Shutdown Corner NFL Power Rankings: Seahawks coming on strong

Maybe the mark of a champion is knowing when to peak.

The 2014 Seattle Seahawks didn't look like the 2013 Seahawks for much of the season. But, now that we've hit the last quarter of the regular season, they look like a reasonable facsimile.

The last three weeks, the Seahawks have played very well. The defense, finally close to full strength, gave up three points to the Cardinals and three points to the 49ers, and even though it gave up 14 to the Eagles on Sunday, that might have been its most impressive game in the stretch. The Eagles couldn't move the ball. They had 139 yards. The Seahawks are dominant in pass defense lately. On offense, Marshawn Lynch can grind out first downs and Russell Wilson can make a few plays avoiding the rush and finding receivers downfield. The Seahawks control the tempo of the game on the offensive side and punish teams on defense.

Sound familiar?

The Seahawks aren't that far from earning the No. 1 seed in the NFC either, and we know how important that is for them (and how important it would be for a rematch against the Packers, who look incredible at home). If the Seahawks win out (they play San Francisco, at Arizona and St. Louis, and they should be favored in all three), they'll win the NFC West, and if they win their last three they'd be the top seed if the Packers and Cowboys each lost a game (although if Seattle won out and there's a three-way tie between the Packers, Seahawks and Cowboys then the Seahawks would win that tiebreaker ... let's just say there's a long way to go).

It's not easy to pencil in three wins for any NFL team, but the Seahawks look up to the task. And if Seattle can get the top seed, the Seahawks instantly become the favorite in the NFC. Lately, they look the part, too.

Here are the post-Week 14 NFL power rankings:

32. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-11, Last Week: 31)
Rookie receiver Marqise Lee had a nice game for the second straight week, a good sign for the Jaguars. They seem to have a promising, young receiving corps.

31. Tennessee Titans (2-11, LW: 29)
The Titans haven't announced it but a report from NFL Network said quarterback Zach Mettenberger's season is over with a shoulder injury. Hopefully the injury doesn't cause the Titans to make an unwise decision and not give Mettenberger all of 2015 to see if he can be their permanent starter. In other words, don't pull a Lovie Smith.

30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-11, LW: 30)
Doug Martin's slide has been steep and tough to explain. He was a first-round pick, and his averages have gone from 4.6 as a rookie to 4.0 to 3.6. He doesn't have a run longer than 19 yards in his eight games. Trent Richardson, Martin and David Wilson are the last running backs taken in the first round. Not hard to see why that is.

29. New York Jets (2-11, LW: 28)
After a pick-six on his first play, Geno Smith played well. He completed 18 of 29 passes for 254 yards against a good defense. Does it matter if he finishes well? Maybe not, but he can make the Jets' offseason decisions interesting if he does.

28. Oakland Raiders (2-11, LW: 32)
If you're an NFL general manager, who do you take right now: Derek Carr or Colin Kaepernick?

27. Washington Redskins (3-10, LW: 26)
Colt McCoy's neck is hurting, so Robert Griffin III could get another start on Sunday. Jay Gruden also talked about giving Kirk Cousins another chance this season. This is a mess of epic proportions.

26. New York Giants (4-9, LW: 27)
Andre Williams' 131-yard rushing day tells me the Titans' run defense is horrible, but in a lost season, there are worse things than getting a late breakout performance from a rookie.

25. Chicago Bears (5-8, LW: 24)
They look exactly like a bottom-five team, but they're saved from being that low because there are a lot of bad teams in the NFL this season.

24. Carolina Panthers (4-8-1, LW: 25)
Over the last couple weeks, Jonathan Stewart suddenly looks like the back we have waited on for so long, averaging more than 7 yards per carry in back-to-back games. He might never put it together for a full season but he has his moments when we're reminded what could have been.

23. Atlanta Falcons (5-8, LW: 22)
You have to at least credit what they did in the second half. Hey, in the NFC South, we'll accept moral victories.

22. New Orleans Saints (5-8, LW: 21)
In a game you fell behind 41-3, your most energetic moment is fighting over an opponent's touchdown celebration? Hard to explain that.

21. Minnesota Vikings (6-7, LW: 23)
Charles Johnson, who was signed off the Browns' practice squad in September, is the playmaker the Vikings were hoping for when they took Cordarrelle Patterson in the first round in 2013. Funny.

20. St. Louis Rams (6-7, LW: 20)
it was humorous and all, but what exactly was the point of them sending out the six players on the roster acquired in the RG3 trade for the coin toss? Bush-league stuff, really.

