of the playoff picture, ten of the twelve teams currently in the playoff spots are in the top twelve teams in the rankings, with only the Cowboys (17th and behind the Eagles) and Texans (18th and behind both the Colts and Titans) with better records than their suggests they should have.

Finally the Cardinals’ freefall continues and they are locked in to finish bottom in 2018 with their final rating set to finish in the bottom five of any team I’ve graded since i started the rankings in 2007.