It was the most upset-filled week of the NFL season.
Four of our top-five teams from last week lost, and our rankings were turned upside down as a result.
We have a brand new top three, led by the New England Patriots, and two hot NFC teams are threatening to break into the top 10.
Click here to see the rankings >
Once again, here's how we came up with them.
We took our rankings from last week and moved teams up and down based on the following criteria:
- A win: up 2 spots
- A loss: down 1 spot
- A loss by 10+ points: down 2 spots
- A win against a top-5 team from the week before: up 2 spots
- A win against a top-12 team from the week before (aka, a playoff team): up 1 spot
- Covering the point spread: up 1 spot
- A winning record: up 1 spot
- A losing record: down 1 spot
- No team with a winning record can be outside the top 16
1. New England Patriots (#3 last week): Beat the Texans
Record: 10-3
Biggest thing we learned this week: The pass defense — the team's one glaring weakness — has improved dramatically in the last month.
2. Denver Broncos (#5 last week): Beat the Raiders
Record: 10-3
Biggest thing we learned this week: They can beat bad teams without their "A" game. Denver only scored TDs on two of their seven red-zone possessions, but still handled Oakland on the road.
3. San Francisco 49ers (#7 last week): Beat the Dolphins
Record: 9-3-1
Biggest thing we learned this week: Colin Kaepernick is basically doing the same thing Alex Smith did as a passer (protecting the ball, completing a high percentage of his passes). But he's making big plays as a runner — Kaepernick has 50-yard runs in two-straight weeks.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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