Written By Jordan Rosas
1. Tennessee Titans (8-2)
Last Week: 2
High: 1
Low: 27
The CAP may hate them, and Nate Geary may call them frauds, but here they are. There are no perfect teams, and everybody has skeleton-in-the-closet games this year. The Titans have 2 very bad losses, but they’ve been on a very impressive run since then, and it reads like a who’s who of the upper echelon NFL teams.
2. Dallas Cowboys (7-2)
Last Week: 13
High: 2
Low: 13
After a bad loss to the Broncos last week, Dallas responded by absolutely shredding the Falcons 43-3, even briefly pausing the scoring at 28-3, just to humiliate them even worse. I could talk about how their offense is as good as it usually is with Dak Prescott at the helm, but the real key to their success this year has been a vastly improved defense, that just held a former league MVP to under 120 passing yards, with a 43% completion rate, no TDs, and 2 INTs. Josh Rosen came in and was even worse, going 1-6 for 14 yards and a pick.
3. New England Patriots (6-4)
Last Week: 6
High: 3
Low: 26
The Patriots aren’t just beating good teams, they’re putting up dominant wins. This week was a throwback Pats/Browns game, as New England won 45-7. Not bad for a rookie system QB. A lot of people got upset when analysts said Mac Jones is better than Tom Brady was when he joined the Patriots, but they’re not not wrong. Sure, Mac Jones only had 198 passing yards, but he was 19/23 with 3 TDs before he got replaced by Brian Hoyer, who went 3/3 for 85 yards and a TD. Besides, lets not pretend their receivers are anything special.
4. Buffalo Bills (6-3)
Last Week: 9
High: 1
Low: 11
The Bills still have yet to beat a quality opponent, but they at least got back to beating the brakes off the bad teams again. After a head scratching dud in Jacksonville last week, the Bills beat the Jets 45-17. After Josh Allen got the better of Josh Allen last week, Tre White picked off Mike White this week. So did Taron Johnson. And Jordan Poyer. And Levi Wallace. There’s simply no safe place to throw the football against Buffalo. As for the offense? the Bills had 2 WRs post 100 yard games, while 4 different players scored rushing TDs.
5. Green Bay Packers (8-2)
Last Week: 10
High: 1
Low: 20
It wasn’t a pretty game, offensively, but thanks to a perfect defensive outing, the Packers shut out Russell Wilson for the first time in his career. It wouldn’t be surprising if things were a bit off with Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams missing time due to Covid protocols, but they’ll look to get back on track next week.
6. Arizona Cardinals (8-2)
Last Week: 2
High: 1
Low: 6
I’m not going to drop Arizona for a bad game, because every other team in the league has had them as well. I am however, going to drop them after losing without so many key players. They were down to their 3rd string QB after Colt McCoy went down, and with star players like Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins still out of the lineup, things look to get rough for the Cardinals. When healthy, I still think they’re the best team in football, but they’re simply not that team right now.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-3)
Last Week: 3
High: 1
Low: 9
It’s been such a crazy year in the NFL, it’s tough to overreact to surprising losses anymore, even when Tom Brady looks bad. It was a rematch of last year’s wild card round, with Washington winning this time. The Bucs looked bad, but they were missing some significant players. After everything we’ve seen this season, I want to see a few more clunkers before I can comfortably drop them any further.
8. Kansas City Chiefs (6-4)
Last Week: 18
High: 1
Low: 26
I’ve said all season, if the Chiefs could get even mediocre defense, they’d be a contender. For most of the season, their defense has just been way too awful to have any shot at the post-season, but they seem to be waking up. They just rocked the Raiders to put themselves in first place in the division. Amazing what a difference it makes when there’s production on both sides of the ball…
9. Carolina Panthers (5-5)
Last Week: 28
High: 7
Low: 28
Are the Panthers back?? Cam Newton sure is. So is Christian McCaffrey. Maybe I’m overreacting to them absolutely manhandling the Cardinals, but those two players represent a significantly upgraded offense. CMC isn’t back to 100% yet, but he looks better each week, and Cam looked liberated, free to be himself. Away from the rigid system in New England, Cam looked like he was back to having fun again. And if he’s joyfully scampering into the end zone, that’s bad news for the rest of the league. The ceiling for the former MVP is much higher than that of PJ Walker and probably Sam Darnold, too.
10. Minnesota Vikings (4-5)
Last Week: 20
High: 9
Low: 23
Their record may not suggest it, but they’ve actually led in every game they’ve played so far. They need to stay in the win column, but they just beat a respectable Chargers team, and they’ve hung with everyone else they’ve played. Their biggest issue is their failure to build leads, but they’re still a really solid squad.
