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PFT Extra: Tiffany Simons and Mike Florio discuss some of the hot topics from around the NFL, including the attitude of the Jets’ coach and if the Bengals are elite. (NBC Sports)

Tiffany Simons and Mike Florio discuss some of the hot topics from around the NFL. (NBC Sports)

Ben Roethlisberger’s fourth concussion since 2006 apparently won’t put him on the bench.

The NFC East came roaring back last Sunday and that was reflected in the ESPN.com Week 12 Power Rankings. The voters apparently were waiting for a reason to fall in love with the Giants again — and an overtime win over the Falcons was good enough to vault them five spots in the rankings.



Thanks to the magic of Mike Sando’s database, we know exactly where all the votes came from. Now let’s take a team-by-team look at how things went down:



8. Dallas Cowboys: Not totally sure I understand why a 7-6 win over the Skins allows a team to move up two spots, but that’s what happened. John Clayton had the Cowboys at No. 7 and the other three voters had them at No. 8. The panelists have the Cowboys in front of the Steelers and the Packers, a team the Pokes lost to recently.



10. Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles also moved up two spots after their win in Chicago. I’ll give the Eagles more credit for their win than I give the Cowboys for the win over the Skins. Sando, who’s anti-Beast votes are the stuff of legend, actually gave the Eagles their highest ranking at No. 9. Jeff Chadiha, a cross-over star at ESPN and ESPN.com, had the Eagles with their lowest ranking at 11.



11. New York Giants: I guess this group of voters believes in the power of Tom Coughlin because the Giants made the biggest leap of any team in the rankings. And they barely escaped against the Falcons. I’m not sure what caused the huge jump. Maybe it was simply that some teams in front of them fell apart — like the Broncos and Falcons for instance. AFC South blogger Paul Kuharsky and Chadiha weren’t as impressed as Sando and Clayton, ranking the Giants 13th. That’s about where I’d put them. But it was quite odd to see Kuharsky put the Falcons ahead of the Giants.



24. Washington Redskins: You can’t dock the Skins for going on the road and almost pulling the upset over the Cowboys. They were one made field goal from getting it done. Sando and Clayton gave the Skins their highest marks with a pair of 24s.



The Beast climbed back into second place in the overall division rankings with an average of 13.6. The AFC South came in at a 12.8. But if the three teams at the top of the NFC East keep climbing, they’ll eventually overtake Kuharsky’s beloved division. The Texans don’t have what it takes and the Titans simply waited too late to change quarterbacks. I thought Vince Young was superb last night. An absolute pleasure to watch. He just never looked stressed out at all.

In the days after firing head coach Dick Jauron, the Buffalo Bills generated some electricity among their fans when reports linked them to the sexiest candidates on the market.



The reports, citing team and league sources, suggested the Bills were in hot pursuit of an elite coach. Former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan agreed to discuss the opening.



But in the span of a few days, three well-known coaches have indicated they’re not interested in Buffalo.



A weekend report from Buffalo TV station WIVB stated the Bills contacted Jon Gruden and “went after him hard,” but he spurned them. ESPN’s John Clayton and the NFL Network’s Jason LaCanfora reported the Bills had contacted Bill Cowher, who said he won’t interview with anybody until the season is over.



On Tuesday afternoon, former Bills linebacker Marty Schottenheimer essentially took his name out of the running.



Schottenheimer was a guest on Sirius NFL Radio’s “The Red Zone” and discussed comments ESPN’s Chris Mortensen made on the “Monday Night Football” pregame show. Mortensen said Schottenheimer could be a candidate for the Bills’ vacancy.



“I think [the report] may have had something to do with a reunion of that 1965 Buffalo Bills team that we had,” Schottenheimer said. “That’s probably a lot closer to the reality of it.



“I was a bit taken back. My wife looked at me kind of like, ‘Hello?’ And I said, ‘I’m home!’ It’s flattering but there’s nothing there.”



Alex Marvez, host of the “The Red Zone,” asked if Schottenheimer had any interest in returning to the NFL as a general manager or a head coach.



“I’ve never really considered the general manager thing,” Schottenheimer said, “other than some dialogue that I had with Clark Hunt [of the Kansas City Chiefs], and it was more of a discussion about the various roles and can a guy do both or can a guy go from the coaching side of it to the administrative or executive side of it, if you will. And certainly [Bill] Parcells has indicated that you could.



“But to be very candid with you I don’t really think that I’m a candidate for any GM role, first of all, because I think it’s a totally different animal. And Parcells may think otherwise, but it’s not something that I would have an interest in.



“And from the coaching standpoint of it, you know, I’ll be very candid with you and say it’s nice to think that people would consider you, but the reality of it is is that after 30 great years, I’m really not going to go back down that road again.”

Rather than deliver the AFC East power rankings in the usual format, let’s take a look not only at where the four teams rank but how they’ve fared against the NFL’s best and worst opponents.



No. 4 New England Patriots

• Best win: The Patriots have gained their ranking based on convincing and consistent performances more than knocking off teams ranked above them. Their biggest victory so far was over the No. 15 Baltimore Ravens in Week 4.
• Worst loss: The No. 22 New York Jets kept the Patriots out of the end zone in Week 2. The Patriots avenged that defeat Sunday with a comfortable victory in Gillette Stadium.
• Close calls: The Patriots came dangerously close to getting stunned by the No. 27 Buffalo Bills on opening night but miraculously found a way to win. … Bill Belichick’s controversial decision to go for it on fourth down from his own 28 might have cost them a victory over the No. 2 Indianapolis Colts.

