NFL Power Rankings, Week 13: Biggest risers and fallers after Week 12

18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-6)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came out of their bye week and did what they needed to do against the lowly New York Giants, who are now 2-9 on the season.  The Buccaneers snap a skid and get to 5-6 on the year.  They are still effectively two games behind the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South given that the Falcons swept them, but they are staying alive, and you just never know what could happen down the stretch.

The Bucs went 9-8 in 2023 and won the division.  Last offseason, they extended QB Baker Mayfield and were clearly trying to run it back.  The Bucs aren’t going to win the Super Bowl or anything, but they are a fun team with some bite to them.  Mayfield is having the best year of his career, so perhaps he can catch some fire down the stretch.

Tampa Bay comes in at no. 18 in our latest NFL power rankings.

17. Los Angeles Rams (5-5)

The Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles are currently playing on Sunday Night Football, and the Rams are most definitely more in need of a win than Philly is.  The Eagles have won six games in a row coming into this one, and the Rams have turned their season around after starting out 1-4, primarily due to injuries.

LA made a late-season push in 2023 and managed to win 10 games and find themselves in the postseason, and that kind of feels like their ceiling this year.  If they did not have to deal with all of those injuries, this team may have come into this game at 7-3 or even better.  Rams QB Matthew Stafford is again having an excellent season and is still near the top of the QB hierarchy in the NFL.

The Rams need to stack another couple of wins before they can rise any higher in our NFL power rankings.