Ballot and comments from AP Pro 32 panel voter Rick Gosselin of Dallas Week 12 RICK GOSSELIN (Dallas Morning News) 1. Houston Texans — The Texans sit atop the AFC with a 9-1 record but 2. Atlanta Falcons — The Falcons lead the NFL with 10 individual 3. San Francisco 49ers — The NFL's best rushing attack and NFC's best 4. Baltimore Ravens — The Ravens will be without perennial Pro Bowl 5. Denver Broncos — The Broncos have won five games in a row, the 6. New England Patriots — The Patriots have forced 27 turnovers and 7. Green Bay Packers — Aaron Rodgers has thrown for 17 TD passes 8. Chicago Bears — The Bears are 5-0 when they score on defense and 9. Pittsburgh Steelers — The Steelers are starting a third different 10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Dekoda Watson is making a bid for 11. Seattle Seahawks — Rookie QB Russell Wilson has thrown eight 12. New York Giants — The Giants have recovered five fumbles this 13. Minnesota Vikings — The Giants, Titans, Seahawks and Vikings all 14. New Orleans Saints — The Saints are 2-3 when Drew Brees throws for 15. Indianapolis Colts — The Colts claimed Andrew Luck with the first 16. Dallas Cowboys — The Cowboys have big problems on their offensive 17. Cincinnati Bengals — The 5-5 Bengals cling to playoff contention 18. Tennessee Titans — Opposing quarterbacks are completing better 19. Washington Redskins — The Redskins are the NFL's most penalized 20. Detroit Lions — WR Calvin Johnson is heating up with three 21. San Diego Chargers — At 4-6, the Chargers are the worst 22. Arizona Cardinals — John Skelton and Kevin Kolb have both had 23. Miami Dolphins — The Dolphins rank 21st in the NFL in defense. 24. New York Jets — The Patriots at home on Thanksgiving constitutes 25. St. Louis Rams — The Rams have gone eight consecutive seasons 26. Buffalo Bills — The Bills have allowed a league-high 16 touchdowns 27. Oakland Raiders — The Raiders have not sacked any quarterbacks in 28. Philadelphia Eagles — Everything on the Eagles has run aground 29. Cleveland Browns — The 2-8 Browns led in the fourth quarter of 30. Carolina Panthers — The Panthers led the NFC in rushing in 2011. 31. Kansas City Chiefs — The Chiefs have committed a league-leading 31 32. Jacksonville Jaguars — The Chiefs and Jaguars are both sliding ___ Online:
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now embark on a three-game road trip (Detroit, Tennessee, New
England). It's only the second three-game trip in franchise history.
100-yard receiving games this season — five by Roddy White, three by
Julio Jones and two by Tony Gonzalez.
defense allow a team to win regardless who's quarterbacking. The 49ers
can win with either Alex Smith or Colin Kaepernick taking the snaps.
safety Ed Reed this week against San Diego. The NFL sat Reed down for
a game for repeated illegal hits on defenseless players.
longest current winning streak in the AFC. That matches the five-game
winning streak by the Packers in the NFC.
committed just seven themselves. That's a plus-20 and that leads the
league.
against only two interceptions in the last five games, all Packer
victories.
2-3 when they don't.
quarterback in three weeks. Injuries have already cost the Steelers
Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich. Now it's Charlie Batch's turn.
special-teams player of the month for the Bucs. He blocked a kick two
weeks ago against San Diego then recovered a fumbled punt last week
versus Carolina.
interceptions this season — and all have come in his five road games.
He has thrown 11 of his 15 TD passes at home. His Seahawks travel to
Miami Sunday.
season on special-teams alone.
return from bye weeks — the final byes of the NFL season. Minnesota is
the best of the four coming off byes with a 17-6 record. The Vikings
play at Chicago Sunday.
300-plus yards and 3-2 when he doesn't. New Orleans has a three-game
winning streak and Brees hasn't passed for 300 in any of them.
overall pick of the 2012 draft and are certainly getting their money's
worth. Twice he's thrown 50 passes in a game and he has a 400-yard and
four 300s games.
line. They allowed seven sacks last week and now their best blocker,
Tyron Smith, figures to miss the Thanksgiving game with a high ankle
sprain.
even though they are better on the road (3-2) than at home (2-3).
than 70 percent of their passes against the Titans. It's tough to win
when the other team doesn't throw incompletions.
team with 88 for 729 yards. That's 51 more flags than the least
penalized team (Atlanta) for 434 more yards.
consecutive 100-yard receiving games for the Lions. Too little, too
late, though.
second-place team in the NFL. San Diego has lost two in a row to fall
under .500.
300-yard passing games for the Cardinals this season. Rookie Ryan
Lindley may soon get the chance to join them for the slumping Cards.
That's the best defense being played in the state of Florida. Tampa
Bay ranks 29th and Jacksonville 31st.
last call at respectability in 2012 for the Jets.
without qualifying for the playoffs. At 3-6-1, you can tack on a ninth
year to that postseason drought.
on the ground. Not surprisingly, they have the AFC's worst run
defense.
the last two games. Their 11 sacks are the fewest in the league.
except their run defense. Philadelphia has the only defense in the NFL
that has not allowed an individual 100-yard rusher yet.
each of their last two games against playoff contenders Baltimore and
Dallas and wound up losing both times.
But Carolina is one of only four teams this season still without an
individual 100-yard rusher.
turnovers. That's five more than they committed all last season and
seven more than they committed in 2010 when KC won its last division
title.
along with seven-game losing streaks. Jacksonville has won only three
of its last 17 games. Now they turn to QB Chad Henne to shake those
doldrums.
AP Pro32 ballot from Gosselin
Nov. 20 5:25 PM EST
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