No. 17 Miami Dolphins

• Best win: Of the Dolphins’ five victories, the highest-rated opponent is the No. 21 Carolina Panthers. They’ve beaten the No. 22 New York Jets twice, the No. 27 Bills and No. 30 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
• Worst loss: Four of their five defeats are to teams in the top 6, so it makes you stop to think the Dolphins’ worst loss has been to the No. 16 Atlanta Falcons on opening day.
• Close calls: The Dolphins failed to close out the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the poll, blowing a 21-point second-quarter lead over the New Orleans Saints in Week 7 and letting Colts quarterback Peyton Manning beat them in Week 2 despite letting him have the ball for less than 15 minutes the whole game.

No. 22 New York Jets

• Best win: Their signature win was two months ago, a solid triumph over the No. 4 Patriots.
• Worst loss: The No. 30 Bills delivered a sudden-death punch in the gut at the Meadowlands in Week 6.
• Close calls: Both games against the No. 17 Dolphins went down to the wire. The Jets lost the first meeting after a fourth quarter that featured five lead-changing touchdowns and dropped the rematch because they let Ted Ginn return two kickoffs 100 yards for touchdowns.

No. 27 Buffalo Bills

• Best win: The Bills’ three victories are over the No. 21 Panthers, the No. 22 Jets and the No. 30 Buccaneers.
• Worst loss: Doesn’t get any worse than being the only victory for the NFL’s worst team. The Bills lost — at home, no less — to the No. 32 Cleveland Browns in Week 5.
• Close calls: The Bills should’ve beaten the Patriots on opening night, but Leodis McKelvin‘s infamous fumble in the closing minutes gave Tom Brady a golden opportunity.

The way I see it, we’re all where we should be in ESPN.com’s Week 12 Power Rankings.



Minnesota and Green Bay are in the top 12, where playoff-caliber teams reside. Chicago and Detroit? Let’s just say they’re not.



Here’s scary turn of events for Bears fans: This week, at least, you’re closer to the Lions than you are to the Packers. Let’s take a look:



3. Minnesota Vikings

Trending: No change for fourth consecutive week.



12. Green Bay Packers

Trending: Up three spots from last week.



23. Chicago Bears

Trending: Down four spots from last week.



29. Detroit Lions

Trending: Up two spots from last week.

The AFC North went 0-4 over the weekend.



So here is how things shook out in ESPN.com’s latest NFL Power Rankings:



Cincinnati Bengals (7-3)



Last week: No. 4



Current ranking: No. 7



Analysis: An upset to the Oakland Raiders dropped the Bengals three spots to No. 7. The team held firm in the top five for a couple weeks but was bound for a poor outing at some point. Cincinnati can get back on track with a win Sunday against the division rival Cleveland Browns. The Bengals need to get back to the efficient, focused football that put them in playoff contention and on top of the AFC North. This recent loss should wake them up.



Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4)



Last week: No. 6



Current ranking: No. 9



Analysis: Pittsburgh’s trip to Kansas City wasn’t a good one. Not only did the Steelers lose to the lowly Chiefs (3-7) in overtime, but starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a blow to the head and backup Charlie Batch (wrist) is out for the rest of the regular season. All of this dropped the Steelers three spots in the power rankings. Pittsburgh is in jeopardy of losing three in a row for the first time this year. Roethlisberger is expected to play Sunday but beating the Baltimore Ravens on the road is never easy. The special teams also need help. The defending champs have some issues.



Baltimore Ravens (5-5)



Last week: No. 11



Current ranking: No. 15



Analysis: There is no shame in the Ravens losing to the undefeated Indianapolis Colts (10-0). But the way Baltimore lost makes it feel as though it blew a good opportunity. The Ravens had plenty of offense but couldn’t score touchdowns. They were 0 for 4 in the red zone, and that won’t cut it against a Peyton Manning-led offense. Right now Baltimore is on the outside looking in but its playoffs hopes are not over. The Ravens likely have to go 5-1 or 4-2 down the stretch to have a legitimate chance at the postseason.



Cleveland Browns (1-9)



Last week: No. 32



Current ranking: No. 32



Analysis: The Browns remain dead last in the power rankings after losing in the final play to the equally struggling Detroit Lions (2-8). It was a wild game where Cleveland feels it has a lot to complain about. But the point is the Browns shouldn’t have blown a 21-point lead to a bad team. The good news is Cleveland showed signs of life, particularly on offense, which is something it can build on. The Browns will try to pull the upset next week against first-place Cincinnati.

We have streamlined the voting process. I no longer have a vote.



I still have an opinion, though, so here goes:



San Diego



Power Ranking: 6th



My ranking range: 5-6



Why: The Chargers are playing like a top NFL team.



Denver



Power Ranking: 13th



My ranking range: 15-16



Why: The Broncos don’t even look like an average team right now.



Kansas City



Power Ranking: 26th



My ranking range: 24-26



Why: The Chiefs are starting to look like an NFL team.



Oakland



Power Ranking: 28th



My ranking range: 26-27



Why: The Raiders should have moved up some after beating Cincinnati.

The weekly power rankings are out and the Saints are holding steady at No. 1 while the rest of the NFC South tumbled.



The Falcons, Panthers and Buccaneers all dropped after losses. Atlanta’s down to No. 16 and Carolina’s at No. 21. The Bucs are No. 30 and they’re very lucky the Rams and Browns are so bad because the Bucs are doing their best to look like a No. 32 team.



The Saints hold the top ranking for the fourth straight week. Pretty impressive for a team that was ranked No. 19 as training camps started.