LAS VEGAS -- The New England Patriots' ascension to the top of the NFL Vegas Rankings is complete.
With their 34-9 rout of the Detroit Lions, the Patriots continue to gain more power -- and a higher power rating from our handicappers' panel of Erin Rynning of sportsmemo.com, Sal Selvaggio of madduxsports.com and yours truly, Dave Tuley -- while the other top teams stumbled this past week. Green Bay and Denver won their games against Minnesota and Miami, respectively, but didn't cover the spread, while Arizona lost at Seattle.
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The NFL Vegas Rankings combine the panels' personal power ratings and can be used to create your own ratings or to compare two teams to the current point spread as if they were meeting on a neutral field before factoring in home-field advantage. The industry standard is 2.5 points for home field, but teams such as Green Bay, New England and San Francisco are typically given a full field goal, while Denver and New Orleans are closer to 3.5. Seattle is given the biggest home-field advantage in the league (about 4 points).
Below is a look at the power ratings for all 32 NFL teams, along with Week 13 games in which there appears to be value in the current lines. As always, these are not my personal plays or those of any of the other handicappers, but rather the collective group as a whole. I'll post my thoughts in the Tuley's Take column, which will appear on Wednesday afternoon this week due to the holiday.
NFL Vegas Rankings
1. New England Patriots (power rating: 27)
The panel improved the Patriots' power rating by half a point after the previously No. 1-rated Detroit defense wasn't able to slow down Tom Brady & Co. New England has covered four in a row.
Previous rating: 26.5
2. Green Bay Packers (26.5)
Green Bay beat Minnesota 24-21, but didn't cover as a 7.5-point road favorite. We kept the Packers' power rating the same.
Previous rating: 26.5