NFL Spin Zone
Fansided

NFL Power Rankings, Week 8: Cowboys find spark, Raiders look like pretenders

By Randy Gurzi

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 20: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates a first quarter touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles in the game at AT&T Stadium on October 20, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 20: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates a first quarter touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles in the game at AT&T Stadium on October 20, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
16 of 33
Next
DETROIT, MI – OCTOBER 20: Marvin Jones #11 of the Detroit Lions celebrates his second touchdown of the game during the second quarter of the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field on October 20, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI – OCTOBER 20: Marvin Jones #11 of the Detroit Lions celebrates his second touchdown of the game during the second quarter of the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field on October 20, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /

18. Detroit Lions (11)

Last week, the Detroit Lions were completely hosed. The referees were terrible and called a couple of penalties on defensive end Trey Flowers that allowed the Green Bay Packers to win the game. It’s said time and again that referees don’t decide the game and teams shouldn’t put themselves in a position where one bad play can ruin things, but that’s bogus.

NFL games are often decided by a few plays due to the parity in the league and that’s definitely been the case early on in the NFC South. And for Detroit, that loss in Week 6 looms large — especially now that they were beaten at home by the Minnesota Vikings.

When the game started, the fans were letting the refs have it. The opening coin toss was hard to hear over the screaming of the fans, who were ready for their team to get some revenge on the field. The Lions offense was also ready, putting up 30 points thanks to four touchdowns between Matt Stafford and Marvin Jones, Jr.

However, the defense wasn’t up to the task. No matter what the Lions offense did, the Vikings were simply better. Kirk Cousins wasn’t sacked once and had 337 yards and four touchdowns. Dalvin Cook added two more touchdowns on the ground and led the team to 166 total yards on the ground.

Detroit had a great start to the season as they were 2-0-1, but have since dropped their past three games. That leads to quite a slide in these 2019 NFL Power Rankings.

Home/NFL