LAS VEGAS -- The New England Patriots continue to roll along as the No. 1 team in the NFL Vegas Rankings and the Super Bowl favorites while the other top contenders continue to shuffle behind them.
The Patriots went into Denver in Week 15 and came out with a 16-3 victory as 3-point road favorites. The Pittsburgh Steelers rallied in Cincinnati to win 24-20 and cover as 3-point road favorites and are now tied for No. 2 by our panel of ESPN Chalk handicappers with the Atlanta Falcons, who routed the San Francisco 49ers 41-13 as 14-point home favorites. While the Patriots are 9-5 to win the Super Bowl at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, the Steelers and Falcons are 10-1 and 16-1, respectively. They actually have higher odds than our No. 4 and 5 teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks, who are 7-2 and 5-1 respectively.
The NFL Vegas Rankings are compiled using the average of the power ratings from ESPN Chalk handicappers Erin Rynning and yours truly, Dave Tuley, along with ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI). They're intended to compare the relative strength of teams if they were to meet on a neutral field and what the point spread should be for those matchups. We've also added the FPI and Massey-Peabody rankings to our chart for comparative purposes and to show other viewpoints; while there are differences up and down the rankings, we all continue to have the Patriots ranked highest.