Atlanta Falcons: NFC Power Rankings, Week 13

By beating the New York Giants at home in Week 12, 20-14, the Washington Redskins have emerged as the ever-so slight favorite to win the awful NFC East. For a team that is normally the one of the most dysfunctional organizations in football, the Redskins seem to have it more together in 2015 than their NFC East counterparts.

Washington is an incredibly streaky team. That makes sense because Kirk Cousins is an incredibly sneaky quarterback. The NFC East race between Washington and New York will come down to Week 17. Just watch. For now, Washington seems like the team to beat in the NFC East.

Not only are the Minnesota Vikings a good football team, they are now a dark horse to win a Super Bowl. When your defense is one of the most underrated in football and you have the best running back in football in Adrian Peterson, that sounds like a recipe for success come playoff time.

Minnesota still needs to have more consistency from QB Teddy Bridgewater and K Blair Walsh if they envision themselves as an NFC Championship caliber team. They’re slightly behind Carolina and Arizona in the NFC, but not by much. The Vikings are clearly the third-best team in the NFC.

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It wasn’t pretty, but the Arizona Cardinals survive the San Francisco 49ers to move to 9-2 on the year. Another win or two and the Cards will have wrapped up the NFC West and have themselves a nice first-round bye in the NFC Playoffs.

Anything less than an NFC Championship appearance for the Arizona Cardinals is unacceptable. Not with the way HC Bruce Arians has his team playing. Beating Arizona in the postseason is going to stand as a tough task for anybody who faces them.

The Carolina Panthers remain undefeated by clobbering the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. Carolina can clinch the NFC South in Week 13 with a win or an Atlanta Falcons’ loss. There is no way the 2015 Carolina Panthers don’t earn themselves a first-round bye and have a two-game lead over Arizona for NFC home field advantage.

Next: Atlanta Falcons Lose 4th in a Row, 20-10 to Vikings

Though the road to the Super Bowl in the NFC will run through Charlotte, it might actually be in the team’s best interest to drop a regular season game just to take the pressure off before embarking on their Super Bowl run. Carolina is my pick to win the NFC as we enter Week 13.