NFL Power Rankings Week 13: The Lions roar and the Eagles soar

We are two-thirds of the way into the 2024 NFL season, so as we try to savor every last moment of the last couple of months of football for the year, we are also more clued in than ever on where every team is on our rankings… So, let’s take a look!

The Jets aren’t the least talented team in football, but they might be the least functional. Dianna Russini has reported for The Athletic that Aaron Rodgers is potentially set to leave New York after this season. As much as this collapse must be painful for Jets fans, getting ARod out of the building will be nothing but positive.

New York, New York, football fans might want to wake up in a city with functioning football teams. The Giants moved on from Daniel Jones just a year and a half into a four-year, $160 million contract, a deal that dissuaded them from singing Saquon Barkley to an extension…

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It’s time for another rebuild in Duval County, as the Jags season has collapsed in front of our eyes. With their bye week now gone, we have to assume Doug Pederson will be coaching until the end of the season, which we don’t understand at all.

We were going to write a pithy, scathing remark on how bad the Raiders have been this year, but we’ll let CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco do it instead, “They [the Raiders] just aren't good enough right now, which means changes are coming after the season. Just stink, baby.”

Drake Maye continues to show flashes of the talent that led to him getting selected where he did in the 2024 NFL draft. Outside of Maye, however, there just isn’t much talent on this roster.

The Browns beat another divisional rival as they continue their quest to be the ultimate disruptors this season. The reason why we have them lower than some is the lack of optimism for 2025 and beyond. We aren’t sure where this team goes next.

Bryce Young played maybe the best game of his career on Sunday against a Chiefs defense that can give opposing QBs fits at times. He has a long way to go before he justifies the trade and selection that brought him to Carolina, but at least he’s showing something.

Per CBS Sports, Will Levis has been sacked 20 times in the past three games, we aren’t sure of the stats, but we would bet most of those are on the QB. He has been improving, and making some great throws, he is just let down by a complete lack of pocket presence at the moment.

The Saints are another team where we don’t see a clear plan to improve after this season. It seems obvious they need to commit to a rebuild but they are slated to be $60 million over the presumed 2025 salary cap, per NFL Network. Not ideal!

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This season hasn’t gone well for the Cowboys, as they have battled injuries and some poor decisions by the front office to slump to 4-7. Micah Parsons has transformed the defense into a strong unit once again on his return, which highlights how different things could’ve been if this roster had stayed healthy.

Caleb Williams has begun to relax into the NFL, and it shows. The number one overall pick has as much talent as anyone in football, he just needs to slow it all down and consistently make the right decisions. The Bears lost on Sunday, but it wasn’t Caleb’s fault.

Maybe we’re overreacting to one bad loss without Brock Purdy and Nick Bosa, but as Jon Heath writes for Yahoo Sports, “The issue with the 49ers wasn’t losing at a good Packers team without Brock Purdy. It’s that there was no fight at all.” Worrying signs.

A team that did show fight, even if it was futile, was the Colts. If Indy’s receivers could catch, and they hadn’t committed so many penalties, they would have pushed Detroit close. Anthony Richardson is starting to play well, which should be fun to watch.

The Rams were monstered by an Eagles team playing some of the toughest football in the NFL right now. Saquon Barkley outgained the Rams by himself, which shows how onesided this contest was. The Rams aren’t out of it yet, but they need to get back to winning ways quickly.

The Bengals welcome the Steelers into Cincinnati on Sunday in what could be a huge game for the division. The Bengals could play spoiler for Pittsburgh, or they could get blown out as their defense lets Joe Burrow et al. down once again.

There’s a fragility to the Falcons that means we just don’t trust them. Their defense can’t get sacks and the offense is reliant on Kirk Cousins not doing bad-Kirk Cousins things, which as other teams have found out in the past, is not a path to glory.

We know the Bucs have a worse record than the Falcons, and we aren’t sure if they will be able to claw their way back into the playoffs, but we continue to believe they are a better team.

Seattle now leads the NFC West, just a couple of weeks after looking like they were out of the running for the playoffs. Mike Macdonald’s defense is coming together nicely, which could make them a difficult matchup late in the season.

Don’t look now, but the Dolphins are getting hot. Whether they have enough juice to make a playoff run, we don’t know, as they are battling the Broncos and Chargers, who both look like good teams. Still, it’s been quite the turnaround since Tua has returned, which leaves us wondering why they didn’t invest in a better backup QB.

Things have fallen apart for the Commanders in the last few weeks, which probably isn’t a surprise. They were playing above their talent level early in the season, and that has a habit of catching up to you. Making the playoffs would be a great achievement for Washington considering the changes last offseason. There are plenty of reasons for optimism.

As Jon Heath points out for Yahoo Sports, “The Texans got eight sacks and a pick 6 and still lost to a Titans team that was 2-8.” We have been concerned about the Texans for some time as they haven’t been the explosive offense we had hoped for as C.J. Stroud couldn’t reach the heights of his rookie season.

A tough loss to Seattle shouldn’t be too worrying for Arizona as they have some very winnable games on their schedule which should see them challenging for the division still. If they can’t get the running game going, though, this offense becomes much easier to stop.

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Bo Nix continues to improve, playing another clean game against the lowly Raiders. The Broncos are a tough matchup in the playoffs with their talented defense and a QB who is able to create something out of nothing.

Chargers fans will be waiting on news of J.K. Dobbins’ knee injury this week after the running back went down in the game against the Ravens. The Chargers couldn’t get too much going offensively against the Ravens, but on another night, could’ve won that game.

The Steelers’ loss against the Browns could prove costly in their hunt for the division title, even though they still lead the AFC North for now. We don’t think this team is good enough to win the Super Bowl, and that’s why they are as low as they are.

The Packers blew out a Niners team that didn’t look like it wanted to be there on Sunday. That’s a good sign, as they’ve been in too many close games recently. If Jordan Love and this offense start firing, Green Bay will be a real problem.

The offense is no longer based around Justin Jefferson catching 14 passes every week, which is bad for a lot of people’s fantasy teams, but it’s good for Minnesota. Do we trust Sam Darnold enough to consider the Vikings a legit Super Bowl contender? We’re not sure.

The Ravens being our number five ranked team speaks more to the teams above them than anything. Baltimore can beat anyone in the league when things are firing, we’re just not sure whether their defense is good enough against the best teams. Sunday’s game against the Eagles is a tantalizing matchup.

The Chiefs got the job done against the Panthers, eventually. We really can’t decide if we think KC is struggling more than we’ve seen in recent years, or if they just know how to get things done. Either way, who’s going to bet against them when the playoffs start, especially if they wrap up the one seed?

Josh Allen is now the favorite to win the MVP, per Oddschecker, and it’s difficult to argue against that. The Bills welcome a wounded Niners team to Buffalo on Sunday Night in what could be a fun matchup depending on San Fran’s health.

Saquon Barkley. That’s pretty much it. There’s nothing we can say that hasn’t already been written or said aloud about Saquon, he’s on course to break all sorts of team and NFL records in what could be one of the best free agent signings ever. The Eagles' defense will miss Brandon Graham, whose season is now over, it’ll be interesting to see how they get on without him.

The Lions had a little bit of luck early in their win over the Colts before beating them comfortably in the end. There’s no doubt this team is playing the best football in the NFL right now, but with Philly chasing them for the one seed, they can’t afford many slip-ups.

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