NFL Power Rankings Week 11: Battle for top spot
We are well into the thick of the NFL season now, so we have a pretty good idea of whom the best teams are, and who the worst teams are. There's a huge swathe of the league in the middle that is difficult to put a finger on, but we're going to try anyway. Read on to see where your team is ranked!
Does it get much worse than this, Giants fans? Five losses in a row compounded by a trip to Munich in which they lost to the lowly Panthers. At least this should give them a chance to clean house and make some much-needed changes.
Yeah, Mac Jones might not be the guy as he turns out. We aren't sure where the Jags go from here as they seem reluctant to move on from Doug Pederson in the season, which at this point, feels like a waste of everyone's time.
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Will Levis played better, so Titans fans can take some encouragement from that. He's probably not going to be the guy to bring a Super Bowl to Nashville, so don't get too excited just yet. That he is showing signs of improvement only makes the next steps easier, though.
Per CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones, multiple Raiders players criticized coaches in a team meeting last week. That included standout pass-rusher Maxx Crosby. If that isn't a sign of a badly run team, we don't know what it is.
That's two wins in a row for the Panthers. Don't look now, there's a playoff charge coming! Obviously, that's a joke, but stacking up some wins is important for a team who hasn't done that in recent times. Maybe things are slowly turning around.
The Browns entered the season with hopes of competing in the AFC due to their dominant defense and Deshaun Watson refining his form. Since then, almost everything has gone wrong for the Browns, who now sit 2-7 and were sellers at the trade deadline.
The Pats' front seven is undeniably talented, showcased by their nine sacks against the Bears on Sunday. Per Yahoo Sports, that gives them 32 on the season, which is fourth in the NFL. More encouragingly, Drake Maye is making steps each week.
The Cowboys without Dak Prescott looked like the worst offense in football, turning the ball over five times and throwing for 66 yards on 29 attempts. Micah Parsons' return sparked some life into the defense, but it wasn't enough. Things could spiral for Dallas now.
The Saints fired their head coach and played with a new-found freedom against the Falcons as they slowed down Atlanta's playoff push. It's probably too little too late for New Orleans as they are still 3-7, still, stopping a seven-game losing streak has got to feel nice.
Per FTN Fantasy, the Jets' defense ranks 21st in DVOA, which is just not good enough for a unit that should be among the best in the league. The dream of Aaron Rodgers returning to his MVP-level of play is dead, as are any real Super Bowl aspirations in New York.
We continue to be confused by the treatment of Anthony Richardson in Indy. Either they think he is too bad to even consider playing right now, or he’s annoyed the wrong person. Whatever is happening, surely they need to get him back on the field at some point, losing with Joe Flacco does them no good at all.
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Despite reports that Caleb Williams may have been getting benched, Matt Eberfus was quick to state, “Caleb is our starter,” per ESPN. We can’t help but feel that Williams isn’t the problem in Chicago right now, and we hope he gets better coaching soon.
The Seahawks need to get back to winning ways soon, unfortunately their next game is against a Niners team, who seem to be clawing their way back into the season. Mike Macdonald has had success against Kyle Shanahan and his proteges in the past, so this should be a fun one to watch.
The Dolphins have clearly turned a corner with Tua back. Their win against the Rams wasn’t a classic Dolphins performance, with Tua only throwing for 207 yards on the night. What they did do, though, was stop the Rams getting in the endzone, which got them the win.
We know the Dolphins just beat the Rams, we also think the Rams still have a better chance of finishing the season strongly as they get healthy again. We don’t get why Sean McVay was so scared to take some more risks on Monday night, kicking five field goals won’t win you many games in the NFL, if they had turned a couple of those into TDs, they would have won.
Ja’Marr Chase is played lights out and Joe Burrow should be in MVP conversations, and the Bengals are 4-6. Can they go on a run and take one of the wild-card spots, maybe, but they will need to stop giving up so many points on defense.
