Week 11 of the 2024 NFL season promised a big-time slate of games, and it definitely delivered.
We had the Eagles and Commanders battling it out for supremacy in the NFC East on Thursday. We had the Steelers and Ravens going at it. The Bills and Chiefs obviously giving us a potential AFC Championship preview. And plenty more where that came from.
This was a week of jockeying for position all around the NFL. Teams were clinging to slim playoff hopes, trying to gain ground on division rivals, and some teams just trying to keep pace and stay in the playoff race.
This was a huge week of games as far as NFL Power Rankings are concerned as we didn’t have a ton of movement at the bottom, but some shuffling at the top as well as a number of teams climbing from the middle ranks into the upper echelon.
2024 NFL Power Rankings, Week 12: Eagles and Steelers soaring; rock bottom for Jaguars
32. Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars are undeniably the sadsacks of the NFL right now. Although I think their situation is better over the long haul than the Las Vegas Raiders, at least the Raiders showed some fight on Sunday. The Jags were without starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence as well as breakout running back Tank Bigsby, and they absolutely gave us the most predictable result of the weekend with their loss to the Detroit Lions.
But did anyone expect it to be this bad? I mean, 52-6? I think the Lions might have just scored again.
The Jaguars are absolutely going to be making some wholesale changes this offseason, and someone needs to come in and make this thing work. Trevor Lawrence is simply too talented and paid too well to have this team be as bad as it is.
31. Las Vegas Raiders
At least the Raiders are showing some fight. They just don’t have the talent right now to be able to keep up with an offense as talented as the Miami Dolphins, and we saw that unfold on Sunday.
What’s going to be really interesting for the Raiders here going forward is figuring out whether or not Antonio Pierce is going to stick around beyond this year. The Raiders are obviously a rebuilding program in a lot of ways but the players on the roster went to bat for Pierce.
And the team is not winning.
The Raiders might not be “just” a quarterback away at this point. A lot of negatives with this roster have gotten exposed and there’s a ton of work to do. If they want to win sooner than later, they might need a more experienced head coach.
30. Tennessee Titans
Once again, the Tennessee Titans just couldn’t keep up with a more talented roster than their own. Titans GM Ran Carthon has plenty of work to do here, but he might be able to really accelerate his team’s ascension if he can get the right quarterback in the building. Watching what the Titans do this offseason is going to be fascinating. If there’s one thing we know about Carthon, it’s that he will be aggressive.
The Titans’ issues right now extend beyond just Will Levis, however. Levis was the Titans’ leading rusher against the Vikings with just 17 yards on the ground. They were just sloppy against the Vikings with a whopping 13 penalties for 91 yards.
There are a number of key pieces in place for this Titans team but obviously they have work to do in getting back to being a contender, even in arguably the worst division in football right now. And it might not even be arguable.
29. Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are the NFL version of when you get asked a question during one class but you have a speech looming and it’s all you can think about.
Like, yes the Browns got absolutely wrecked by Taysom Hill and the Saints. And they should have probably lost by even more (Taysom Hill fumbled near the goal line). But nobody is really focused on this year all that much anymore for the Browns.
The attention is on 2025.
Will Kevin Stefanski be back even after signing an extension this year? If Stefanski is back, will he agree to coach Deshaun Watson any longer? It seems like Watson is on the way out. Will the Browns bring Nick Chubb back or will it be the end of that era as well.
How are the Browns supposed to focus on this season with so much uncertainty looming. You can really see the lack of focus from this team even though they got some nice plays from guys like Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore. It was a brutal loss on Sunday to the Saints with not a lot to hang your hat on.
28. New York Giants
The New York Giants have everyone right where they want them, don’t they?
They entered the bye week on a five-game losing streak.
Coming out of the bye, the Giants have a home matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and with all of the injuries the Bucs have had to deal with this season, the Giants might actually mess around and win this game.