19. Cleveland Browns (7-6, LW: 17)
It was the right choice to give Brian Hoyer another start last week. It was clearly the wrong choice to stick with Hoyer the entire game after it was clear he didn't have it. And now the only feasible decision is to let Johnny Manziel start the last three games.

18. San Francisco 49ers (7-6, LW: 15)
They are 9.5- or 10-point underdogs for their game at Seattle on Sunday. The perception of them has changed that dramatically in two weeks.

17. Houston Texans (7-6, LW: 18)
Andre Johnson has the lowest per-catch average of his career, has lost three fumbles this season (never lost more than one in a season before) and is on pace to finish with less than 1,000 yards. He hasn't finished with less than 1,000 yards in a season in which he has played at least 10 games since 2005. A concussion on Sunday makes a bad season even worse.

16. Buffalo Bills (7-6, LW: 16)
It will be interesting to see if the Bills go back to EJ Manuel for a start or two if they're officially out of the race. If they don't, that probably tells you all you need to know about Manuel's future there.

15. Cincinnati Bengals (8-4-1, LW: 11)
With games remaining at Cleveland, Denver and at Pittsburgh, this could get ugly in Cincinnati.

14. San Diego Chargers (8-5, LW: 13)
Mike McCoy's crazy decision to punt from midfield in the fourth quarter got the attention, but giving Ryan Mathews just two second-half carries in a close game (McCoy said it wasn't related to Mathews' health) was weird too.

13. Kansas City Chiefs (7-6, LW: 12)
Jason Avant, cut by the receiver-needy Panthers last month, led the Chiefs' wide receivers in catches and yards on Sunday. When did Dwayne Bowe retire?

12. Miami Dolphins (7-6, LW: 10)
Tough loss because that's the kind of game you have to win if you want to be a playoff team.

11. Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5, LW: 19)
The Buccaneers and Jets are 2-0 against the Steelers and 2-22 against the rest of the league. And yet the Steelers sometimes look like they did on Sunday at Cincinnati. They got way too big of a leap this week (mostly because of other teams around them losing), and I'm sure they'll have a terrible performance in a week or two and move back down.

10. Baltimore Ravens (8-5, LW: 14)
The Ravens' point differential is plus-101 this year. The list of teams that have a point differential better than that: Green Bay and New England. That's it.

9. Detroit Lions (9-4, LW: 9)
Ndamukong Suh had another big game on Sunday. He has made it this far in his contract year, so it  seems like he'll be one of the most coveted free agents in a long, long time to hit the open market.

8. Dallas Cowboys (9-4, LW: 8)
Tony Romo should be better than he was in the first Eagles meeting, with a week and a few extra days of rest. He'll need to be better.

7. Philadelphia Eagles (9-4, LW: 4)
This is how wild the NFC playoff race is: The winner of Sunday's game against Dallas will be the favorite to win the NFC East. The loser will be 9-5 but in some significant danger of missing the playoffs.

6. Arizona Cardinals (10-3, LW: 7)
They can win games like they did Sunday, with the defense keeping them in it long enough for the offense to make one big play. It's going to be tough to do that in January though.

5. Indianapolis Colts (9-4, LW: 6)
At some point in the second half, once it was clear that Mike Pettine wasn't going to pull Brian Hoyer (likely under the flawed notion that he couldn't make that move because the Browns had the lead), everyone knew that Andrew Luck was going to win the game at the end, right?

4. Denver Broncos (10-3, LW: 3)
Think about it this way, whoever insists Peyton Manning is at the exact same level he has always been: If the greatest quarterback of all time was at the same level he was a year ago, you think the Broncos would go away from that and build an offense around C.J. Anderson? I don't.

3. Seattle Seahawks (9-4, LW: 5)
Very, very close to being ahead of Green Bay. That's how impressive the win at Philadelphia was. Let's not forget that Seattle dominated Green Bay to open the season. A rematch would be fantastic.

2. Green Bay Packers (10-3, LW: 2)
Incredible stat from NFL spokesman Randall Liu: Aaron Rodgers had his 100th start on Monday night, and he could have gone 0-for-69 with 69 interceptions and still set a record for best quarterback rating through 100 games in the Super Bowl era. He had a 107.1 career rating coming into Monday night's game. And he didn't throw 70 interceptions.

1. New England Patriots (10-3, LW: 1)
Linebacker Jamie Collins and Bill Belichick are a fantastic combination, pairing an incredibly versatile defender with a defensive genius who knows how to get the most out of his talents.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab