21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5)
Now 3-5 on the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers keep the NFC South race that much more interesting with their win over Atlanta in Week 8. In one of the wackier, sloppier games you’ll see in the NFL, the Bucs managed to look less bad than the Falcons.
It doesn’t seem like a single team in the NFC South wants to actually be good this year, and it feels like the odds of the NFC South winner again finishing with a losing record are rather good. We’ll see how the second half of the season shakes out, but for the Bucs, it does now feel like this team is very much capable of winning the division despite that not appearing to be the case just a few weeks ago.
20. Las Vegas Raiders (4-4)
The Las Vegas Raiders got back on track in Week 8 with a 5-point win over New York. As we all expected, it was an offensive shootout. Las Vegas put up 38 points. Kirk Cousins threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Mike Washington Jr., not Ashton Jeanty, ran for 83 yards on 25 carries, and Brock Bowers had 92 yards and two scores.
The Raiders defense has been dreadful this year, but we have seen glimpses of how good this offense can be. At some point, though, you really want to see what Fernando Mendoza can do. Vegas being 4-4 and honestly right in the thick of the AFC playoff race would fairly make you wonder if the team wants to see how far Cousins can take them.
Cousins is a limited QB, but he has turned back the clock a bit and looks like a competent player. The Raiders being 4-4 after the dysfunction from last year is honestly already a huge win.
19. Baltimore Ravens (4-4)
How far down do you realistically drop the Baltimore Ravens? Lamar Jackson left the game very early on. It was revealed that Jackson is headed to IR and will need thumb surgery, and there seems to be a change that he is missing the rest of the season. Backup QB Tyler Huntley also left the game with an injury, so the team had to rely on third-string QB, Joe Fagnano. Yes, him. If you’re just now figuring out who he is, you might not be alone. While that seems a bit mean, you really don’t see third-string QBs needing to be thrust into action like this.
It’s really a shame, as the Ravens are a good team and do have enough on paper to win the AFC North this year, but even if Huntley ends up being OK, the Ravens likely won’t win more than 7 or 8 games this year, and that likely won’t be enough to make the playoffs in an AFC featuring a good bit of talent.
Baltimore drops a bit in our power rankings.
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