in the NFC will go through the Big Easy.Though the Saints‘ path to get to Atlanta could be challenging: The top three teams in the latest AP Pro32 poll are all from the NFC.The Saints received all 12 first-place votes for 384 points in balloting Wednesday by media members who regularly cover the NFL.New Orleans (13-2) clinched the top seed in the NFC after Sunday’s 31-28 win over Pittsburgh. The previous time New Orleans had the top seed in the NFC was 2009 when it reached and won the Super Bowl.“The news is all good for the Saints: They clinch home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with a thrilling win over the Steelers
Quincy Wilson Color Rush Jersey , and (quarterback) Drew Brees has a chance to win his first-ever regular-season MVP award,” Newsday’s Bob Glauber said.The NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams jumped three places to No. 2 after dominating Arizona without star running back Todd Gurley. The Rams can clinch a first-round bye with a win against San Francisco in the regular-season finale.NFC North champion Chicago Bears inched up a spot to No. 3.“With a swarming defense and a solid ground game, the Bears appear poised to make some waves in January along the frosty shores of Lake Michigan,” said Ira Kaufman of Fox 13 in Tampa.The next three teams in the poll are all from the AFC.Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers, tied at 11-4 in the AFC West, slipped to No. 4 and No. 5 respectively. The Chiefs dropped a spot after their 38-31 loss at Seattle on Sunday night, and the Chargers fell from No. 2 after losing to Baltimore on Saturday night.The New England Patriots, who won the AFC East for the 10th consecutive year, moved up a spot to No. 6.Seattle climbed three spots to No. 7 after clinching a playoff berth with a win over the Chiefs.The Houston Texans slipped two spots to No. 8 after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles 32-30 on Jake Elliott’s field goal as time expired Sunday. However, the first-place Texans clinched a playoff spot later in the day when the Steelers lost.Houston will clinch the AFC South with a win over the Jaguars.The surging Baltimore Ravens jumped three spots to No. 9. The Ravens (9-6) lead the AFC North by a half-game over Pittsburgh. The Ravens host Cleveland on Sunday and will take the division with a win.“Who wants to play them?,” asked Fox Sports’ John Czarnecki of the Ravens, who were 4-5 entering their bye week and have won five of six overall.The Steelers need to win at home against the last-place Bengals and have the Ravens stumble for their best chance at reaching the postseason.The Indianapolis Colts fell one spot despite rallying past the New York Giants to round out the top 10. The Colts and Tennessee Titans, who remained No. 14 in the poll, are both 9-6 and end the regular season in a prime-time matchup on NBC. The winner will clinch a playoff spot and could take the division if the Texans stumble earlier in the day. Every week, I will present a summary of some basic and advanced stats for the Colts performance relative to the league. Thanks to Pro Football Reference, NFL.com and the nflSCrapR project for being awesome sources of weekly data.I believe that it doesn’t really matter when a team scores as long as they do. However, the Colt’s put my belief to the test as they came out looking like the greatest team to ever take the field and then forgot how to play football for about half a game.Those first 2 drives were a thing of beauty. Two 90+ yard, balanced
Skai Moore Color Rush Jersey , methodical drives totaling 12 first downs, 14 points and 17 minutes is football perfection.That is why it is so frustrating that it took another 9 drives to mimic those numbers.I shouldn’t care, because 33 points, 24 first downs and a 75% Drive Success Rate are all good things.I just wish, that for my emotional health, it had been a little more even. TEAM TOTALSThose are all good stats, but the one that jumps off the page for me is explosive plays. Indy’s big play numbers are usually around league average, but this week, the Colts were right up there with the big boys at 8 plays for 181 yards. It would take a real pessimist to see something bad in those numbers. I guess Third Down Conversions of 39%, while still good, is below the Colts league leading season average of 49%.There’s a half empty glass of water for ya. PASSINGOther than the riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma that was the mind-boggling, head-scratching, mystifying decision on the pick-6, Andrew Luck had a great day.Seriously, that was just a really bad decision.A 69% completion rate is good but with an 8.1 yard average Depth of Target, it is even better.Add to that some decent Yards After the Catch from the receivers and you end up with 8.1 Yards per Attempt
https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Jack-Mewhort-Jersey , which is a happy stat. 5 explosive pass plays for 139 yards is one of the better marks for the week but even more impressive is that it came from 4 different receivers (T.Y. Hilton, Mo Alie-Cox, Eric Ebron and Dontrelle Inman twice).RUSHINGMarlon Mack was almost all of the rushing game and he had an excellent day. Mack put up 119 yards on 25 carries (4.8 YPC) with 2 explosive rushes, 7 first downs and a TD, which culminated in a 47% weighted Rushing Success Rate.That wRSR is the 6th best of week 17 for running backs with at least 10 carries. CONCLUSIONS & NEXT MATCH-UPAlthough it didn’t feel like it to me at the time, the Colts offense was very good against the Titans.Outside of the consecutive drives of a pick-6, a three-and-out and a fumble, Indy was efficient and put points on the board and that is all you can ask an offense to do. Well, I guess you could ask them not to fumble or throw a pick-6.Colts-Texans round 3 is coming up and if Frank Reich and company can win that one, then not only will they advance, but it will also mean that not settling for the tie will officially have had no impact on the Colts post-season.Based on my ranking of passing (ANY/A) and rush (wRSR), here is what the Colts will face.Match-upsRankInd OffHou DefRankInd OffHou DefSo the bad news is that Houston run defense is depressingly awesome, having limited the Colts to just 91 yards in the last 2 meetings . . . not each game, 91 yards for both games combined.And that includes 27 yards from Luck scrambles.Yikes. The good news is that Houston’s pass defense isn’t very good, and Luck has managed to eke out 863 yards and 6 TDs against them so far. TRAILING 5 WEEK TOTALS (per game)SEASON TOTALS (per game)