Although there’s still half a season yet to be played, Week 9 of the 2024 NFL season felt like a pivotal week for so many teams around the league when it comes to their playoff hopes, in general. There were a number of teams around the NFL with their backs against the wall, and we got the chance to see some playoff-type atmospheres as a result of that.
With Week 10 of the season looming, there are plenty of teams that have been ascending up our NFL Power Rankings lists as of late, and more teams continued surging upward after impressive wins in Week 9.
Other teams continue to look like they might be sellers at the 2024 NFL trade deadline with an eye on the 2025 NFL Draft already. Who are the biggest risers and fallers in this week’s NFL Power Rankings? Which teams impressed and which teams let their fans down?
2024 NFL Power Rankings, Week 10: Ravens soaring, Cowboys plummeting after Week 9
32. Las Vegas Raiders
The Las Vegas Raiders could be sellers at the NFL trade deadline, although I’m not sure they would make a move as rough as trading Maxx Crosby. I’m sure they will get offers, and the offers will be tempting if teams dangle 1st-round picks at the Raiders.
We’ll see what happens.
What we all know now is that the Raiders just simply aren’t good enough to hang with most teams in the NFL right now. They traded away Davante Adams earlier this year and that move was a clear signal that they are basically punting on this season.
Gardner Minshew was benched for the second time during a game this season, and the Raiders very obviously just don’t have the quarterback position figured out to the point that they could even play spoiler at some point this season. What do the Raiders have to hang their hats on right now? They beat the Ravens earlier this year, but now they just need to hope that they can find a way to get that #1 overall pick so they can pick their QB of choice in the upcoming rookie class.
31. New Orleans Saints
Seven straight losses? Seven?
This New Orleans Saints team was looking like one of the most dominant in the league after the first two weeks of the season. They were barely going a possession without scoring the ball. They had 91 points in the first two games and they were just awesome offensively.
Alvin Kamara had a four-touchdown game.
Now?
They don’t even look like the ghost of those Saints. They are out there losing to the Carolina Panthers, who were previously in the driver’s seat for the #1 overall pick.
30. New England Patriots
The New England Patriots might have found their quarterback of the future, eh?
The Patriots took Drake Maye with the 3rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and immediately after that selection was made, this season had to be all about doing what was best for Maye’s long-term development.
The Patriots determined the best course of action was to have Maye sit a little bit at the start of this season, but we’ve seen some fun progression from him in all of his games so far this season. The Pats couldn’t pull off the win against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday but they definitely showed a little something, especially with Maye out there showing some serious guts and hanging in there to make a throw as the clock expired.
This team just needs to continue to surround Maye, especially on the offensive line, but they look like they might have found someone.
29. Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans stopped a three-game losing streak with an overtime win at home against the New England Patriots, and most of the football world didn’t see it happen. Of course, if you were binging The Red Zone channel on Sunday, you got the chance to see some late-game heroics by Drake Maye spoiled by the Titans in overtime, but what does this win mean for Tennessee?
The Titans’ win against the Patriots helped ensure that there were no one-win teams in the league after Week 9, but they are still in good position for the 2025 NFL Draft, relatively speaking.
The Titans were able to win the turnover battle against the Patriots and if they can do that in games going forward, they will be able to at least keep things interesting. You might not know it by looking at the final score but Tennessee racked up 400 total yards of offense in this game and running back Tony Pollard continues to be a nice addition for that team.
I wouldn’t say the win over the Pats is any reason to start keeping an eye on the Titans, but we’ll see if they can get back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
28. Carolina Panthers
I don’t know if there’s anything to read into here, but maybe…
Just maybe…
We saw some nice throws from Bryce Young in his return to the starting lineup against Denver last week, even though the Panthers were outmatched on the road against the Broncos. He followed that up with a really nice performance in a win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, and it had to feel good for both he and the Panthers as a team to see that kind of performance.
It may not seem like much but to get this win could be a huge confidence builder for Young and the rest of this Panthers roster going forward.
They were able to come through against a Saints team that had Derek Carr back in the lineup for the first time in a while, and right now it’s all about stacking games if you’re the Carolina Panthers. They need to continue to see their young guys stepping up, starting with #9.
27. Cleveland Browns
Man, I think we all had really high hopes for the Cleveland Browns turning things around with Jameis Winston after their upset win over the Baltimore Ravens last week, right?
