The penultimate week of regular season football in the NFL was a wild, wild week of action from start to finish. The festivities got going on Christmas Day, with the Vikings knocking the Lions out of the playoff race completely and the Broncos sneaking out of Kansas City with their 13th win of the season.
On Saturday, we saw a huge swing with the Texans beating the Chargers to seal the Broncos’ AFC West title, while also keeping the door open for them to win the AFC South. The Ravens destroyed the Packers to keep their AFC North hopes alive.
On Sunday, the Patriots took the AFC East title in impressive fashion as the Bills faltered against the Eagles. The Panthers and Buccaneers can’t decide which team wants to get to Cabo first. There is so much action to unpack, including some drama for the #1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. We’re breaking it all down in our Week 18 NFL Power Rankings.
Week 18 NFL Power Rankings: Texans skyrocketing, Packers in a free fall
32. Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders might be in a ton of trouble going into the 2026 offseason. They may have “won” the battle for the #1 overall pick with the New York Giants, but that top pick isn’t yet secured for them, and even if they do get it, who is still going to be around?
It seems increasingly unlikely that Pete Carroll is going to be this team’s head coach going forward, although nothing is set in stone there. The Raiders will have to move on from Geno Smith after this disastrous season. But most importantly, it is looking more and more like Maxx Crosby is going to force his way out this offseason.
Crosby was furious with the Raiders shutting him down for the final two games of the season, which is as much of a “tanking” move as you’re ever going to see in the NFL. Crosby basically called his own organization out by posting videos of him playing basketball and jumping on a trampoline after being shut down.
The Raiders need a QB more than anything right now, but “tanking” for the #1 overall pick may have cost them their best player.
31. New York Giants
The New York Giants got another pair of rushing touchdowns out of Jaxson Dart, and another big performance out of Wan’Dale Robinson in their Week 17 win against the Raiders. And that was a win that ended up being extremely significant when it comes to the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Giants would have sealed the #1 overall pick with a loss to the Raiders, but it wasn’t meant to be with the Raiders putting their best player on IR with two games to play.
And to be fair, the young core of the Giants has questions to answer of their own. Obviously, this team is currently missing Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo, who could be two major pieces going forward, but there were some reports that the Giants would consider all options with the #1 overall pick (if they had earned it), including potentially taking Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
With the way Jaxson Dart has played this year, that’s a little hard to imagine. We’ll see how this organization progresses with injuries derailing this season, even if it was always going to be an evaluation year.