Here are our updated tiers following the divisional round of the NFL playoffs January 10-11:

FF rank	Team	Div	Record	WC rnd	Current
A1	Seattle Seahawks	N-W	13-4	A1	A1
A2	New England Patriots	A-E	13-4	A2	A2
A3	Green Bay Packers	N-N	13-4	A3	A3
A4	Dallas Cowboys	N-E	13-5	A5	A4
B5	Indianapolis Colts	A-S	13-5	B6	B5
B6	Denver Broncos	A-W	12-5	A4	B6
B7	Baltimore Ravens	A-N	11-7	B7	B7
C08	Detroit Lions	N-N	11-6	B8	C08
C09	Pittsburgh Steelers	A-N	11-6	C09	C09
C10	Cincinnati Bengals	A-N	10-6-1	C10	C10
C11	Carolina Panthers	N-S	8-9-1	C11	C11
C12	Arizona Cardinals	N-W	11-6	C12	C12

 

It's interesting to note that the ONLY time the Denver Broncos were not sitting comfortably inside Tier A was the end of their season, when the Colts exposed them as a second-rate club with an aging or injured quarterback (see our most recent post for more on that topic). The Cowboys and Colts both moved up a slot because of that, but otherwise there was no movement this week in that top twelve.

Now, the Indianapolis Colts travel to Foxboro, Massachusetts, to muster some confidence against a team that toyed with them a couple of months ago - New England has to be at least a touchdown favorite in this game, and undoubtedly Seattle will get similar love against Green Bay from the tipsters in Nevada. There's a reason they earned the home field advantage - they should be the favorites, and frankly if they were the two road teams we would still make them the favorites!

We're not going to put a point spread on these games, except to agree that both teams should be at least a seven point favorite to meet in Arizona on the first of February.