This feels like a strange season for the Bucs who look like a good team whenever you watch, yet they, like the Bengals, are 4-6. Baker Mayfield made some incredible plays against the Niners on Sunday, almost leading his team to victory, he probably deserved more from this game.
Kirk Cousins continues to be Kirk Cousins. The Falcons are 6-4 with a +2 point differential, per ESPN, which is a worrying sign. They should make the playoffs comfortably as their division has not been good, it’s fair to wonder if their record is flattering them a bit, though. More worryingly, they only have nine sacks on the year, which is crazy.
Pat McAfee did a great breakdown of why the Broncos’ field goal unit was absolutely destroyed by the Chiefs leading to the game-clinching block, it’s worth a watch. He highlights the little details that turned a win into a loss, and that’s all that separates the Broncos from a 6-4 record instead of a 5-5 one.
The Texans are currently -2 in point differential, which is not a good sign for a team with aspirations to go deep into the playoffs. Sunday’s loss against the Lions was bizarre, and we’re not sure how many lessons they can learn, having picked off Jared Goff fives times, but that’s a game they should’ve won.
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The Chargers are rapidly becoming a very difficult team to beat. They dominate teams with their defense and then grind them down with a good running game, with Justin Herbert’s (almost) mistake-free playing style the perfect complement.
We worried about Sam Darnold early in the season, as he was playing at a level we had never seen him reach before. Now, he’s still mostly playing well, but he also leads the league with 10 interceptions. Against a team like the Jags, the Vikings can turn the ball over and win, come playoff time, that might not be true.
The Cardinals mollywhopped the Jets on Sunday, in what could become a statement game for Jonathan Gannon’s team. Kyler Murray only had two incompletions on the day and was able to spread the ball around to seven different receivers. The battle for the NFC West is heating up.
We are taking a stance that we think the Niners are back after they ground out a tough win in Tampa. Whether they reach the lofty heights of 2023, we don’t know, but the Christian McCaffrey’s return is huge for an offense that hasn’t looked quite as good as expected up until now.
We want to see more from the Packers coming off the bye, as they have flattered to deceive so far in our opinion. There is too much talent on the roster for that to continue, though, and we expect them to be among the best teams in the NFC come January.
Maybe we’re overreacting to one loss for the Commanders, as they played the Steelers close and could have easily won. The biggest issue for Washington was pointed out by Frank Schwab for Yahoo Sports, who noted Terry McLaurin had 113 yards receiving, with everyone else combing for 89.
Is there a deep ball more enjoyable to watch than Russell Wilson’s? It’s a thing of beauty when he gets it right, which is exactly what he did to the newly acquired Mike Williams on Sunday. Pittsburgh is a difficult team to beat and may only get better as the weather gets worse.
The Eagles continued their winning way by dismantling bitter rivals, the Cowboys, in Jerry World. This is a legit contender in the NFC with talent up and down the roster. If they can get a win on Thursday against Washington, the division will be in their hands, and they’ll have half an eye on the number one seed.
It’s a bit ridiculous that the Ravens are our fourth-ranked team as we think they are absolutely incredible, it just shows how highly we think of the teams above them. Their next three games are against the Steelers, Chargers, and Eagles. If they win all three of those, we will be forced to have them even higher.
The Bills welcome in the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in what is going to be one of the games of the season. Josh Allen has a good regular season record against the Chiefs, so this should be a barn burner. The Bills are, like they have been for a while, a Super Bowl contender.
Winning a game with your quarterback throwing five interceptions is ridiculous and speaks to the talent level in Detroit right now. We thought about having the Lions as our number one, with our tie-breaker being who we thought would win in a neutral-site game between them and the Chiefs right now, and the answer wasn't the Lions.
The Chiefs deserved to lose their game against the Broncos on Sunday, having allowed Denver to drive into position to kick the game-winner. Instead, their special teams came in the clutch and sealed the win. It just shows how well-coached this team is across the board and why they keep winning Super Bowls.
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