Ravens are more deserving of love than overlooked Cowboys

In the current pro football pantheon, there isn’t a team hotter than the Dallas Cowboys. Ever since they got pantsed by San Francisco in early October, the Cowboys have gone on an absolute tear. They’ve won seven of eight games to vault themselves into prime position for the NFC East title and for a top-two seed in the NFC playoff picture. Perhaps more importantly, Dak Prescott is playing the most efficient football of his career and has a genuine MVP case as he tries to march the league’s marquee team back to postseason glory. And yet, Dallas’s resume still pales compared to what the Ravens — easily the NFL’s most overlooked team — have accomplished. Even me detailing what the Cowboys have achieved in the last two months ironically felt like it glossed over the current favorite for the top playoff seed in the AFC. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at a tale of the tape: The Ravens have five wins over teams with winning records, while the Cowboys have one. According to FTN, Baltimore is fifth, second, and fifth in offensive, defensive, and special teams DVOA, respectively. By comparison, Dallas is sixth, sixth, and eighth in each of those categories. That suggests Baltimore plays a better brand of complementary football. The Ravens are fourth in scoring offense and second in scoring defense. The Cowboys are first in scoring offense and fourth in scoring defense. Baltimore’s coach is John Harbaugh, a man with a proven playoff pedigree accustomed to taking his team on deep runs through January. Dallas’s coach is Mike McCarthy, a supposedly changed man who usually sinks his team’s playoff chances without a second thought. None of this is to diminish the Cowboys’ resume. At the moment, even if they do fall short of the NFC East title because of the Philadelphia Eagles’ remaining cupcake schedule, I feel comfortable anointing Dallas as the No. 1 challenger to the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC’s crown. But the Ravens deserve a whole heck of a lot more respect because they’re beating better teams and in style. And they’ve been doing it all year. I mean, it took this team over two months to appear in a primetime game. That is egregious and completely unacceptable. It’s not the Ravens’ fault they don’t have an entire media market backing their every brush with success and drama. The Cowboys and Ravens are understandably a touchy subject for Christian and me in For The Win‘s Week 15 NFL power rankings. As almost every other contender falls flat on its face, we’ve got a wrestling match of superpowers up top. Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 32 C.J. Stroud was responsible for -14 expected points added (EPA) in Week 14. This is only notable for Carolina because he was still 12 points better than Bryce Young, who completed three passes in the first half of a 28-6 loss to the New Orleans Saints. His 40 dropbacks resulted in 99 net yards. — Christian D’Andrea Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 28 As another lost Commanders’ season reaches its merciful endpoint, it’s worth noting that matters don’t seem as bleak in our nation’s capitol this time around. Sam Howell might have some promise under center, and there are awesome playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. But the defense needs a full overhaul, and Ron Rivera’s days are numbered as head coach. These are not fixes for one mere offseason. While the Josh Harris era provides more promise (by default, given who his predecessor was), the Commanders are a longgggg way from competing again. — Robert Zeglinski Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 26 Arizona’s final season stretch featuring matchups with San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Seattle couldn’t be more important to this franchise’s future. With the Cardinals poised to potentially own a top-3 draft pick, Kyler Murray still has to prove he’s worthy of having a team built around him. And whatever Jonathan Gannon has in his back pocket, now would be a good time to reveal it. Needless to say, a Cardinals’ future with Marvin Harrison Jr. compared to Caleb Williams or Drake Maye is dramatically different. — RZ Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 31 The Patriots rose up for Bill Belichick because they understand there’s nothing Belichick enjoys more than frustrating and annoying Mike Tomlin. And hooooo boy, did he ever. You don’t get much credit for beating Mitchell Trubisky in 2023 (or a clearly concussed T.J. Watt), but a win is a win, and it, so far, hasn’t been especially damaging to the team’s draft stock. Bailey Zappe’s first half vs. the Steelers was nice, but there’s no chance in hell he’s the team’s answer. — CD Quinn Harris/Getty Images Last week’s rank: 29 Chicago has a win streak for the first time in the Matt Eberflus era, which serves to do nothing but complicate the team’s offseason. Do the Bears move on from Justin Fields or build around him? How badly will these late wins affect their draft stock? Is there even a remote chance Eberflus can save his job (no)? But hey, at least there are a few silver linings in this season of storm clouds. — CD Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 23 The Raiders had 202 yards of offense. They scored zero points and lost by just three in a game no one will remember. Also, they’re on a three-game losing streak. The Antonio “I’m Not Josh McDaniels” Pierce honeymoon is over. — RZ Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 27 Will Levis got all beefy between college and the NFL Draft and anonymous scouts assumed he was getting too big, in love with his own muscles, etc. No, it turns out he just wanted to be a total brick [expletive]house and run people over with no regard for his own safety. That makes him a perfect fit for the Titans. — CD Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 22 The Chargers have lost four of their last five games. Everyone seems woefully unprepared and allergic to making a big play in the clutch. Both of which are two classic Chargers trademarks. What I’m saying is: how does the [expletive] does Brandon Staley still have his job? — RZ Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 30 Tommy DeVito might actually be good. Or he might be benefitting from a league that hasn’t figured out his “live fast, die pretty” approach to quarterback yet. We’ll have a better idea over the last four weeks of the season but, hey, New York has honest-to-goodness (and very slim) playoff hopes in December! — CD Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 20 An easy lift over the last four games of the season clears the way for the Falcons to get to 9-8 and win the NFC South. They won’t, because this is a franchise that identifies opportunity and then runs screaming away from it thanks to a fight/flight response that’s been trained to be broken in very specific ways over five decades of existence. — CD AP Photo/Adam Hunger Last week’s rank: 25 New York’s defense continues to give us “what if” shudders when looking at this team. Zach Wilson’s trying his best to get there, too. His return to the starting lineup provided the best game of his career and a performance worthy of the second-overall pick. Unfortunately, it’s such an outlier that you’d have to zoom way, way back on his career game-by-game output just to see it on the same page as his other 33 games as a pro. — CD Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 24 The more this season wears on, it’s apparent the Buccaneers just might be the best of an abysmal NFC South. Nothing more. Seriously, they have a negative point differential. Please relegate that division for the season and give the valuable playoff spot to someone else who deserves it A LOT more. — RZ Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports Last week’s rank: 21 The Saints won by 22 points Sunday in a game where they only gained 207 yards. Whoever wins the NFC South is going to get smashed to pieces in the Wild Card round. — CD AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar Last week’s rank: 19 Thursday night was…