Okay, maybe not everyone wanted to see the Browns turn it around, but we obviously saw this team win 11 games last year despite a carousel of quarterbacks and winning against Baltimore in Jameis Winston’s first start was certainly something that seemed to inspire confidence in that team.
And then they got wrecked by the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Browns have to be thinking about potentially hitting a hard reset at some point in the near future. The biggest moves will likely not be made until the offseason but the Browns could sell at the trade deadline a little bit and possibly move on from some guys like Za’Darius Smith, Greg Newsome, or David Njoku.
You can bet after their latest loss that the phone of GM Andrew Berry is going to be ringing off the hook until Tuesday afternoon.
26. New York Giants
It feels like we say the same stuff about the New York Giants every single week, don’t we?
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones lost a fumble early in the game against the Commanders, they scored a touchdown off of it, and they ended up losing the game by a total of five points.
It just feels like Daniel Jones is the difference, for better or (mostly) worse when it comes to this Giants team. At some point, the organization is going to have to realize it. I understand the investment that was made in Jones, both as a top-10 draft pick as well as the contract he was given after the Giants overachieved their way to the playoffs. But the pieces on this team are probably a little too good to be screwing around anymore.
We’ll likely see a quarterback change for the Giants in the 2025 offseason because they clearly have a nice core of young players developing, especially at the offensive skill spots, with guys like Malik Nabers, Tyrone Tracy, and Theo Johnson all making plays on Sunday.
25. Jacksonville Jaguars
For the second straight week, the Jacksonville Jaguars gave it a valiant effort in the second half, but to no avail. Too little, too late. The Jaguars simply couldn’t make it happen against the Philadelphia Eagles despite being gifted a defensive touchdown at the best possible time and getting a stop late in the fourth quarter.
The touchdown return by Travon Walker was exactly what the Jaguars needed at exactly the right time to turn the tide of the game, but even with AJ Brown leaving this game early, the Jaguars couldn’t capitalize when they desperately needed to in the second half. Just a brutal INT from Trevor Lawrence.
Jacksonville is probably a better team than their record indicates, but that’s not going to stop the vultures from circling after a game like this. The Jaguars have plenty of pieces that are going to be attractive to teams looking to wheel and deal before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline. But which players will they actually part with?
We’ve already seen them say goodbye to Cam Robinson and Roy Robertson-Harris. Players like Travis Etienne and Evan Engram could be next.
24. Miami Dolphins
The unfortunate injury to Tua Tagovailoa early this season has seemingly been the exact setback the Miami Dolphins could not afford to really make something out of this season.
We hope Tagovailoa is able to stay healthy for the duration of this season, but what is there to be gained at this point? The Dolphins aren’t exactly playing in the most loaded division in the NFL this season, but they have lost so much ground against the Buffalo Bills (including their two matchups against them) that they would have to go on a historic run to even back into the playoffs at this point.
With their season on the line against Buffalo this past weekend, the Dolphins couldn’t quite limit the Bills enough. The Bills got in position for a long field goal attempt and made the Dolphins pay for it.
Miami’s season is pretty much over with a 2-6 record into November, but if they can start stacking wins, you just never know. This team is so explosive offensively that it’s hard to count them completely out.
23. Dallas Cowboys
Adding injury to insult, Dak Prescott went down for the Dallas Cowboys against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, and I think that type of injury would undoubtedly spell the end of this season for Dallas.
Not that Prescott has been leading this team to one dominating victory after another, but at 3-5 and with your star quarterback going down? It’s not good.
The Cowboys are obviously heavily invested in their top two offensive players (Prescott, CeeDee Lamb), so I would be interested to see what selling at the NFL trade deadline would look like for this team. And I doubt Jerry Jones is going to do that, as loyal as he has been to so many of these players through the years.
The Cowboys are more likely to sleep in the bed they’ve made. They have no choice but to just weather this storm and hope they can steal a couple of wins if Prescott has to miss time. And if they can’t? Well, they might be careful with some of their star players that have been out this season and perhaps we’ll see guys getting shut down, and Dallas will just live with the results.
This team is in a rough position right now.
22. New York Jets
Breakthrough couldn’t have come at a better time for the New York Jets. The opponent really didn’t even matter, but it was huge that their win on Thursday night came against such a quality team like the Houston Texans. This was one of the first times we’ve seen the Jets that everybody talked about all offseason really show up.
The Jets’ defense dominated the Houston offense but it was the performance of the stars offensively that really stood out for this Jets team. Getting to 3-6 has never felt so good in the NFL.
The Jets kept their season alive and we really saw a tremendous effort from Garrett Wilson, Davante Adams, and Aaron Rodgers. It was desperately needed by the Jets and they have a chance to really make a run now in the second half of this season. It’s not going to be easy, by any means, but it’s a start. And getting this mini bye week after beating Houston is another huge factor in the Jets making a push for a Wild Card spot.
21. Seattle Seahawks
When the Seattle Seahawks desperately needed Geno Smith to throw a touchdown pass in a tie game against the Los Angeles Rams, he threw a touchdown pass.
The only problem was, it was to the wrong team.
At the worst possible time, Smith made an incredibly ill-advised throw and the Los Angeles Rams’ defense made him pay. Rookie safety Kam Kinchens took a Geno Smith throw 103 yards for a pick-six when the game was previously tied at 13 points apiece.
And the Rams caused Geno to throw yet another INT deep in LA territory after that pick-six. And they still somehow had a decent chance to win the game in overtime, but turned it over on downs when they could have easily kicked a field goal. What?
The Seahawks are kind of just free-falling and have been horrendous in the red zone the last handful of weeks. The good news for them is the fact that the NFC West is still pretty wide open. The bad news is, just about everybody else in this division has a much better prognosis for the remainder of the season. The Cardinals are hot. The Rams are hot. The 49ers are going to potentially get Christian McCaffrey back soon…
It’s not looking good for Seattle.
20. Chicago Bears
I hate to say I told you so, Bears fans. But I called this one from a million miles away.
Jonathan Gannon’s defense is going to bring consistent pressure. Caleb Williams has struggled taking a lot of sacks this season. The Cardinals have tons of offensive weapons and even as good as the Bears’ pass defense has been this season, the dual-threat of Kyler Murray and the running game for the Cardinals heating up was bad news for Chicago.
And now the Bears are 0-4 on the road so far this season, they drop to 4-4, and they are falling way too far behind in the brutally tough NFC North.
But there is some good news. The Bears do have an opportunity in Week 10 to get back on track with a home game against the New England Patriots, where we will get a matchup against two of the top three picks in this year’s NFL Draft.
This Chicago team has plenty of growing to do, but better days are ahead, Bears fans. Maybe as soon as this coming week.
19. Indianapolis Colts
Obviously, the bigger story right now for the Indianapolis Colts than the current state of the team is the decision to bench Anthony Richardson and the implications that has over the long haul. It’s indicative that this team has moved on from Richardson internally, even though they are publicly stating it doesn’t mean that at all.
And frankly, it’s a rough look to have Joe Flacco come out and barely be able to put up 3 points on the road against the Minnesota Vikings after taking Richardson’s job.
The whole situation is bizarre, ugly, and not good for Richardson or head coach Shane Steichen. And losing on Sunday Night Football stings. The Colts are not out of it yet with the current state of the AFC South, but the decision to move to Flacco brings a dark cloud over the future of the organization.
18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Buccaneers play Monday night vs. Chiefs
It’s been an up-and-down year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to say the very least. There have been times when this Bucs team has looked like an absolute unit in the NFC, even pulling off a win on the road earlier this season against the mighty Detroit Lions. That was Detroit’s only loss leading into Sunday’s action.
The issue for the Bucs this year has obviously been the injury bug. They have had to deal with losing their best players on both sides of the ball. Tristan Wirfs has dealt with injury issues. Antonie Winfield Jr. has missed time. Vita Vea has missed time. Now they’re looking at extended absences for both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
And those losses could be detrimental. They are certainly coming at the worst possible time as the Bucs head to Kansas City to face off against the Chiefs in Week 9. It’s going to be an uphill climb in the NFC South for the Bucs this year. We’ll see if this is one of the teams that tries to go after receivers at the 2024 NFL trade deadline.
17. Los Angeles Rams
The Kam Kinchens game.
Two trips into the red zone with goal-to-go situations for the Seahawks late in this past week’s game against the Rams – playing at home – and the Rams were the ones who made plays on the football. Specifically, Kam Kinchens with two INTs.
Los Angeles continues to be one of the most fun teams in the league right now, especially when they are healthy offensively. We saw Puka Nacua get tossed from this game and the Rams were able to grind it out defensively to come away with a win.
The Rams now have back-to-back games looming against the Dolphins and Patriots as they look to get above .500. And I’ll continue to say about this Rams team what I have said all year long – if this team is healthy, they are a legitimate threat in the NFC.
There just aren’t many teams in the NFC who have a head coach and quarterback combination that has won a Super Bowl. There is still so much football to be played and things are going to continue to heat up in the NFC West.
16. Cincinnati Bengals
The more the season rolls along, the more I just can’t help but wonder how much the Bengals are going to be climbing up this list. With the way we’ve seen them handle some of the worst teams on their schedule so far this year, we expected the Cincinnati Bengals to kind of have their way with a bad Raiders team, but we didn’t expect it to be this bad.
For the second time this season, Gardner Minshew has been benched mid-game for the alternative option. This time, it was Desmond Ridder.
The Bengals forced the issue in this game and got to 4-5 on the season, which is huge for them because they are obviously hoping to steal a wild card spot in the AFC with the AFC North having two of the best teams in the entire NFL right now (Steelers, Ravens). This win doesn’t move the needle in terms of the opponent the Bengals played, but it really just doesn’t matter. The Bengals are on the rise and teams aren’t going to want to play them as the year rolls along.
15. Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos had a really tough draw this week going into Baltimore and facing off against a ticked off Ravens team. And the Ravens played ticked off in this one. The Broncos got whooped from start to finish of this game, turning the ball over on their first possession of the game and the Ravens took advantage.
The Denver defense has been stellar almost all year, but the offensive arsenal of the Ravens was simply too much for the Broncos to handle. The game was actually close at one point (17-10) but the Ravens scored 24 unanswered points starting near the end of the second quarter and the Broncos just had no answers.
This is one game the Broncos will be burning the tape defensively, but learning from their plethora of mistakes. The Ravens have an offensive juggernaut and the Broncos have a slim margin for error. It was always going to be tough for the Broncos but giving the Ravens extra possessions was crushing.
14. Los Angeles Chargers
The Los Angeles Chargers are a team that is just going to absolutely pick you apart if you can’t take care of the football against them. They are one of the worst teams you can make mistakes against and just give extra possessions.
This team is going to pride itself on being physical and taking care of the football, and when the Chargers win the turnover battle 3-0 like they did against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, they are going to be able to coast to wins.
The Chargers have gotten an incredible performance out of JK Dobbins at the running back position so far this season. Justin Herbert is getting a lot of different guys involved in the passing game with Ladd McConkey starting to heat up and become a featured piece in that offense. Quentin Johnston is making strides. Josh Palmer made plays on Sunday.
Again, if you’re losing the turnover battle against a team that has a very good quarterback and runs the ball well, you’re begging to get your teeth kicked in.
13. San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers couldn’t have gotten a bye week at a better time. They got to 4-4 before the bye and now have a chance to reset.
Could we see star running back Christian McCaffrey back in the near future?
McCaffrey would obviously be a game-changer for the 49ers both in the running game but maybe even more so in the passing game. McCaffrey is such a dynamic threat that the 49ers’ entire offense seems to just have a much different ceiling when he’s not on the field. As good of a play-caller as Kyle Shanahan is, and as well as he knows how to utilize his personnel, not having McCaffrey out there has been detrimental for the 49ers, but they still play in a very winnable division.
Coming off of a bye week, they’ve got to go across the country to face off against the Buccaneers who are beaten, battered, and will be coming off of a Monday night matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. The 49ers could very quickly find themselves 5-4.
12. Arizona Cardinals
I had pegged the Arizona Cardinals as a team that was guaranteed to win in Week 9 against the Chicago Bears, and they made me look good with a rather dominant victory over the Chicago Bears. The Cardinals might not have the most impressive pieces of any team in the league right now, but they have enough pieces to make a run in the very wide-open NFC West.
The Cardinals looked very balanced against one of the NFL’s better defenses so far this season. The Bears have been stingy allowing teams to throw against them, so the Cardinals really pounded them on the ground and did their best to make life miserable for #1 overall pick Caleb Williams.
Remember, the Cardinals have a #1 overall pick of their own.
And Murray wasn’t flawless in this game, by any stretch, but when your backs are ripping off big gains like we saw from Arizona on Sunday? Well, you have a little more margin for error. Now at 5-4, the Cardinals have quickly become one of the most interesting teams in the NFC with a little head of steam at the beginning of November.
11. Houston Texans
The loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night football was an ugly one for the Houston Texans. We already know that the Texans are going to be without Stefon Diggs for the remainder of the season but not having Nico Collins out there on top of it has been detrimental for this team.
The Texans have gotten “lucky” a number of times this season but their record says they are 6-3 and that might be enough of a cushion already to really take the AFC South this season. The Colts are obviously going to be hopeful that the change to Joe Flacco can really help them make a second-half push, so maybe the Texans can’t get too comfortable.
With CJ Stroud seemingly going through a bit of a sophomore slump, how can this team really break through without its top targets in the passing game? That loss on Thursday night was a tough one for Houston and things aren’t going to get any easier with the Detroit Lions on deck for them.
10. Atlanta Falcons
Another week, another trio of touchdowns from Captain Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons.
Cousins continues to look like one of the best offseason additions for any team, and we know the Falcons took a huge risk there given the injury Cousins suffered last year. At this point, they might be wondering if they made the right call taking Michael Penix Jr. with that 8th overall pick.
Time will tell, and that’s not pressing at the moment.
What’s pressing at the moment is the fact that the Falcons look like they are one of the best teams in the NFC and slowly ascending. I’m not sure that they have the pieces defensively to go deep in the playoffs, which will be very interesting to monitor the closer we get to the 2024 NFL trade deadline.
If the Falcons can somehow add another pass rush threat, this team could be cooking with gas. There are undoubtedly going to be some names available at the deadline and Falcons GM Terry Fontenot has been aggressive. He has no reason to stop now.
9. Washington Commanders
You can only play who’s right in front of you, but this next couple of games is going to be very telling for the Washington Commanders.
As of right now, we have really no reason to believe this team is anything but legit. They have done such a good job this entire season of not only grinding out wins but we’re seeing player development on both sides of the ball, including at the most important position in the game.
Jayden Daniels has been a stud for the Commanders, and he’s led some game-sealing drives for his team in two matchups already this season against the New York Giants. Daniels and the Commanders may have effectively buried the Giants this season with that win on Sunday and they now have back-to-back games coming up against two legitimate contenders in both conferences.
First, the Commanders will play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers who are coming off of a bye. That’s going to be extremely tough with the way Mike Tomlin’s defense has played. Then they have to go to Philly and play the Eagles, who have gotten hot in the second half of this season.
8. Green Bay Packers
I am not going to be too harsh on the Green Bay Packers for taking a loss against the Detroit Lions, even if it was on their home field.
The Packers have been dealing with a number of key injuries, including their quarterback, who was clearly not 100 percent in this game against Detroit.
The Lions are legitimately a team that could make a case as the best team in the NFL right now. They are such a well-oiled machine that it didn’t even seem to matter the fact that they were playing outdoors for the first time this year, and in the elements on top of it all.
The Packers need to get healthy and they need to wash the taste of this particular loss out of their mouths as quickly as possible. They’ve got a bye week to prepare for a road game against Chicago to get another much-needed divisional win. I’m still buying the Packers as a threat in the NFC this season.
7. Minnesota Vikings
When the Minnesota Vikings are rolling, they are a fun team to watch. The Vikings have all of the elements to be a spoiler in January, at least when it comes to the offensive side of the ball. But when you see the defense come out and play like they did against Joe Flacco and the Colts?
It gives you more than just spoiler vibes.
Brian Flores knows how to scheme it up and after a couple of duds from the Vikings’ defense in consecutive games, they balled out against Indianapolis.
And Sam Darnold continues to be impressive this season with three more touchdowns. It wasn’t a flawless performance from Darnold, but with what we’ve seen in the first half of this season, we can confidently say the Vikings are going to be a factor. The sample size has grown to the point that this is clearly not a fluke or anything.
Darnold has a stellar group of skill players and a coach who is setting him up for success. I’d expect this team to hang with almost anybody.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers
As far as I can recall in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era of Steelers football, the offense we’ve seen the last couple of games with Russell Wilson at the helm is the best we’ve seen.
Is that an overly difficult bar to clear? Not especially, but it’s extremely notable because the Steelers have obviously had a very good defense pretty much every year since Roethlisberger hung up the cleats, but they have struggled tremendously to take advantage of that offensively.
If these last couple of weeks are any indication, the Steelers may just be the most slept on team in the league at this point in time.
Pittsburgh is going to make it very difficult on any team in any environment because they are so consistent on the defensive side of the ball and on special teams. As good as the offense has been over the last couple of weeks, it feels like they could still be a little bit of a wild card on that side of the ball as the season goes along.
But the early returns on the Russell Wilson-led version of the offense are promising, at worst.
5. Philadelphia Eagles
It took a little while longer than most Philadelphia fans would have liked, but I think we’ve finally seen this Eagles team “get right” if you want to put it that way.
They have obviously struggled in games this year in which Jalen Hurts was turning the ball over, but it was a little more than just Hurts throwing the occasional interception at the bad time. He seemed to have a legitimate issue with ball security early in the season and even dating back to last year.
Hurts has always been good for about nine fumbles a year since he’s been in the NFL, but the Eagles needed him to start taking better care of the football and he’s done exactly that. The Eagles came out and took care of business in a big way against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Doug Pederson’s return to the City of Brotherly Love.
Right now, I think it’s safe to say the Detroit Lions are the best team in the NFC, but let’s not forget that the Eagles are not even two years removed from winning the NFC Championship and making it to the Super Bowl. And a lot of those pieces are still in place, obviously…
This Philly team looks poised to be very dangerous in the second half of this season, even if they did sort of escape against the Jaguars by the skin of their teeth.
4. Buffalo Bills
Who knew the Buffalo Bills would have such a tough time with the Miami Dolphins in Week 9?
The Dolphins and Bills have already played twice this season but the first meeting between these two teams was a one-sided affair. And while the Dolphins are low on our NFL Power Rankings list this week as well as just 2-6 this season, this was no slouch the Bills were dealing with on Sunday.
Buffalo had to go blow for blow with the Dolphins, and it took a clutch 61-yard field goal from Tyler Bass to ultimately knock them off. But I’m still extremely confident that this Buffalo Bills team is going to be very relevant come January.
They need young players like Keon Coleman to really grow fast. Coleman had a bad drop inside the five-yard-line that resulted in an interception by Jalen Ramsey. But this Buffalo team has so many significant contributors who are still just in the beginning stages of proving what they can do. This is one of the most well-rounded teams in the league and Josh Allen continues to play like an MVP.
3. Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions continued to prove this weekend that they are an absolute force to be reckoned with and one of the most viable Super Bowl contenders in the league.
The Lions went on the road to face off against the 6-2 Green Bay Packers, and while the Packers were dealing with Jordan Love being injured this past week, I don’t think there’s any question about the quality of this win.
The Lions did what contending teams do in hostile environments and difficult situations. They took care of business. This was touted as being one of the biggest games of the week, and for good reason. The Lions hadn’t played in an outdoor game all year, and they not only had to go on the road to a hostile environment against a division rival, but they had to do it in the rain.
Jared Goff continues to be hysterically efficient as a passer. The Lions got a defensive touchdown on a massive mistake by Jordan Love. This team has the ball bouncing in its favor on top of just being so balanced on both sides of the ball.
2. Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are just very clearly one of the NFL’s best teams. They have had their struggles this season, just like every other team, but even at 6-3, I am comfortable saying that this is one of the absolute best teams in the entire NFL right now.
Baltimore had the 32nd-ranked passing defense coming into their game on Sunday against Denver, and they “got right” rather quickly with an interception after a Broncos receiver tipped the ball in the air on Denver’s first possession of the game. It was a huge win for the Ravens where everything was clicking. The run game got going, the passing game was outstanding, and the defense made some big plays on key 4th-down situations early in the game.
Baltimore is primed for a huge run this season and they just can’t have any more lapses like we saw last weekend against the Cleveland Browns. They have already lost three AFC games but they might not lose many more games at all the duration of this season.
1. Kansas City Chiefs
Chiefs play Monday night vs. Buccaneers
At 7-0, how can you have anybody but the Kansas City Chiefs in this number one overall slot? The Chiefs have been the best team in the NFL so far this season and there’s not really any debating it.
Sure, you can ding Kansas City for maybe not having as good of a roster as they had at this time a year ago (due to injuries or what have you), but there’s no doubting the results. The Chiefs have just gotten the job done.
And on Monday night, they just so happen to be catching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the best possible time. The Chiefs are going to be facing off against the Bucs without Mike Evans or Chris Godwin. It would take a herculean effort for the Bucs to go into KC and pull off an upset win.
The only thing that gives you some pause with this Kansas City team is the fact that Patrick Mahomes has been a little bit reckless with the ball at times and that defense has bailed the offense out by being stellar in the red zone all year. Will the Chiefs’ “luck” run out at some point?