18. Baltimore Ravens
As expected, the return of Lamar Jackson has the Baltimore Ravens skyrocketing back up our weekly NFL Power Rankings. Jackson’s return to action included a four-touchdown performance against the Miami Dolphins and the Ravens looked like the Ravens we’ve expected all year. Maybe equally important to the return of Jackson was the return to form of the Baltimore defense, as well.
Through the first month of the season, we saw this Ravens team struggle to close games and obviously they put themselves in a really rough spot. But a win with Snoop Huntley under center last week followed by another quick win on Thursday with Lamar Jackson back in the fold has this team threatening in the AFC North once again. It helps that the Steelers left the door open a crack while Jackson was out.
17. Jacksonville Jaguars
I am not going to lie, I don’t really love the Jacksonville Jaguars right now. Even with somewhat of a signature win a handful of weeks ago against the Chiefs, and even with a record of 5-3 (just one game behind the Colts now in the loss column), it’s hard to fully commit to “buying” what the Jags are selling right now.
This team has some grit. They’ve got some pieces on both sides of the ball. They got a win against the Raiders in pretty thrilling fashion, but it wasn’t the type of win you show off to your friends, either. The Jags defense had no answer whatsoever for Raiders superstar tight end Brock Bowers, who had three touchdowns in his return to the field.
If Jacksonville’s defense is allowing a 70 percent conversion rate on third downs, they’re going to have a hard time beating teams not named the Raiders. We should find out if the Jags are for real now with a road matchup against the Texans on deck and the Chargers in Jacksonville after that.