1. Buffalo Bills
This is probably somewhat of a controversial opinion at this point, but despite the loss, I still think the Bills are the best team in the league. I still think they’ll get the 1 seed in the AFC.
2. Kansas City Chiefs
A slugfest on Sunday Night, but the Chiefs, thanks to Patrick Mahomes’ heroics, added to their win total, now tying the Bills at 6-2 atop the AFC.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
Yes, the Eagles are 8-0, but I think they’d be about 6-2 if they had Kansas City’s schedule. Philly has had the easiest schedule in the league this year, and to their credit, they’ve taken care of business.
4. Dallas Cowboys
I’m starting to believe in the Cowboys, and I think they’re now clearly the second-best team in the NFC.
5. Baltimore Ravens
That was one of the Ravens’ more impressive wins of the season. They dominated the Saints from start to finish, and unlike previous games, they didn’t let the opposition back into it at the end.
6. San Francisco 49ers
I don’t know if this week was good for the Niners or not, since the Rams lost but the Seahawks won. San Francisco is now a game and a half back, but I believe in them.
7. Cincinnati Bengals (+2)
Okay I’m back on the Bengals train. They’re now up to 7th in offensive efficiency and the defense is 5th. A very well-rounded team.
8. Minnesota Vikings (-1)
The Vikings are 7-1, but what are they actually good at? They don’t rank in the top 10 in
passing offense, passing defense, rushing offense, or rushing defense.
9. Tennessee Titans (-1)
We’ve established that the Titans are going to run away with the AFC South, but do we trust them come playoff time? They have no offense. But as bad as the offense is, the defense does keep them in games so I’ll give them credit there.
10. Miami Dolphins
Man the Dolphins are fun to watch. I’ll put their offense up against anyone. Unfortunately, they’re going to have to play some defense at some point. They’re 26th in defense, which is the lowest of any potential playoff team.
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I knew it was too early to write off the Bucs. They’re now clearly in the driver’s seat in the NFC South
12. Seattle Seahawks
That’s 4 in a row for the Seahawks. I think it’s time to put Geno Smith in the MVP discussion. I’m not saying he should win it, but he’s on that shortlist of 4 or 5 candidates.
13. New York Giants
The Giants didn’t play this week, no movement for them in my rankings. They’ve got Houston and Detroit coming up, they better take care of business there.
14. Los Angeles Chargers (+1)
The Chargers really haven’t been very good this year, but they’re 5-3 and I’ll give them their respect. The offense is 19th and the defense is 23rd, but they’ll get better as they get healthier.
15. New York Jets (+2)
Oh boy. It looks like the New York Football Jets will be in the playoffs this year. They stand at 6-3 and only need 3, maybe 4 more wins to make it into the playoffs. But do I trust them? I don’t know.
16. New England Patriots
The Patriots are just quietly lurking behind the top AFC teams, continuing to take care of
business against inferior opponents. And their defense has snuck up to 3rd in EPA this year.
17. Los Angeles Rams (-3)
The Rams made no moves at the trading deadline and so it appears that this is the team we are going to get for the rest of the year, which likely means no playoffs for Los Angeles.
18. Atlanta Falcons
Did the Falcons defense show up, or did the Chargers just not have any weapons available. Regardless, Atlanta still lost the game as well as the division lead, and Tampa is in control at this point.
19. Green Bay Packers
So the Packers are not good. Like the Rams, they made no moves at the deadline so this is the team they’re stuck with unless they sign OBJ.
20. Arizona Cardinals
At this point it’s only a matter of time before the Cardinals fire Kliff Kingsbury. With that being said, Kyler isn’t off the hook either.
21. Washington Commanders (+3)
Despite the loss, the Commanders moved up 3 spots, mostly because of the falls of New Orleans and Las Vegas, who were much worse this week.
22. Cleveland Browns
The Browns are a team that’s looking like they’re a lot better than their record, as they have the 6th best offense overall.
23. Denver Broncos
I don’t want to rule Denver completely out of the playoffs but they’re going to need to sustain this elite defensive production while also having a top 15 offense at the very least.
24. Jacksonville Jaguars (+6)
Trevor Lawrence is quietly having a very solid season. No one’s going to talk about it but
he’s 13th in EPA this year, highest among the 2021 quarterbacks.
25. Chicago Bears (+2)
What a performance from Justin Fields this week. I don’t want to overreact, but the Bears just may have their franchise QB.
26. New Orleans Saints (-5)
The Saints may have one of the worst futures in the NFL. 3-6 record, no first round draft pick, limited cap space, and no franchise quarterback or means to obtain one.
27. Detroit Lions (+4)
Maybe the Lions defense is turning a corner. It’s still not good, but over the last 4 weeks it’s only 26th, which is adequate enough to win half their games given their offense.
28. Las Vegas Raiders (-3)
I think there are definitely changes coming to the Raiders organization. Josh McDaniels likely ends up as the scapegoat for this disaster of a season.
29. Pittsburgh Steelers
With the Lions winning, Pittsburgh begins to inch closer to the potential number 1 overall pick, which would be a very interesting decision for them should they get it.
30. Indianapolis Colts (-4)
This team is horrible. Following the performance this week, Indy fired Frank Reich and named Jeff Saturday, who has zero coaching experience, the interim head coach. I think Saturday is probably going to help them get a top 5 draft pick.
31. Carolina Panthers (-3)
The Panthers looked competent for a couple of weeks and now we see this. This one was over after the first quarter. Just a bad team all around.
32. Houston Texans
The worst team in the league, the only team with 1 win, didn’t look awful this week. They kept a competitive game with Philadelphia, but ultimately, they just don’t have the players.
