POWER RANKINGS: Perfect Patriots and Panthers remain 1-2

By foxsports
Published

NEW YORK (AP) The New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers remained the league's only unbeaten teams going into Week 12.

Not surprisingly, both teams also retained the top spots in the latest AP Pro32 rankings on Tuesday.

The Patriots received 10 of the 12 first-place votes in balloting by the 12 media members who regularly cover the league.

The Patriots earned a 20-13 win over the Buffalo Bills on Monday night.

''The Bills crafted the best defensive game plan for Tom Brady this season, and still lost,'' said Jenny Vrentas of The Monday Morning Quarterback.

''The road to 16-0 could be clear,'' she said.

The Panthers took the other two first-place votes.

At 10-0, the Panthers have joined some elite company.

Entering 2015, 15 teams started a season 10-0 during the Super Bowl era. Of those 15 teams, all qualified for the playoffs, nine advanced to the Super Bowl and six of those teams won the Super Bowl.

The Panthers will get the first chance to move to 11-0 when they face the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

''Five more touchdown passes for the ever-improving Cam Newton, and more proof the Panthers are worthy of Super Bowl discussion,'' Newsday's Bob Glauber said.

''The road to San Francisco will likely go through Carolina,'' Glauber added.

The Arizona Cardinals and Cincinnati Bengals remained at No. 3 and 4.

And the Broncos moved up one spot to No. 5 after backup quarterback Brock Osweiler led Denver to a 17-15 win over Chicago.

''Osweiler era begins with a win,'' Fox Sports' John Czarnecki said.

Osweiler will make his second start on Sunday night against Brady and the Patriots.

''We'll see how Osweiler holds up vs. New England,'' NBC Sports' Tony Dungy said.

The Patriots are the fourth defending Super Bowl champion to start a season 10-0, joining Green Bay (13-0 in 2011), Denver (13-0 in 1998) and San Francisco (10-0 in 1990).

And the Patriots have reached 10-0 for the second time in franchise history and first time since 2007, when they finished the regular season undefeated and advanced to the Super Bowl.

The Green Bay Packers jumped two spots to No. 6 after pounding the rival Minnesota Vikings, who fell two spots to No. 7

''If Eddie Lacy is back, so are the Packers,'' said Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News.

''His 100 yards rushing last weekend against Minnesota were 22 more than his previous four games combined.''

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks are next at Nos. 8 and 9. Those two teams meet on Sunday.

And the surging Kansas City Chiefs, who have won four in a row, rounded out the top 10.

''Watch out for the Chiefs; quietly, they are in the playoff picture in the AFC,'' ESPN's Herm Edwards said.

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Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL