NFL Week 8 Power Rankings: Who's flying high at the top?

In a league where so many teams are struggling, the best teams in the league look better than ever. With just seven weeks of the NFL season, the haves and have-nots of the 2024 NFL season have become incredibly evident, so let's take a look at where everyone ranks ahead of the week eight matchups.

The Panthers have attempted to follow a tried and tested blueprint over the past two years by drafting a young QB and then hiring an offensive head coach to make said QB's life easier. Unfortunately, organizational issues have led to none of their moves working out (yet, at least) leading to another year of being the worst team in football.

New England got stomped by the Jaguars in Old England despite starting the game 10-0. The Pats are devoid of elite talent up and down the roster, which makes winning games consistently almost impossible. Drake Maye looks good in his first few games, however, so there’s optimism here.

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The Browns could easily have been the 32nd-ranked team this week but a Deshaun Watson Achilles tear has opened the door to Jameis Winston starting, which is a massive upgrade. Will they win many games? Probably not, so let’s not get too excited just yet.

The Giants got blown out by the Eagles, and most notably Saquon Barkley in week seven in what became a showcase game for why you don’t let your best players walk out of the building. We love watching Dexter Lawrence and the rest of the defensive line, it’s the players almost everywhere else that need to improve.

Going from Will Levis to Mason Rudolph isn’t exactly filling anyone with confidence, and neither is the Titans’ defense after it collapsed in the second half against Buffalo. We assume that is a blip, as outside of that, the Tennessee defense has been one of the best in football.

We’re getting a little bored of writing about the Raiders’ quarterback situation, but here we are again after Gardner Minshew threw for three terrible picks. This is another team without an obvious solution to its issues at the moment, it may be time to start focusing on next April’s draft.

The Dolphins could take a major leap in the next few weeks as Tua makes his return from concussion, as the rumors suggest. We still don’t see this Miami team as a particularly good team either way, however.

Was the Saints’ 2-0 start the falsest dawn of all time? It’s entirely possible, as this is not a good football team. Before the season we expected this sort of performance from the Saints, so we had a few weeks of eating crow to start the year, just look at us now!

The Jags got the win they needed and looked pretty good at doing so. Trevor Lawrence has been good this year, his receivers have let him down time and time again, so it was good to see Brian Thomas Jr. step up and make some big-time plays.

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As writes Maurice Moton for Bleacher Report, “The Los Angeles Rams have struggled mightily on defense this season. They rank 26th in yards per game allowed and points per game allowed.” This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone who watched how important Aaron Donald was to this team last season.

The Cardinals won a game they should have lost if the Chargers’ receivers knew how to catch, so we’re not willing to have the Cardinals any higher than this for now. Kyler Murray is looking explosive which raises the ceiling of the offense and the defense is playing OK too, this is just not a team to get excited about right now.

Concerningly for the Jets, it was both sides of the ball that were dominated by the Steelers on SNF, with the usually dependable defense getting pushed around by a mediocre Pittsburgh team. Aaron Rodgers may not be very good anymore either, which is another concern.

The bye week could be the catalyst to turn things around for the Cowboys, who look like they needed a mental and physical reset. Whether they can make the improvements necessary, we aren’t sure, as this looks like a team skating on thin ice at the moment.

Gary Davenport’s summation of the Chargers’ loss could be worrying for Bolts fans, “The argument can be made that Jim Harbaugh's Chargers got out-toughed Monday night—and that's a bad look for a squad that has hung its hat on physicality over the first month-plus of the season.”

The Colts somehow scraped a win against the hapless Dolphins despite Anthony Richardson barely completing a pass all game. We’re not sure how it’s happened, but the Colts are 4-3, and it feels like there is still plenty to come from this team.

We can essentially rinse and repeat what we wrote for the Colts here, as the Broncos are winning in spite of their passing game, not because of it. Bo Nix has stopped throwing quite as many interceptions, which is a good sign for a team that isn’t good enough to overcome multiple turnovers.

The Falcons crashed back down to earth with a tough loss to Seattle that exposed Kirk Cousins’ flaws as a player. We think Cousins is a pretty good player and has shown that throughout his career, what he’s also shown is a unique ability to be the best, or worst, QB in the NFL at any one moment.

There’s an argument we are overrating the Bengals here given their three wins have come against the Panthers, Giants and Browns and none have been overly convincing. Still, the talent is there, and this week’s matchup against the Eagles should be a good yardstick for where this team is.

The Niners are still a talented football team with a chance to turn things around as the season progresses, but as the injuries pile up, it is feeling less and less likely we’ll see them make a Super Bowl run again. Brock Purdy has regressed slightly without all his weapons fit, which could be a concern if it continues.

The Bears are 4-2 and sit bottom of the NFC North, which is remarkable. In preseason, there was a lot of hype around this team, and they slowly grew into the season and started showing everyone why. This week’s matchup against the Commanders is tantalizing.

Frank Schwab asks on Yahoo Sports, “Can the Seahawks win the NFC West?” With the Niners suffering myriad injuries, it suddenly feels realistic that the Seahawks could win the division. This is a well-coached, talented football team who will continue to improve over the season as Mike Macdonald has more time with his defense.

The final score of 41-31 makes the Bucs’ loss to the Ravens look a little closer than it was, as Tampa Bay added some late scores to close the gap. Otherwise, they got their doors blown off by one of the best teams in football, it happens. How they will respond will be interesting, however.

The Steelers are 5-2 which is impressive. What’s even more impressive was Russell Wilson’s performance on his Steelers debut. If he can keep playing at that level, this is a serious contender.

The Eagles monstered the Giants in what had become an important game for Nick Sirianni and his team. Ultimately, this is a team built around their star offensive weapons in A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith, and Saquon Barkley. If those three are firing, and Jalen Hurts can get them the ball, there aren’t many defenses who can stop them.

A huge win against the lowly Panthers is a good sign for Washington, as good teams rack up points against bad teams. We’re not sure, yet, if this is sustainable for Washington as Jayden Daniels could miss some time with a rib injury, but for the moment, the Commanders sit atop the NFC East, not many saw that coming.

C.J. Stroud was held to just 86 yards passing against the Packers, and the Texans nearly won anyway. For us, that loss was the sign of a complete team who can match up against anyone and win in multiple ways. The chances of Stroud throwing for under 100 yards with any regularity are slim, so if he can find his mojo again, expect to see a big number in the win column at the end of the season.

The Vikings, like the Texans, played an imperfect game and nearly beat one of the best teams in the NFL. Our only concern is Sam Darnold, whose interception was ugly, hopefully for Vikings fans that was an aberration rather than a sign of things to come.

As Frank Schwab writes for Yahoo Sports, “Flustering one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks all day was a really good sign for the defense,” which is not the unit you expect to be dominant for the Packers, so to see them step up like they did on Sunday is a great sign.

The addition of Amari Cooper already paid off, with the former Browns receiver catching a TD in his first game playing with Josh Allen. Elsewhere, Buffalo looks to have found a gem in Ray Davis at running back. Once again, the Bills are among the best teams in football.

To have the Lions at three sounds crazy considering how good they are. Jared Goff doesn’t seem to be missing a pass, Jahmyr Gibbs is breaking explosive runs, and Amo-Ra St. Brown is getting open all over the field. Aidan Hutchinson’s injury could be impactful in time, but it seems they can cope without him for now.

The Chiefs are undefeated and just comfortably beat the Niners in a Super Bowl rematch, so dropping them from our one spot seems crazy, and maybe it is. This is Chiefs 2.0, gone are the days of Patrick Mahomes throwing for 400 yards and five TDs, instead, they just grind teams down with their incredible defense and punishing run game.

How do you stop this Baltimore team? We really aren’t sure, to be honest. Lamar Jackson went 17/25 with 281 yards and five TDs against a good Bucs team while Derrick Henry added 169 yards on the ground, that’s ridiculous. The Chiefs are a great team, but in our opinion, the best team in football right now is the Baltimore Ravens.

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