NFL week 11 power rankings roundup: Seahawks edge Patriots, leapfrog Raiders

This week the Raiders sat back and watched the rest of the league fight for their spots in the power rankings. It was the bye week for the Raiders, which often times leads to an 'out of sight, out of mind' situation. Or in some cases, a 'prisoner of the moment' mindset.

Much of those doing the ranking seem to be prisoners of the moment with the Seahawks' big win in New England. In beating the previously infallible Patriots, they jumped from sixth in the power rankings into the top three, and in most cases bumped down the Raiders.

That being said, there is still a healthy amount of respect for what the Raiders have done this season. Though ESPN has some splainin' ta do.

SBNation.com: 4

Last week: 4

Pro Football Focus: 3

Last week: 3

Offense: 2

Defense: 16

CBSSports.com: 4

Last week: 5

The come out of their bye atop the AFC West. That offense is going to make them tough to beat every week.

ProFootballTalk: 2

Last week: 3

What would have been an excellent bye-week Sunday collapsed quickly, when the Broncos and Chiefs stole late victories.

ESPN: 6

Last week: 3

Derek Carr makes his Monday night debut this week against the Texans in Mexico City. Carr is 3-0 in his career in prime time, and with the Chiefs and Broncos still looming in the division race, another prime-time win would go a long way in getting the Raiders home-field advantage in the playoffs.

My take: The ESPN ranking is a strange one. Try to stay with me on this one: The Raiders (7-2) have a better record than the Broncos (7-3). They destroyed the Broncos two weeks ago 30-20 in a game that wasn't really even that close. Now after a lucky blocked extra point returned for two points to pull out a win over the 4-5 Saints by the skin of their teeth they somehow jump to two spots ahead of the Raiders in the power rankings. Not sure where that logic comes from. Anyway...

NFL.com: 5

Last week: 5

Last week, I said I'd compare this group to the last Raider team that won it all: the 1983 Los Angeles Raiders. That season represented one of my early years watching pro football, and I rooted hardcore with my brothers for the underdog Raiders to trounce the high flyin' Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. They did, 38-9. Al Davis' team was coached by Tom Flores, who remains criminally underrated to this day. As nice a job as Jack Del Rio has done, I would give the coaching advantage to the '83 Raiders. And here's how the rosters stack up against each other, in my estimation:

QB: 2016 Raiders. Derek Carr has been far more productive -- with less negative plays -- than Jim Plunkett. Oh, but I love Plunkett.

RB: 1983 Raiders. Marcus Allen. Come on.

WR/TE: 2016. Would be a landside if just receivers (with Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree), but TE Todd Christensen led the NFL in catches in 1983.

OL: 2016. They've been unbelievable in pass pro.

DL: 1983. Howie Long, Lyle Alzado, Bill Pickel and Greg Townsend. Nice.

LB: 1983. Rod Martin and Ted Hendricks were in the Pro Bowl. Matt Millen: solid.

DB: 1983. Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes, dude.

Special teams: Push. Kicker Chris Bahr was mediocre in '83, as Sebastian Janikowski is this year. Marquette King is better than Ray Guy was late in his HOF career. Greg Pruitt was a Pro Bowl returner in '83.

Yahoo!: 5

Last week: 4

I think next week’s game against Houston is big for Oakland. The Raiders have to play a "home" game in another country, which isn’t fair at all. It’s against a Houston team they should beat, and would have been favored pretty heavily against if it was in Oakland. If they drop that game, the rest of the schedule has some tricky dates. In a really competitive division, the Raiders don’t want to blow this kind of game.

Average rank: 4

Last week: 4

Top ten by average ranking:

1 Dallas Cowboys 1
2 New England Patriots 2.8
3 Seattle Seahawks 3.14
4 Oakland Raiders 4
5 Kansas City Chiefs 4.8
6 Denver Broncos 6
7 Atlanta Falcons 7.5
8 New York Giants 9.4
9 Philadelphia Eagles 10.1
10 Washington 10.2

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