NFL power rankings: Cowboys, Raiders, Patriots look like the class of the NFL

It’s no surprise. The Dallas Cowboys, fresh off winning their 11th straight game and becoming the first team in the league to punch their playoff ticket, remain the top team in the NFL.

Dak Prescott led his team to a Thursday Night Football win over the Minnesota Vikings, pushing their cushion over the rest of the NFC to three games with only four regular season weeks to play. A win in Week 14 against the New York Giants would guarantee a least a share of the conference crown.

After Dallas, the NFC’s pecking order gets much less clear. The Seahawks routed last year’s champions, Carolina, 40-7 to take over the No. 2 spot in the conference, but lost one of their most important players when All-Pro safety Earl Thomas broke his leg. Behind them, a muddled crowd including Detroit, Atlanta, Washington, and a rapidly rising Tampa Bay team are all jockeying for playoff position and the second first-round bye behind Dallas.

A convincing comeback win over a solid Bills team, coupled with news Rob Gronkowski will miss the rest of the season, was enough for some voters to slide the Oakland Raiders to the top spot in the AFC. Oakland stands at 10-2 thanks in part to MVP caliber play from quarterback Derek Carr and another standout season from Khalil Mack. The linebacker has the inside track on the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award after another performance where he snuffed out an opponent’s late-game rally with a strip-sack on Sunday.

New England beat Los Angeles convincingly to give Tom Brady more wins than any other quarterback in NFL history, but failed to gain any ground in this week’s rankings. The Patriots will have the chance to regain their place in the race for home-field advantage in their final four games. Oakland faces three tough division rivals — Denver, Kansas City, and San Diego — with a game against playoff-hungry Indianapolis mixed in for good measure. New England has an easier schedule, but not by much. They’ll face three postseason contenders — Denver, Miami, and Baltimore — along with their archrival, the New York Jets.

Key races in the South and North will determine the two AFC division leaders who host playoff games on Wild Card weekend.

SB Nation’s Adam Stites has the Steelers and Ravens at No. 9 and No. 10, respectively. The AFC South is in much worse shape. At 6-6, the Titans, Colts, and Texans are ranked Nos. 23-26. If their current records hold true, an 8-8 record could be all it takes to host a postseason game this winter.

Another key race? The one to the top spot in the 2017 NFL draft. Cleveland’s bye week meant the Browns couldn’t lose, but that reprieve didn’t save them from the bottom of the rankings. The 49ers, who were routed in one of the ugliest games of the season by the Bears, are itching to take that spot. San Francisco has lost 11 straight games since starting the season with a win over the Rams.

As we head into Week 14 of the NFL season, here are the power rankings from around the internet:

Sunday’s Chiefs-Falcons game decided by critical plays