2022 NFL Power Rankings Week 8: Tampa Bay melts down, Browns implode
By Randy Gurzi
24. team. 15. . . Previous: 23rd. New Orleans Saints
24. New Orleans Saints
In their first season without Sean Payton, the New Orleans Saints are reminding us how important a good head coach is in the NFL. The Saints hoped they would stay competitive by keeping Payton’s coaching staff on the sideline and replacing him with Dennis Allen. So far, that looks like the wrong call.
No disrespect meant to Allen but he was never going to be able to do what Payton did and New Orleans is now 2-5 following a 42-34 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football. They had several turnovers from Andy Dalton and their defense had no answers for the Cards’ passing game. They deserve credit for fighting back and making it a game but it’s clear they’re heading toward a rebuild.
23. team. 28. . . Previous: 25th. Las Vegas Raiders
23. Las Vegas Raiders
If they could play the Houston Texans once per week, the Las Vegas Raiders would be a great team. They thoroughly outplayed the Texans in their 38-20 win with Derek Carr going 21-of-27 for 241 yards and Josh Jacobs had 143 yards on the ground with three touchdowns.
Jacobs especially took off in the fourth quarter, which is when he ran two of his touchdowns as the Raiders outscored them 21-0. Having said all that, their only wins are now against the lowly Broncos and the Texans — who are even worse.
There’s a lot of ground to cover for this team to move into the competitive range and it’s hard to figure out why that is since the roster isn’t terrible.