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With Week 12 of the NFL season in the books, it’s time look at how various media outlets have ranked the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in their NFL power rankings. It’s always interesting to see how the Eagles stack up from an outside perspective. But first, let’s start by revisiting mine.
Bleeding Green Nation
17 - Philadelphia Eagles - The Eagles take a big leap here in part due to teams ahead of them dropping. Philadelphia hardly turned in a great game against New York but they ultimately did enough to keep their season alive. (LW: 24)
SB Nation
17 - The Eagles’ win over the Giants has effectively eliminated New York from the NFC East race while giving Philly new life. The Eagles still don’t have an impressive win this season, but there’s still time for them to get over their Super Bowl hangover. (LW: 20)
ESPN
18 - Toughest game left: Week 15 at Los Angeles Rams. Simply put, the Rams are one of the best teams in football. They’re scoring an average of 35 points per game -- two touchdowns more than the Eagles’ average (21). Adding to the intrigue is that Carson Wentz returns to the Coliseum, where last year’s season-ending ACL/LCL tear occurred. (LW: 18)
NFL.com
19 - The Josh Adams-is-starting-fanaticism spent its first life Sunday. Other than on one drive, the ground attack was mostly so-so, as Carson Wentz, and not the ground game, was asked to carry the offense against the Giants. While not exactly spectacular, Wentz played more like a wily vet, taking what openings the Giants’ defense would allow and calmly hitting his receivers. The Eagles’ franchise quarterback averaged more than 8 yards per throw while not turning the football over. Given that this showdown morphed into the kind of traditional, tight NFC East toss-up straight from the Bill Parcells-Buddy Ryan days, not giving the ball away played big. As did special teams -- Jake Elliott delivered with the game on the line, just like last year, in the same venue against same old Big Blue. The NFC East is still within reach. Next up: Redskins. (LW: 24)
CBS Sports
18 - They kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a victory against the Giants. They now face a must-win game against the Redskins. (LW: 18)
Pro Football Talk
18 - The margin for error is small, but the chances of a playoff berth are real. (LW: 22)
Yahoo! Sports
16 - The best thing the Eagles have going for them is three of their remaining games are against the Redskins (twice) and Cowboys. It’s not easy to win all three, much less beat the Rams and Texans in their other remaining games, but they’ll have their direct chances to move up the NFC East standings. Can they take advantage of it? Hard to say yes based on what we’ve seen this season, but it’s hard to write off a defending champ with that much talent. (LW: 18)
Washington Post
16 - The comeback against the Giants kept the season from coming completely unraveled for the defending champs. If the Cowboys lose Thursday night to the Saints and the Eagles beat the Redskins on Monday night — certainly a plausible scenario — a trio of 6-6 teams would sit atop the NFC East. (LW: 22)
Bleacher Report
19 - To say that the Philadelphia Eagles entered Week 12 in desperation mode is an understatement. At just 4-6, the Eagles were staring at the prospect of being the first team since the 2012 Ravens to miss the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl the year before. When the Eagles spotted the Giants a 19-3 lead Sunday, that looked to be it. Turn out the lights, the party’s over. However, to Philly’s credit, the Eagles didn’t quit. They battled all the way back to stun the Giants and keep their faint hopes of making the postseason alive. Those hopes remain faint, though. All five of the Eagles’ remaining opponents (Washington twice, Dallas, Houston and the Rams) have a winning record at this point in the season. For the moment, at least, there’s some hope that Carson Wentz will get to do what he was denied by a torn ACL last year—lead the Eagles into the postseason. (LW: 18)
Sporting News
18 - The Eagles don’t get any style points for grinding out that comeback win over the Giants, but they dug deep the find the best of their offense and just enough defense. The key to saving the title defense with at least a division crown will be the four NFC East games they still have to play. (LW: 20)
Pro Football Weekly
16 - Still have a path to the division crown, but still shaky. (LW: 15)
USA TODAY
18 - Too bad they don’t see Giants every week. Philly’s beaten Big Blue five straight and nine of 10 ... but won’t see them again until 2019. (LW: 22)
Talk of Fame Network
18 - Like the Ravens and Broncos, the Eagles won last weekend to revive their playoff hopes with a 5-6 record. But the defending Super Bowl champion faces a more daunting task than the Broncos down the stretch with five games against teams currently sitting atop divisions — the Cowboys, Rams and Texans plus two games with the Redskins. (LW: 23)
18 - The Eagles rallied from a 16 point deficit to beat...the Giants...and kept their playoff hopes alive, but with an injury-riddled secondary with less depth than a Michael Bublé Christmas album, the realistic goal for this team is to finish strong and hope for an NFC meltdown across the board. (LW: 19)
Mile High Report
19 - The Eagles are still lost, but then they have sparks that show that they’re still good. They’re the NFC East version of the Falcons. (LW: 17)
Sports Illustrated
14 - The Eagles are not dead yet. There’s a whole NFL middle class that seems to have a new must-win game every week, and the Eagles are in it. Their next one comes at home on Monday night against Colt McCoy. (LW: 15)
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ANALYSIS
The rankings range from as high as 14 to as low as 19. The most common ranking is 18. The average ranking is 17.4, which is up slightly more than two spots from last week’s average of 19.5.
The Eagles stopped their free fall by beating the Giants. They’ll need to play much better than they did against New York in order to move further up the rankings.
Philadelphia can continue to move up — and keep their season alive — if they beat Washington on Monday Night Football.