1. Los Angeles Rams (7-1)
Last Week: 3
The Rams are coming off of a blowout 38-22 win in Houston, they have an MVP candidate in Matthew Stafford, and they just traded for Von Miller. Miller doesn’t have to give all of his energy every play coming off of an injury since this Rams defense is already so good. The best defense in the league just got even better.
2. Green Bay Packers (7-1)
Last Week: 6
After a great night in Arizona, things took a turn for the worse in Green Bay. The Packers faced the only undefeated team left in the league in the Arizona Cardinals without their top receivers, and Aaron Rodgers still led them to a win. But soon after, Rodgers tested positive for Covid-19 and it came out that he pulled a quick one on the league about not being vaccinated. Now we see Jordan Love get his opportunity in Kansas City next week.
3. Buffalo Bills (5-2)
Last Week: 4
The Bills have gotten the chance to take a breath and relax with some easy wins. They played the Dolphins this week and head to Jacksonville next week where they are 14-point favorites. Even though they started slow, it was clear that the Bills would be just fine against Miami.
4. Dallas Cowboys (6-1)
Last Week: 5
No Dak, no problem. Without their best player, the Cowboys went into Minnesota and picked up a huge win on Sunday Night Football. Cooper Rush had 325 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The question for Dallas now is how quick they are to rush Dak back.
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-2)
Last Week: 2
Tom Brady and the Buccaneers continue to struggle against the Saints. Despite Jameis Winston going down early, the Bucs still lost in New Orleans 36-27. That being said, I don’t think there’s any panic in Tampa Bay. Brady still leads the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns and the Bucs struggled with the Saints in the regular season last year too, and we all saw how that went.
6. Arizona Cardinals (7-1) Last Week: 1
The Cardinals took their first loss of the seasons against a Packers team without their best receivers, which is unimpressive to say the least. But the bigger worry here is Kyler Murray exiting the stadium in a walking boot. Hopefully he is okay; it’s definitely something to keep an eye on going forward.
7. Baltimore Ravens (5-2) Last Week: 8
In the bye all Baltimore has to do is watch the chaos going on around the league and smile...and maybe focus on their tackling: The Ravens have already allowed over 1,200 yards after the catch.
8. New Orleans Saints (5-2)
Last Week: 16
The Saints showed major resilience against one of the best teams in the league this week when their QB1 went down. Trevor Siemian game managed his way to a win, but it won’t be enough going forward. It looks like New Orleans is going to go with Taysom Hill going forward with Winston out for the year, but if you ask me they need to call a certain someone in particular who has played in the NFC South before.
9. Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) Last Week: 9
The Chargers are lucky not to move down at all and it’s mostly due to the terrible play by the teams around them. The Chargers took yet another loss, this time at the hands of Mac Jones and the Patriots. Justin Herbert has cooled off since the beginning of the season, he had a Rating of 66.7 on Sunday.
10. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) Last Week: 18
As usual, the Pittsburgh defense looked like one of the best defenses in the league. But despite winning three in a row, the offense still has a lot of work to do. The Steelers are the only team in the NFL with a winning record while averaging under 20 ppg.
11. Cincinnati Bengals (5-3) Last Week: 7
When I mentioned the “terrible play by the teams around them” two spots ago, this is a prime example. After flying high with huge wins over the Lions and Ravens, the Bengals plummeted back to earth on Sunday with a loss to the Jets. Their offensive game wasn’t bad, but their defense allowed Mike White to torch them.
12. Minnesota Vikings (3-4) Last Week: 12
Despite a loss to Cooper Rush, Kirk Cousins still continues to play quietly great, Dalvin Cook is just beginning to get his touches back, and the receiving corps on this team is elite. The issue is that they still continue to somehow lose. Next week in Baltimore we’ll see if Minnesota is a team that’s better than their record shows or if they are exactly the team their record shows.
13. Kansas City Chiefs (4-4) Last Week: 13
The Chiefs picking up a win and working themselves back to .500 does not mean it’s time to turn off the panic button in Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes still has had an interception in his last seven games-the worst streak in his career-and the Chiefs have a league's worst 19 turnovers on the season as a whole.
14. Cleveland Browns (4-4)
Last Week: 10
The Browns have given in and cut Odell Beckham Jr. A good and well-functioning organization would have been able to see that this wasn’t going to work two years ago and traded Odell for a good return. I don’t need to tell you that the Browns are not a good or well-functioning organization; and now they’re stuck getting nothing.
15. Las Vegas Raiders (5-2)
Last Week: 17
Maxx Crosby is a bright spot for the Raiders defense with 47 QB pressures on the season. That’s more than ten entire teams. But clearly Maxx Crosby isn’t the story in Las Vegas this week. Due to the tragic incident involving Henry Ruggs III, the Raiders are down their best WR and forced to recover emotionally from a heartbreaking event.
