Patriots overtake No. 1 spot in PFF's Week 15 NFL Power Rankings

Week 14 of the NFL season has come and gone, and with it, a new week’s worth of grades are in the Pro Football Focus database.

PFF’s Power Rankings are based off of Senior Analyst Sam Monson’s ordering of all 32 NFL teams, offenses, and defenses. He uses PFF’s overall cumulative grades as a starting point, and makes necessary subjective adjustments to account for things that aren’t captured in the grading system, such as injuries.

The PFF Power Rankings will be updated every Tuesday morning during the NFL season—view the latest edition entering Week 15 here.

Off the back of New England's Monday night win over the Baltimore Ravens, Tom Brady and the Patriots overtake the Dallas Cowboys for the top spot in Pro Football Focus' Week 15 NFL Power Rankings.

Brady—recently named PFF's top AFC QB pick for the 2017 Pro Bowl roster—is the league's highest-graded quarterback through Week 14. In fact, he's the highest-graded player in the league, with a mark that just edges out Rams DT Aaron Donald.

While the Patriots' quarterback and offensive supporting cast often gets the praise, New England's defense has also carried its weight this season. Through Week 14, the Patriots own the third-highest-graded run defense as a team, and the fourth-highest-graded pass-coverage unit, anchored by cornerback Malcolm Butler. Butler has recorded a league-high 12 pass breakups this season to go along with a pair of interceptions.

Another AFC team on the rise this week is the Kansas City Chiefs, as they move to No. 3 following their Thursday night win over the Raiders. Quarterback Alex Smith is a top-20-graded QB this season, though he's earning his lowest overall mark since 2012. On defense, Justin Houston is among the 11 highest-graded edge defenders through Week 14, while his teammate, Tamba Hali, is not far behind at No. 18.

Staying in the AFC West, one of the biggest fallers in our rankings this week are the Denver Broncos, who move from No. 7 overall entering Week 14 to No. 12 currently. Suffering a 13-10 defeat in Nashville on Sunday, the Broncos' currently own the second AFC Wildcard spot, with the Chiefs and Raiders now ahead by two games apiece in the division. Denver still owns the top defense in PFF's Power Rankings, but the offense has slipped to No. 25 on the shoulders of quarterback Trevor Siemian—just the 28th-highest-graded QB entering Week 15.

As we enter the final stretch of the NFL regular season, be sure to check back weekly for PFF’s updated NFL Power Rankings.