But as far as relevance in the NFC East? Well, that’s going to require the Giants making a long-term change at the quarterback position. And after watching the offseason version of Hard Knocks with the Giants this year, you really can’t help but wonder if Giants management is going to tolerate what they saw with the team letting go of Saquon Barkley without much resistance as he runs over the entire league with the division-rival Eagles.
Joe Schoen’s GM position might be in jeopardy. Heck, Brian Daboll might be on the chopping block. We’ll see if these guys get a mulligan with a new quarterback.
27. New York Jets
At this stage, do we really think Aaron Rodgers is going to sign up for another year of this? I mean, we have to really think about the New York Jets for the moment here. Who is going to take this head coaching gig with Rodgers in place? What’s the best-case scenario there?
You get one year of Aaron Rodgers and then you have to rebuild the Jets from the ground up after that?
I’m sure the Jets aren’t going to get turned down by every head coach candidate out there, and the roster overall has plenty of talent, but this is a very weird, high-pressure situation with a lot of downside in the short and long-term.
As far as the result on Sunday, we saw the Indianapolis Colts come in and pull off a dramatic win in one of the better games the Jets have played offensively all year. Breece Hall was making plays left and right and it just wasn’t good enough. The Jets now have eight losses, their season is basically over, and the long-term thinking has probably already begun.
26. New England Patriots
At this stage, what we saw on Sunday for the New England Patriots is borderline the ideal scenario. Drake Maye puts together a good game, the Patriots hang tough against a pretty good (and hungry) Rams team, and you have some good nuggets to take away from a loss.
Obviously, Patriots fans are not used to losing, and no one really ever likes losing, but this is a unique case as the Patriots are firmly in the race for Colorado superstar Travis Hunter. Adding Hunter to this roster – as a receiver or corner or both – would be such a godsend for Drake Maye.
The Patriots were pretty strong on third downs against the Rams. They are showing strides weekly. They had a whopping 26 first downs in the game offensively and Maye threw for 16 of them. At this point, you want the best draft pick possible, you want Drake Maye to keep making strides, and you want him to stay healthy.
There’s a lot of building to be done but week by week, we’re seeing that the Pats have their guy.
25. Carolina Panthers
The Panthers were another one of a number of teams near the bottom of our NFL Power Rankings this week to have a bye, but this team started showing some stuff before they got their mid-season break.
Bryce Young has started in a couple of wins for this Panthers team, and they’ve actually pulled off two straight wins going into their bye. Unfortunately, they come out of the bye week with the Kansas City Chiefs coming to town.
I mean, hey – you never know…
The Panthers are another team near the bottom of this list with bigger long-term question marks than we really have the time to get into as we talk about their weekly ranking. But they deserve some credit for the way they played in the two weeks leading up to their bye week. They actually played better in a loss to Denver than the final score indicated.
Dave Canales might not have all of his building blocks yet, but we’re starting to see signs of progression and getting the needle to move in a positive direction on Bryce Young? Well, that’s exactly why they brought him in, right?
24. New Orleans Saints
Well, nobody accused the New Orleans Saints of being a bad team when the majority of their guys are healthy, right?
The Saints scored 91 points in the first two weeks of the season, blew their opponents out of the water, and looked like they were going to steamroll through the NFC South this season. Injuries obviously took their toll and the Saints really just fell off the map.
It’s probably too late for them this year, but in the NFC South? I mean, maybe not…
The Saints absolutely dog-walked the Cleveland Browns this weekend (see what I did there?) and they looked pretty good doing it. At 4-7, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that they could go on a little bit of a run in the second half of the season if they can stay healthy. They will head into their bye this coming weekend to get even healthier, and then they’ll play host to another team that’s really just fighting every week to make sure it stays in the race – the Los Angeles Rams.
The margin for error for the Rams for the remainder of this season is almost non-existent, but they can make it interesting if they win their next two or three.
23. Dallas Cowboys
Cowboys play the Texans on Monday Night Football
Frankly, we should probably have the Dallas Cowboys a lot lower than this. They are going to continually just drop down these rankings in all likelihood as Cooper Rush takes over for the injured Dak Prescott, and the Cowboys are left in shambles for the 2024 season.
Nobody is having fun in Dallas these days.
Jerry Jones finally relented and paid Dak Prescott all the money. He paid CeeDee Lamb all the money. The Micah Parsons contract is looming.
The Cowboys had done so much in the regular season the last few seasons that you figured they’d be able to compete again in the NFC East despite the strength at the top of that division, but even with both Prescott and Lamb in the lineup, the Cowboys never really showed us that they were going to be a truly viable threat in their division this year.
It’s going to be back to the drawing board in the 2025 offseason with Mike McCarthy’s contract running out. Who’s going to be leading this team from that vantage point? The Cowboys will absolutely be dominating the headlines once again in 2025, but they’re on the verge of irrelevant at this point.
And now that I've said that, the Cowboys will probably find a way to beat the Texans on Monday night.
22. Chicago Bears
Oof.
Ooooof.
Sorry, Bears fans. That one was tough. But raise your hand if you laughed at the Denver Broncos last week? If you laughed at the Broncos, well, karma has a way of doing its thing, doesn’t it?
To be real for you Bears fans, I feel your pain. There’s no analysis you can provide. You did everything to win the game. Caleb Williams and the offense got you in position to beat the Green Bay Packers in chicago, and you should be back at .500 today. I get you, I feel you. As a Denver Broncos fan – I can empathize and sympathize. It’s brutal.
What can you do except pick up the pieces and hope you can get a different result next week? There was undoubtedly a lot of good to take from that game, especially with Caleb Williams struggling a bit lately. He’s been getting buried by some of the analysts out there and this was a good response game for him against a good Packers defense.
But it wasn’t quite enough. I am sorry, Bears fans. Maybe you’ll take it out on the Vikings this coming week.
21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I wish that I was still talking about the Buccaneers in a different light. Injuries suck, don’t they?
The Bucs have been ravaged by injuries this year and we’re obviously sorry to see it. When they’re at full strength, this Bucs team can probably hang with anyone. In fact, we saw them take the Chiefs to overtime not too long ago despite the fact that they were missing both Chris Godwin and Mike Evans.
This team just has too many guys down in order to be a viable threat in the NFC South, right?
Well, maybe not. The Bucs are going to get a little healthier coming off of their bye week. They need to come out of the bye asking more out of their running backs, both in terms of the ground game as well as in the passing game. Those guys can help pick up the slack and create opportunities for the receivers that are left in the mix.
And maybe we see Evans come back at some point here soon and make an impact…
20. Miami Dolphins
It’s great to see a healthy Tua Tagovailoa out there for the Dolphins and it’s great for the Miami Dolphins to see him, obviously.
As scary as Tagovailoa’s health situation seems to be on a week-to-week basis, there’s no denying that the Dolphins are going to be a problem for the rest of the season in the AFC if he can stay at full strength.
That’s the only reason why they are so off in the distance of the playoff race right now. The backup situation in Miami simply wasn’t thought through properly, and an extended absence for Tagovailoa has proven to be completely detrimental to this team. They’re not buried yet, but it’s going to be brutal.
Things can turn around in a hurry for this Miami team, however. They have a home game this weekend against the Patriots, which should be very winnable, and then they have a quick week against the Green Bay Packers, another game that should be very winnable even going on the road on Thanksgiving. The Dolphins could be back at .500 in a matter of just 10 days here.
19. Indianapolis Colts
This weekend’s win for the Indianapolis Colts was absolutely massive. The Colts snapped a three-game losing streak and they did it on the road against a desperate Jets team.
The Jets haven’t been good this season, but that’s anything but insignificant.
The Colts brought Anthony Richardson back into the lineup, so his benching didn’t last all that long. Unfortunately, turning to Joe Flacco didn’t yield the results they would have hoped for in terms of at least keeping pace in the AFC South or the AFC Wild Card race.
But the Colts getting their big (but close) win against the Jets puts them at 5-6 this season and very much in the thick of things. I mean shockingly, and don’t look now, they are only one win behind the Houston Texans in the AFC South right now…
18. Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow has got to be just absolutely sick at this stage. He’s doing absolutely all he can to win games for the Bengals, and the Bengals just cannot close the deal.
They would be 9-2 in an alternate universe at this point.
But for a team that should be contending in the AFC, the playoffs are looking less and less likely by the week. The Bengals just cannot find a way to win games. They are giving up way too many points, they can’t finish games, and things are probably going to get at least semi-blown up after this season.
I still can’t fully “quit” the Bengals. They are simply too talented and Joe Burrow is simply too good. But for the time being, we can’t really take this team overly seriously in the AFC playoff race.
17. San Francisco 49ers
I hate to do this because of the respect I have for the San Francisco 49ers, but this team honestly just looks a little cooked.
I know the 49ers didn’t have George Kittle or Brandon Aiyuk out there, but the 49ers don’t look like their usual selves and obviously things are going to start getting away from them in a hurry here if they can’t string together some wins.
And in the NFC this year, nothing is going to be given. The 49ers play in maybe the most competitive division in the league right now from top to bottom with everyone being 5-5 or better at this point, and that’s both an encouraging note as well as a terrifying one if you’re the Niners.
Is this team going to be able to string together enough wins as the season progresses? They’ve been hovering in the top half of our NFL Power Rankings due to the respect they’ve earned in recent years, but this is one of the lowest spots I’ve ever had them.
16. Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams desperately needed to get that bad taste out of their mouths from Monday night and get back on track. They did just that.
The Patriots made it interesting, but the Rams are staying alive for the time being.
The race for the playoffs in the NFC is getting a little more than just interesting. There could legitimately be five or so teams that could win a playoff game that could potentially get left out at this stage. But the Rams are staying alive. They would love to be 6-4 right now but at 5-5, they are alive in the NFC West and we’re going to find out rather quickly whether or not they are going to be long for that discussion.
The Rams face an absolute gauntlet coming up, starting with the Philadelphia Eagles in Los Angeles on Sunday. A must-win game and a chance to prove what they’re made of.
15. Seattle Seahawks
Good for the Seattle Seahawks. Good for Geno Smith. Good for Mike Macdonald.
The Seahawks were truly on the cusp of falling completely out of the playoff race but a brilliant drive by Geno Smith against the San Francisco 49ers has kept this team on the playoff map in the NFC this year and has also kept them alive in the ultra-competitive NFC West.
Whatever it comes down to for the Seahawks, if they miss the playoffs, it’s not going to be due to the fact that they don’t have playmakers offensively. Seattle has playmakers in spades, and we saw those guys doing their thing against the 49ers. They give them a chance in any given week.
Two of Seattle’s next three games are against the NFC West-leading Cardinals. Things are going to get interesting quick.
14. Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons just didn’t have it against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. The Broncos suffered a close loss last week against the Kansas City Chiefs, and it just felt like from Denver’s opening drive that they weren’t going to be denied.
The Falcons have a little room for error right now in the NFC South, but the New Orleans Saints are going to start making things interesting if the Falcons don’t get it together quickly. Atlanta is heading into a bye week and they’ll have a lot of time to stew on getting kind of whooped by the Denver Broncos before they take on the Chargers (in Atlanta) and Vikings (in Minnesota) in consecutive games.
By the time December 8 is said and done, we’ll see if the Falcons are still firmly in that NFC South driver’s seat.
13. Washington Commanders
I’ve been sort of anticipating a little bit of a backslide for the Washington Commanders here this season, which is no slight to what they’ve accomplished thus far nor is it an indictment over what they could become.
The Commanders have a chance to make the playoffs this season after finishing with the 2nd-worst record in the entire league last year. That’s huge for Dan Quinn and his staff. But good feels for this organization aren’t going to get this team to the playoffs. They’ve got to execute.
Jayden Daniels hasn’t been quite as sensational as we saw pre-injury this season, and while you admire him for gutting it out on the field, he’s got to make sure he leads his team to wins in the next two weeks. The commanders have the Cowboys and Titans in consecutive games. The NFL scheduling powers that be basically have gifted that team its 8th and 9th wins of the season if they take care of business.
12. Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos should probably be 7-4 at this point if we’re being honest. At the very least. The Broncos had their game-winning kick blocked last week against the Kansas City Chiefs, and the heartbreaking result of that game didn’t kill their spirit as they played host to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11.
The Broncos just wrecked the Falcons from the first drive of the game and Bo Nix has made himself a very strong case to be the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year as Denver’s offense has been one of the better units in the league and Nix has been absolutely humming.
It’s wild to say that given the way people talked about him in the pre-draft process, but this Denver team looks to be a real threat for a playoff spot in the loaded AFC. Their pass rush is legit, the offense is figuring things out, and when the Broncos play a clean game, they are tough to deal with.
11. Houston Texans
Texans play the Cowboys on Monday Night Football
The Houston Texans were off on Sunday and it wasn’t a great day for them even without playing a game.
The Indianapolis Colts won their 5th game of the season and climbed within just one win of the Texans despite having two more losses. The Colts getting a 5th win should be a wake-up call for a Texans team that has been seemingly sleep-walking through a large portion of this season.
I still don’t think we’ve really seen the best of the Texans even though they have gutted out some wins. And how about the next three games these Texans have been gifted? It starts on Monday night against a beaten-up Dallas Cowboys team and then the Texans play the Titans and Jaguars. They have a chance to get to nine wins rather quickly.
10. Los Angeles Chargers
You have to tip your cap to the Los Angeles Chargers, right?
You have to tip your cap to the NFL for putting that game in primetime, first and foremost…
The Los Angeles Chargers are known for Chargering. It’s the pure art of late-game or late-season collapses. It seemed we were on track for the Chargers Chargering yet again on Sunday night against the Bengals, but they found a way to pull it out late.
This is our clearest indication yet of Jim Harbaugh being the exact right guy at the exact right time for that organization. Huge win for the Chargers in Week 11.
9. Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals were on a bye in Week 11, and while the Week 11 bye is almost universally considered to be ideal timing, the Cardinals might have just as soon kept right on playing this week.
They are one of the hottest and most interesting teams in the NFL right now.
After starting off the season 2-4, the Cardinals have stormed into the lead of the NFC West entering Week 12 with four straight wins and a matchup against the Seattle Seahawks on the other side of that.
The Seahawks are always going to be tough playing at home, but the Cardinals will have had extra time to prepare while the Seahawks are coming off of a hard-fought game against the 49ers. This is a chance for the Cardinals to at least put some distance between themselves and one of their division rivals. Trial by fire.
8. Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers saw the way the Kansas City Chiefs broke the heart of a division rival last week, and they thought they would follow that exact formula.
The Packers should be dealing with the after-effects of a loss and yet you’ve got to play every second of the 60 minutes. The Packers let the Bears get into field goal range at the end of their game, but they didn’t let them get the field goal. Karl Brooks made an outstanding play, the Packers blocked the kick, and they are still right there in the thick of it for the top Wild Card spot in the NFC with the Vikings.
Green Bay has a chance to do some serious damage coming up, but it’s not going to be easy. Their next three games are at home against the 49ers, at home on a short week against the Dolphins, and then on the road to face the Lions on Thursday Night Football.
The Packers needed this win against the Bears for a little cushion.
7. Minnesota Vikings
At this stage, you can’t really do much except tip your cap to Kevin O’Connell and the job that he’s done for the Minnesota Vikings since taking over as the team’s head coach.
I’ll be honest and confess that I felt as though the Vikings were going to struggle a bit this year with Sam Darnold at the helm, but they are 8-2 and they are actually keeping pace with the Detroit Lions in the NFC North a little bit.
Now, how long is that going to last? The Lions don’t look like they’re going to lose many more games. The Vikings have to start by getting to their 9th win which could happen Sunday in Chicago. They’ve got to find a way to kick the Bears while they’re down.