11. Baltimore Ravens (6-3)
Last Week: 4
High: 2
Low: 14
The Dolphins have been bad this year, but they’ve looked better lately. That doesn’t excuse a complete meltdown by the Ravens. Every team has had their bad games, but Baltimore has had several now. They’re still a very good team, but that inconsistency could be foreshadowing another early playoff exit.
12. Los Angeles Chargers (5-4)
Last Week: 11
High: 3
Low: 14
Another loss pushes the Chargers dangerously close to .500, but the Vikings are a good team. They got away from the run game a bit, but that didn’t seem to help Mike Williams get back to the dynamite level he was at to start the season. At this point, they figure to be a respectable wildcard contender.
13. Indianapolis Colts (5-5)
Last Week: 15
High: 13
Low: 27
Their record may be .500, but they quietly have a +38 point differential on the season. Sure, we’d like to see them beat the Jags by more than a TD, but lets not forget that those same Jags beat Buffalo last week. With Derrick Henry gone, Jonathan Taylor is the best back in the division, and maybe the league right now.
14. Los Angeles Rams (7-3)
Last Week: 12
High: 1
Low: 14
A crushing divisional loss is really bad for a team that needed to bounce back from a bad loss last week. I’m willing to cut them a bit of slack since they just lost Robert Woods for the season, and OBJ didn’t have enough time to replace his role in the offense on such short notice. Von Miller likely experienced similar difficulties on defense. On top of that, Darrell Henderson has been playing hurt. All of these issues could be fixed with a very conveniently scheduled bye this coming week. We’ll see if they’ve patched things up in two weeks.
15. San Francisco 49ers (4-5)
Last Week: 26
High: 13
Low: 26
It’s a big jump, but it was a big win over the Rams. The Rams are a very good team, and this was a masterpiece performance from Kyle Shanahan. He hit ’em where it hurt, and did the most with the limited tools at his disposal. The term “franchise tight end” isn’t used too frequently, but holy smokes does George Kittle make a difference in this offense. One of the few do it all TEs, he can overpower pass rushers in blocking schemes as easily as DBs on routes.
16. Philadelphia Eagles (4-6)
Last Week: 19
High: 13
Low: 23
Even though they’re 2 games under .500, they have an impressive +26 point differential, which they extended this week with a win over the Broncos. They’re an inconsistent mixed bag and hard to get a read on, but they average out around the middle. If one game goes differently, they’re 5-5.
17. Denver Broncos (5-5)
Last Week: 11
High: 11
Low: 25
They’re not a good team, but they’re not a bad team. They’ll get shuffled around here and there like they’ve been all year, but at the end of the day, they probably belong between 13 and 18. They lost 30-13 to the Eagles this week, and they’ll get another win down the road. They’re the Andy-Dalton-on-the-Cincinatti-Bengals of NFL teams. Nothing all that good, nothing all that bad, just very middle of the road.
18. Washington Football Team (3-6)
Last Week: 27
High: 15
Low: 27
This could very well be an outlier week, after all, we’ve sure seen plenty this year, but they deserve credit for beating the Bucs. In a rematch of last year’s wildcard, backup QB Taylor Heinicke got his revenge on Old Man Brady. After a bye week, Antonio Gibson is healthy, and received a workload that reflected that. If he’s back to 100% or close to it, that could take a lot of pressure off Heinicke and open things up, so at least for now, there’s plenty reason for optimism.
19. Seattle Seahawks (3-6)
Last Week: 14
High: 8
Low: 25
What the heck, lets hand out another mulligan. Russell Wilson returned to play, but he certainly didn’t play like he was back to 100%. It was a weird game with lots of covid-related consequences, but things should be looking up for Seattle. If nothing else, they can celebrate a defense that held the Packers to 17 points despite literally no help whatsoever from their offense.
20. Cleveland Browns (5-5)
Last Week: 5
High: 3
Low: 20
Ouch. This isn’t the first time the Browns have been eviscerated this year, but after all the questions surrounding Baker Mayfield‘s competency the past few weeks, it’s gotta sting particularly bad to get blown up by a rookie QB and RB. This was supposed to be the start of a new era. Instead, it looked like the same Browns/Patriots matchups we’ve seen for 20 years.
21. New York Giants (3-6)
Last Week: 21
High: 18
Low: 30
The Giants were on bye and missed another chaotic week in the NFL. Hopefully Saquon Barkley comes back healthier, because goodness gracious has that poor man been through the ringer. He’s had it the worst, but this team has dealt with many injuries. If they can manage to get healthy, they could still fight for a playoff spot.
22. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3-1)
Last Week: 8
High: 7
Low: 22
The Lions?? The Steelers couldn’t beat the Lions. Sure they didn’t have Ben Roethlisberger, but he really hasn’t been good this year anyway. If anything, this game showed how troublesome it is that they don’t have a succession plan in place. They didn’t lose, but man, tying a winless team is somehow almost more embarrassing. To make matters worse, their rookie 1st round draft pick, Najee Harris, apparently didn’t even know there could be ties in the NFL. There have been several in the past few years, so that admittance is indicates someone who isn’t as familiar with the NFL as someone who plays in the league probably should be.
23. Cincinnati Bengals (5-4)
Last Week: 23
High: 7
Low: 23
The Bengals were on bye this week. Halfway through the season, they look a lot better than they did at this point last year. They’re on the verge of the playoffs, but they’ll need to tighten up down the stretch. They were on a bad streak heading into the bye, so hopefully they were able to work some things out.
24. Chicago Bears (3-6)
Last Week: 24
High: 16
Low: 25
The Bears had the week off, which meant another week to stew with their bitter, controversial loss to Pittsburgh. Hopefully Cassius Marsh took some anger management classes and learned to stop *checks notes* looking at the other sideline.
25. New Orleans Saints (5-4)
last Week: 22
High: 2
Low: 23
The Saints lost again, but hanging within 2 points of the #1 team isn’t an awful game. They still need to get back to winning ways, but Trevor Siemian at least looked far more comfortable than last week, and he didn’t even have Alvin Kamara this time.
26. Miami Dolphins (3-7)
Last Week: 29
High: 12
Low: 31
I still can’t get over that Robert Hunt almost TD.
They beat the Ravens not long after giving the Bills trouble. I’m not saying they’re a major threat yet, but there’s still plenty of season left, and 10-7 is still in play. They may have the most puzzling QB situation we’ve seen in quite a while, but they’re managing to get the job done somehow, some way.
27. Las Vegas Raiders (5-4)
Last Week: 16
High: 5
Low: 27
Yikes. Big yikes. This team is falling apart. They’ve had plenty of off-field issues, which have caused on-field deficiencies. They tried to plug a hole at WR with veteran speedster DeSean Jackson, and, well, that didn’t go well. They got blown out 41-14 by the division rival Chiefs. Fortune can change pretty fast in Vegas.
28. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-7)
Last Week: 25
High: 25
Low: 32
Just a week after beating the Bills, the Jags find themselves back in the L column. They weren’t awful, but they’ve been finishing second best all too frequently the past 2 years. Trevor Lawrence was unspectacular, and while the run game was fairly productive overall, there were too many mouths for anyone to have a great game, other than Jamal Agnew, who managed 79 yards and a TD on just 3 carries.
29. Atlanta Falcons (4-5)
Last Week: 17
High: 17
Low: 30
Last week I pondered if it was time to put some respect on the Falcons. They answered with a resounding “F*** NO!” There’s just no way to spin a 43-3 loss in a positive light. The only good came from special teams, as Younhoe Koo made his only FG attempt (35 yards), and Dustin Colquitt averaged a very impressive 57.8 yards on 4 punts, putting 1 inside the 20. Do you realize how bad a team has to be for me to spend most of the paragraph focused on punting? Colquitt had 231 punting yards. How bad is that? Matt Ryan had 117 passing yards. In just 4 plays under center, not counting the field goal, Colquitt nearly doubled his QB’s yardage. The Falcons have to give a game ball to a guy who was on the field for five plays the entire game, and 20% of them was as a holder. In all honesty, Dustin Colquitt did have an awesome individual game #ForTheBrand though.
30. New York Jets (2-7)
Last Week: 30
High: 28
Low: 32
The Jets managed to save face with some garbage time points, otherwise this 45-17 game could have been a really ugly loss… The legend of Mike White may be short lived, but what a career. The guy has 2 career starts, and his jersey is hanging in Canton. On the bright side, Joe Flacco looked pretty good in his very limited time, going 3-3 for 47 yards and the Jets’ only passing TD. He’s considered a 3rd stringer league wide at this point in his career, but he’s honestly probably the best guy on the Jets roster. At the very least, he’s someone the young kids can learn from. He may not be Broadway Joe, but this Joe still has as many Super Bowl rings as the Jets franchise.
31. Houston Texans (1-8)
Last Week: 31
High: 25
Low: 32
The Texans were on bye, which means that the good folks down in Houston were spared from another agonizing loss, at least for one brief, beautiful week.
32. Detroit Lions (0-8-1)
Last Week: 32
High: 24
Low: 32
It pains me to say this, but 1 of the only franchises to ever finish 0-16, is now on pace to be the first 0-16-1 team. A tie certainly shows signs of improvement, but “Lions Improve to 0-8-1” has to be up there with the all time depressing sports headlines. Lions fans are numb to a lot, but seeing the word “improve” in that sentence has to hurt.
See how thing have shaken up from last week’s rankings, HERE!
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