16. San Francisco 49ers (3-4) Last Week: 15
The 49ers stole a win in Chicago, but it wasn’t incredible. The 49ers were down at halftime and gave up 22 points to a pretty lousy offense. But on the bright side, a win is a win and Jimmy Garoppolo finally had a big game with 322 yards.
17. Indianapolis Colts (3-5) Last Week: 14
Right when it looked like things were getting on track in Indy, they drop a big game at home against a division rival. Carson Wentz continues to be inconsistent. He had one of the worst interceptions we’ve ever seen to let the Titans take the lead, then he led a great drive down the field to send it to overtime, and then he threw an interception in overtime to set up Tennessee for the win.
18. Philadelphia Eagles (3-5) Last Week: 19
The Eagles picked up a massive 44-6 win on Sunday. That being said, it was against the Lions, who have been the NFLs punching bag as of late. But hey, it was nice to see the Eagles click on all cylinders and Nick Sirianni even learned how to call run plays.
19. Tennessee Titans (6-2) Last Week: 11
Even with the big win, the Titans take a steep fall after losing Derrick Henry for what could be the rest of the season. Tennessee has only 2 wins this year when Henry doesn't run for at least 100 yards.
20. New England Patriots (4-4)
Last Week: 20
The Patriots finally proved that they can hang with the big boys on Sunday, with a road win against the Chargers. Mac Jones didn’t play a great game, but that’s okay because Adrian Phillips had two interceptions, one being taken to the endzone against his former team.
21. Carolina Panthers (4-4)
Last Week: 21
The Panthers finally get back to their winning ways in Atlanta after a 3-game skid. Chuba Hubbard continues to do his job without CMC and Darnold didn’t play a terrible game. We also got to see Stephon Gilmore grab a game-winning interception in his Panthers debut. The issue right now is that the Panthers lead the league in dropped passes with 20.
22. Seattle Seahawks (3-5) Last Week: 22
Even though it came against a really bad Jaguars team, the Seahawks picked up a big win. Geno Smith threw 14 straight completions to start the game; the most consecutive completions to start a game in the NFL this year.
23. Chicago Bears (3-4) Last Week: 23
Even though Chicago took a rough home loss, Justin Fields had his best game so far which should give the Bears some hope for the future, which is about all they have to hold onto right about now.
24. Denver Broncos (4-4) Last Week: 26
The Broncos finally get one back in the win column with a home dub against Washington. Teddy Bridgewater played a good game and the Denver defense held the Football Team to only 10. That being said, trading Von Miller shows that the Broncos don’t feel like they’re gonna do much this year.
25. New York Giants (2-6) Last Week: 25
The Giants hung with the Chiefs for the entire game and they were arguably the better team throughout. But the terrible offensive line struck again, allowing Daniel Jones to back sacked twice on their final drive, one being on 4th down to seal the game.
26. Atlanta Falcons (3-4) Last Week: 24
It’s time to build for the future in Atlanta. The Falcons took a home loss against an ice cold Panthers team and there wasn’t much good that came out of the game. Matt Ryan had 2 interceptions to his 1 touchdown and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Falcons select a quarterback with their first pick in the draft.
27. New York Jets (2-5)
Last Week: 29
Mike White!!! White came in as the interim quarterback with Zach Wilson out and put up 405 yards and 3 touchdowns in arguably the best game the Jets have had this year. Rob Saleh didn’t even rule out a QB battle between White and Wilson...but let’s not go that far yet.
28. Washington Football Team (2-6) Last Week: 27
Washington took another loss to a bad team in Denver this week. The Taylor Heinicke hype has been put to bed, if not already, with his 1 touchdown to 2 interceptions. Heinicke now has 9 interceptions in his last 7 games.
29. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-6) Last Week: 28
Welp. After a win in London and a bye week the Jags went back to their losing ways with a 31-7 beatdown in Seattle. Trevor Lawrence had a Rating of 68.3 and James Robinson only had four carries before a foot injury.
30. Miami Dolphins (1-7) Last Week: 31
The Dolphins hung in there in Buffalo for a while before inevitably letting the Bills pull away. Miami still has potential but it’s going to take a lot longer than we expected. One thing they have to do is commit to Tua or trade him. The constant going back and forth on him isn’t going to help anybody.
31. Detroit Lions (0-8)
Last Week: 30
The losses continue to come in Detroit, this time it was a 44-6 blowout at home. Jared Goff still looks horrible, but it’s hard to put the blame on him when he’s been pressured on 46% of his dropbacks this season. The usual result rang true, Goff was sacked five times on Sunday.
32. Houston Texans (1-7) Last Week: 32
Another big loss at home is something that Houston is probably just used to at this point. But on the bright side Tyrod Taylor, who might be the only player worth watching on the Texans, is set to come back against the Dolphins.