Giants make big jump in final regular season Power Rankings

Can you imagine an 18-game regular-season schedule being in place about now? Three more games to struggle through for the likes of the Rams, Colts, Vikings and Bucs? How about the teams that are signing guys left and right just to fill out their roster and finish the season? Would Drew Brees' big moment Monday night in the Superdome have seemed quite so magical if we knew he had three more games to break the NFL's single-season passing yardage record and catching Dan Marino was a fait accompli? Yawn.

Sixteen games, I've decided, is enough. I'll inform commissioner Goodell as soon as I file this. I'm ready to get on to the playoffs and be done with the 8-7 Cowboys against the 8-7 Giants, or the 8-7 Broncos trying to hold off the 8-7 Raiders. Let's get to the good stuff. January is the best month of the year in the NFL, and the league has the stage virtually to itself for the entire five-week ride that every postseason takes us on.

So it's time for Week 17, the final playoff positioning, and then the coaching purge of Black Monday. After that, the elite teams will surface and the mediocre will head home. One more regular-season game day, and then the rewards for the long four-month grind will start unfolding. Let the best games of the year begin.

Now on to this week's final regular-season rankings...

NFL Power Rankings