Thanks to its third straight dominating victory Sunday -- a 38-20 drubbing of the Philadelphia Eagles -- the New England Patriots are now not only among the NFL elite in the standings, but is also being represented well in the Week 13 NFL power rankings. The Patriots (8-3), who are tied with the New Orleans Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texas for the league-best record, earned a No. 3 ranking in both NFL.com's and SI.com Peter King's rankings. (Note: King releases his rankings on Monday.)
Last week, despite having a league-best 7-3 record, the Patriots were ranked No. 6 in both polls. But, after another throttling of an opponent -- during New England's latest three-game winning streak it has averaged 36.3 points per game, while allowing just 13 ppg -- the Patriots made another jump in the rankings.
As the day progress and more polls become available, SB Nation Boston will update this StoryStream. For more on the New England Patriots, be sure to check out SB Nation's blog Pat's Pulpit.