6. Baltimore Ravens
I will admit I didn’t think the Ravens were going to get caught in the thickets like they did against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11. It’s a testament to how good the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense is that they were able to stifle the Baltimore Ravens’ offense, holding them to just 16 points.
The Ravens should have been licking their chops after seeing the Washington Commanders have a decent amount of success against the Steelers the week prior, but they weren’t able to get going.
I still believe this Ravens team is one of the elite teams in the AFC even with four losses this season. They are going to be battle-tested when it comes time for the playoffs but they can’t afford a dud like this when the stakes are higher. Tough loss for the Ravens in Week 11, and they’ve got two tough defenses on deck with the Chargers and Eagles.
5. Pittsburgh Chris Boswells
For the second time this season, I think I’m making this joke.
In all seriousness, though, where would the Pittsburgh Steelers be without Chris Boswell? The man is absolutely nails.
The Steelers just got one of the top signature wins of the 2024 NFL season, as far as I’m concerned. Beating the Baltimore Ravens has been done before, but the stakes were incredibly high with this one and Pittsburgh has continued to roll since rolling with Russell Wilson as its starting quarterback.
Who knew?
I don’t think you can count the Steelers out in the AFC this year by any stretch. They have proven they can beat anyone and now they have a nice little two-game cushion in the loss department against the Ravens.
4. Philadelphia Eagles
Slowly but surely the Philadelphia Eagles have climbed their way back near the top of the NFL, and I think they’re a bigger threat than some realize.
This is an Eagles team that was just in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. When Jalen Hurts is able to play smart, mistake-free football, this Eagles offense is still one of the most explosive in the NFL.
And the addition of Saquon Barkley has been one of the biggest game-changers in the entire NFL this season. He’s been sensational and not only an All-Pro candidate but possibly an NFL Offensive Player of the Year darkhorse.
The Eagles’ defense has picked things up recently as well under coordinator Vic Fangio. If they keep jelling as the season rolls along, this team is going to be very dangerous.
3. Kansas City Chiefs
At long last, someone finally did it. The Kansas City Chiefs have finally lost a game. They haven’t tasted defeat since Christmas last year against the Raiders.
This team is obviously still phenomenal, and they are going to be a factor in January, but for this week, they’re dropping a spot. The Chiefs could easily have a much worse record than one with just one loss at this point, and probably should have two straight losses after the way things went last week against Denver.
With that said, this team has found ways to win most games. The question after what we saw in Buffalo is whether or not the Bills exposed the Chiefs’ biggest flaws or if they woke up a sleeping giant. We’ll see how this loss refocuses Kansas City.
2. Buffalo Bills
Not to diminish what the Buffalo Bills did, but this is rather familiar territory for Buffalo.
The Bills have had success against the Kansas City Chiefs…in the regular season. They’ve beaten the Chiefs three out of four times in the regular season with Josh Allen under center. And Allen certainly further cemented his case for the NFL MVP award in this win over Mahomes and the Chiefs.
But this one will fall short – just like all the others – if the Bills can’t find a way to get the job done in January. What this win proved is that it’s Super Bowl or bust this year for the Bills. They are clearly one of the best teams in the NFL capable of beating anyone. Getting a win against Kansas City and closing that proverbial gap in terms of the #1 overall seed in the AFC looms large as we inch closer to the playoffs.
1. Detroit Lions
Does the term “well-oiled machine” begin to cover it?
The Lions almost couldn’t lose a game if they tried at this point. Just ask the Houston Texans…
The Lions hung 52 points on the Jacksonville Jaguars this week in what was the most obvious outcome of Week 11. But things are going to get a violent shove into the “serious” category after the child’s play that was this Week 11 matchup against Jacksonville.
Thankfully, the Lions emerged from this week healthy and unscathed, because the final handful of weeks this season will include three games in less than three weeks. By the time we all hit the pillows on Thanksgiving night, the Lions could very well already have a whopping 11 wins.
READ MORE: 2025 NFL Mock Draft Update
They certainly have the look of the best team in the NFL at this point.