Ballot and comments from AP Pro 32 panel voter Alex Marvez of Week 15 ALEX MARVEZ (Foxsports.com) 1. New England Patriots — Their record isn't as good, but a 42-14 2. Denver Broncos — A win Sunday at Baltimore would go a long way 3. San Francisco 49ers — It was the kind of physical victory that 4. Houston Texans — Put the letterman jackets back in the closet. 5. New York Giants — If a 52-27 rout of New Orleans is a true 6. Atlanta Falcons — Maybe the Falcons will stop worrying about a lack 7. Green Bay Packers — Beware the Packers. Green Bay has won seven of 8. Baltimore Ravens — Ravens head coach John Harbaugh had better hope 9. Indianapolis Colts — Another close game, another Colts win. 10. Seattle Seahawks — The NFL's best home-field advantage this season 11. Chicago Bears — Having lost four of their past five games, the 12. Washington Redskins — Can the Redskins win if rookie sensation 13. Cincinnati Bengals — The Bengals squandered too many opportunities 14. Dallas Cowboys — Just like Kansas City the week before, Dallas 15. Minnesota Vikings — With the way he is running, Adrian Peterson 16. Pittsburgh Steelers — A 34-24 home loss to what was a slumping San 17. St. Louis Rams — Thanks to a surging defense, the Rams remain 18. New York Jets — The offense is painful to watch, but two straight 19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Woeful pass defense is the biggest reason 20. New Orleans Saints — An awful year for the franchise can't end 21. Cleveland Browns — Although the Browns have won three straight 22. San Diego Chargers — Norv Turner is almost certainly on his way 23. Buffalo Bills — Under coordinator Dave Wannstedt, the Bills have 24. Carolina Panthers — After struggling for half the season, Cam 25. Miami Dolphins — Miami's offense continues to regress with a 27-13 26. Detroit Lions — On the bright side for one of the NFL's most 27. Tennessee Titans — The latest way for the Titans to fall — getting 28. Philadelphia Eagles — With a 381-yard passing performance and the 29. Oakland Raiders — As a six-game losing streak grows, it becomes 30. Arizona Cardinals — Freshly claimed Brian Hoyer can't do any worse 31. Kansas City Chiefs — After an 80-yard touchdown run by Jamaal 32. Jacksonville Jaguars — Over the past six games, the Jaguars have ___ Online:
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thumping of Houston makes the Patriots the team to beat in the AFC.
toward keeping Denver's hopes for a first-round playoff bye alive. The
Broncos would lose head-to-head tiebreakers against Houston and New
England because of early season losses.
49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh cherishes. San Francisco's rushing
attack produced 117 second-half yards and wore down Miami's strong run
defense in a 27-13 home victory.
indicator, the Giants may be getting hot yet again at just the right
time.
of national media "respect" and earn it with performances better than
the one they gave in Sunday's 30-20 loss to Carolina.
its past eight games and is now getting Clay Matthews and Charles
Woodson back from injuries at a critical stretch of the season.
the firing of offensive coordinator Cam Cameron results in more points
to cover for a defense ravaged by injuries.
was on display once again as the Seahawks waxed Arizona, 58-0.
Bears must get on track ASAP or risk missing the playoffs entirely.
Unfortunately for Chicago, Green Bay is next on the schedule.
Robert Griffin III is out Sunday against Cleveland? We'll find out if
the quarterback isn't sufficiently healed from a sprained knee
suffered last Sunday against Baltimore.
for touchdowns in a 20-19 loss to Dallas.
showed impressive resiliency in the face of off-field tragedy with a
comeback win in Cincinnati.
may be able to carry the Vikings all the way into the playoffs while
breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing mark of 2,105 yards.
Diego squad could ultimately cost the Steelers a playoff berth.
alive in the playoff race.
wins have the Jets still in postseason contention.
behind a three-game losing streak that has bumped the Buccaneers from
being a legitimate playoff contender.
soon enough now that the Saints (5-8) are basically out of the playoff
picture.
games for the first time since late 2009, how Cleveland performs
against Washington, Denver and Pittsburgh in the final three weeks
will provide a better gauge of how far along the team's rebuilding
process truly is.
out as Chargers coach, but a 34-24 upset of Pittsburgh proved his team
hasn't stopped playing hard for him.
turned their season around defensively to become one of the league's
top units over the past five games. That won't be good enough, though,
to end a 13-year postseason drought with the Bills dropping to 5-8
following a 15-12 home loss to St. Louis.
Newton has played as well as any quarterback over the past three
games. However, it's too little too late with the Panthers at 4-9.
loss to San Francisco marking the eighth time the Dolphins failed to
gain 300 yards.
disappointing teams, Detroit's five-game losing streak should end
Sunday against a team that has dropped nine straight contests —
Arizona.
outscored 20-3 in the second half of a 27-23 loss at Indianapolis.
game-winning touchdown toss as time expired, Eagles rookie quarterback
Nick Foles staked his claim for the starting job entering 2013 in last
Sunday's 23-21 win at Tampa Bay.
harder each week to find something the Raiders are doing well.
at quarterback than the two schmoes Arizona fielded in last Sunday's
58-0 blanking in Seattle.
Charles on the first play from scrimmage, Kansas City went scoreless
for the final 59:48 in a 30-7 loss at Cleveland.
surrendered an average of 157.3 yards rushing while producing just
76.7 yards on the ground offensively. Not surprisingly, Jacksonville
is 1-5 in that stretch following last Sunday's 17-10 loss to the New
York Jets.
AP Pro32 ballot from Marvez
Dec. 11 5:55 PM EST
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