| Rnk | LW* | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | New Orleans Saints | 9-0 | Finding ways to win despite not playing particularly well against mediocre to poor competition in the last four or so weeks. |
| 2. | 2. | Indianapolis Colts | 9-0 | Erased a 17 point 4th quarter deficit with a lot of help from mistakes by Brady, Maroney, Belichick and the Patriots defense. |
| 3. | 3. | Minnesota Vikings | 8-1 | A division title seems all but guaranteed. A first round playoff bye probable. |
| 4. | 7. | Cincinnati Bengals | 7-2 | Only need to beat the Browns to go undefeated in the division. |
| 5. | 4. | New England Patriots | 6-3 | Can they recover from Belichick's decision to go for it on 4th an 2 from his own 28 leading by 6 with just over 2 minutes to play? |
| 6. | 8. | Arizona Cardinals | 6-3 | Remember last year when they clinched the division early, collapsed down the stretch and surprised everybody in the playoffs. Could the same thing happen again? Clinching early is a fiat accompli. |
| 7. | 5. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 6-3 | Foibles of the kick coverage unit have become ridiculous. |
| 8. | 10. | San Diego Chargers | 6-3 | Overcame a 3 game deficit to the Broncos in 3 weeks for the second time in approximately 10 months. |
| 9. | 6. | Dallas Cowboys | 6-3 | Can't handle prosperity. |
| 10. | 13. | Baltimore Ravens | 5-4 | After visiting the city in which the franchise originated the old Browns get a visit from the the franchise that abandoned their current city. Who knew NFL schedule makers had a sense of irony? |
| 11. | 9. | Denver Broncos | 6-3 | Simms showed Orton to be indispensible. Are they what we thought they were before a surprising 6-0 start? A loss this week to the Chargers would be devastating. |
| 12. | 16. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 5-4 | Ballsy move by Del Rio with his team trailing by a point to have MJD take a knee at the 1 with the Jets allowing him to score to run the clock before a game winning FG attempt. |
| 13. | 17. | Green Bay Packers | 5-4 | Victory over the Cowboys makes the loss in Tampa all the more mystifying. |
| 14. | 14. | Houston Texans | 5-4 | Had an extra week to think about how they blew the game in Indianapolis. |
| 15. | 15. | New York Giants | 5-4 | Will they be able to right the ship coming off a bye? |
| 16. | 11. | Philadelphia Eagles | 5-4 | Turn to Shady after Westbrook suffered a 2nd concussion in 3 weeks. |
| 17. | 12. | Atlanta Falcons | 5-4 | Winning without Turner will not be easy. |
| 18. | 20. | Miami Dolphins | 4-5 | Henne led a last second field goal drive in a game they had to have. Now he has to perform without Brown. |
| 19. | 22. | Tennessee Titans | 3-6 | Had to laugh at video of 86 year old owner Adams giving Bills fans the 2 handed finger salute. Of course the resulting $250K fine was no laughing matter for Adams. |
| 20. | 25. | Carolina Panthers | 4-5 | Loss of Gross is a blow. |
| 21. | 24. | San Fransisco 49ers | 4-5 | Needed 5 interceptions to win 10-6 and end their 4 game losing streak with Smith showing the form that got him benched in the first place. Would be dangerous if they could find a QB to pair with playmakers Gore, Crabtree and Davis. |
| 22. | 18. | Chicago Bears | 4-5 | Cutler's 5 interceptions in San Fransisco puts his season total at a remarkable 17. |
| 23. | 19. | New York Jets | 4-5 | Remember when they were 3-0? Firing DL coach Locklin after losing 5 of their last 6 smells of desperation and isn't going to make any difference. |
| 24. | 21. | Seattle Seahawks | 3-6 | Irrelevent. |
| 25. | 32. | Washington Redskins | 3-6 | They have a pulse. |
| 26. | 23. | Buffalo Bills | 3-6 | Finally put Jauron out of his misery. |
| 27. | 29. | Kansas City Chiefs | 2-7 | Enthusiasm over avenging early season loss to the Raiders tempered by Bowe suspension. |
| 28. | 27. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1-8 | Freeman looks like the real deal. |
| 29. | 26. | Oakland Raiders | 2-7 | Continued struggles of Russell make the future look especially bleak. |
| 30. | 30. | St. Louis Rams | 1-8 | Playing hard for Spagnoulo which is at least something. |
| 31. | 31. | Detriot Lions | 1-8 | <sarcasm>I can't believe their classic matchup with the Browns this week wasn't moved to prime time on Sunday.</sarcasm> |
| 32. | 28. | Cleveland Browns | 1-8 | Scored 5 offensive TDs in their last 15 games. A record of futility matched only by the 1933-34 Cincinatti Reds. |
*Last week's ranking