NFL power rankings, Week 12: Falcons soar, Texans tumble

7-4. Previous: . Detroit Lions. 8. team. 50. Detroit continues to roll through the NFC with ease, and looks to be the surprise team of the season. They continued their dominance with a Thanksgiving win against the Vikings thanks to zero turnovers and a limited number of penalties. Matthew Stafford performed well once again, and connected with Anquan Boldin in the first quarter. The running game will need to be addressed over the offseason, despite the presence of Dwayne Washington and Zach Zenner. The team as a whole had 94 yards on the ground, nearly a-third of which came from Stafford. Quietly, Darius Slay has turned into arguably the best cornerback in the NFL, and picked off the typically-efficient Sam Bradford. <p>Next Week: The Lions travel down to New Orleans, where their defense will be tested by one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time. Slay will need to shut down Brandin Cooks, which is never an easy task. Detroit has lost three of their last four road games, which will be more abundant down the stretch of this schedule.</p> <p>Playoff hopes: With three straight wins, the Lions have quickly turned into a legitimate contender. The fact they typically do not perform well on the road could knock them out of the playoffs early with Seattle and Dallas expected to control home field play in the NFC.</p>