Seahawks Achieve Top 3 Status in NFL Power Rankings

One expert has Seattle rated the #1 team in the NFL this week.

Pat Kirwan at CBSSports.com has the Seahawks at the top spot this week:

Seattle is 8-2 in their last 10 road games and they don't lose at home. Missing three of their starting offensive linemen went into Atlanta and put 33 points on the board.

 

Pete Prisco, also at CBSsports.com, has Seattle at #2:

They have a two-game lead in the NFC West. Now the focus is home-field advantage in the playoffs.

 

The analysts at ESPN.com have the Seahawks at #3:

The Seahawks just dismantled the Falcons Sunday. Marshawn Lynch had 145 of the team's 211 rushing yards, reaching 70 yards after contact for the third time as a Seahawk.

 

Former NFL head coach Brian Billick at Foxsports.com also has Seattle at #3:

The Seahawks have now won 14 of their last 15 and have started a season 9-1 for the first time in franchise history. Their five road wins so far this season are already two more than they had all of last year.

 

At NFL.com, Elliott Harrison moves the Seahawks into the #3 slot:

Thinking this was an excellent time for a dominant performance; the Seahawks needed it, not just to notch another win, but to boost their confidence. Some among the 12th Man agreed with the Power Rankings that the team had to play better. The others blasted us in the comments section and on Twitter.

Here's the deal: I picked Seattle as a Super Bowl team in the preseason, and I did it once again in our midseason reset. But this penchant for letting bad opponents hang around that the Seahawks showed in the past month made it tough to stick by them. Now, though -- with Sunday's solid performance in Atlanta and Aaron Rodgers' injury slowing the Packers -- they're the favorites in the conference.