The X’s and O’s Show breaks down the Power Rankings, the NFL and everything Broncos each Sunday at 9:00am on Mile High Sports Radio.
Check here for last week’s rankings.
1. New England Patriots (1)
Tom Brady is completing 73 percent of his passes, and the New England quarterbacks (all three of them) have yet to throw an interception on the season. The record for the longest a team has gone to start a season without throwing a pick is the 1960 Cleveland Browns, who didn’t throw an interception until Week 10.
2. Dallas Cowboys (2)
The bunched-up NFC East isn’t so bunched-up anymore. The Cowboys have opened up a two-game lead, having won seven straight after their one-point loss to the Giants in Week 1.
3. Kansas City Chiefs (6)
The Chiefs offense came into the game missing their starting quarterback, running back, and guard, and then they lost their best wide receiver and tight end during the game. But they were playing the Jaguars, so it didn’t matter. They have won four straight, but with half of their remaining eight games against divisional foes, Kansas City’s season will be decided by the next two months.
4. Seattle Seahawks (9)
As Russell Wilson gets healthier, the offensive line problems seem less glaring. After a Super Bowl XLIX rematch in Foxborough, the ‘Hawks remaining opponents have a win percentage of .393.
5. Oakland Raiders (4)
Let’s not get carried away with all the sudden talk of Oakland as a Super Bowl team. Unfortunately, crushing the Denver Broncos isn’t nearly as hard as it used to be. This is still one of the worst defenses in football, and just because Denver was utterly shut down by the Raiders defense doesn’t mean that defense is any good. It’s not.
6. Atlanta Falcons (5)
Other than New England, nobody has a more fear-inducing offense than Atlanta. Like the Patriots, the Falcons have a talented, experienced quarterback, who may be playing the best football of his career; a seemingly unstoppable receiver; and a solid running game. With this offense and the fairly easy remaining schedule, the Falcons are heavy favorites to win the NFC South and are emerging as one of the top contenders for the Super Bowl.
7. Denver Broncos (3)
The Broncos are now in third place in their division, which is right where they belong. The offense is astonishingly inept. Every possession is an ordeal just to try to gain even a single first down, which on five of their first six possessions they did not do. Defensively, the problem is not that they were steamrolled for 218 rushing yards. It is the fact that Denver has failed to stop the run IN EVERY GAME THEY HAVE PLAYED THIS SEASON! Look it up.
8. New York Giants (17)
Too high for the Giants? Maybe, but there are only seven teams in the league with a better record, and they are still the only team to have beaten Dallas this season. Eli Manning played a superb game against a normally stout Eagles defense.
9. San Diego Chargers (14)
The Chargers have already played both their games against the Broncos and the away games at Kansas City and Oakland. Thus, the schedule is favorable for the only remaining AFC West team looking up at Denver in the standings. All season long, the X’s and O’s Show has said that the Chargers would spoil the dreams of some contenders down the stretch. Houston, Oakland and Kansas City should be on alert.
10. Detroit Lions (16)
We warned you not to sleep on the Lions. It remains questionable whether this defense can be good enough for this squad to become a real contender, but Matt Stafford gives them a chance. And with both Minnesota and Green Bay skidding off the tracks, Detroit could very easily steal this division.
11. Minnesota Vikings (10)
And to think, things seemed to be going so well three weeks ago. When a first-place team sees their offensive coordinator walk out, it means something odd is going on with the staff. That unit was just as bad Sunday against a poor Detroit defense. Mike Zimmer needs to figure out how to stop the bleeding before this season slips away.
12. Buffalo Bills (23)
There are a handful of teams who are exceedingly difficult to figure out. Teams like Green Bay, Detroit, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Arizona must drive the gamblers nuts. Add the Buffalo Bills to that list. They have lost three straight, but they fared better in Miami and Seattle than most teams have this year. If they get healthy, they are likely to be favored in their final four games, and five of their last six. The only two remaining games they will be the underdogs in will be their road games in Cincinnati and Oakland, and even those are winnable.
13. Pittsburgh Steelers (8)
Ben Roethlisberger was just rusty, says Steeler Nation, to explain his bad outing against Baltimore. What about his even worse performance in his previous start in Miami? He must have already been hurt, they say. Perhaps. But in his last two starts, the star quarterback has completed just 53 percent of his passes for two touchdowns against three interceptions. Oh, and both games were losses, which is what this team can expect unless Roethlisberger plays better.
14. Arizona Cardinals (15)
After two straight sloppy performances, the Cardinals got a bye and will face the 49ers this week. But getting healthy won’t help the offensive line, and Arizona can’t score playing the way they are.
15. Tennessee Titans (19)
Tennessee is still the best team in the AFC South, but they do not seem to know how to translate that into wins yet. Sunday, two of Marcus Mariota‘s three turnovers were returned for scores, and the Titans gave away a great opportunity.
16. Houston Texans (11)
The Texans are 5-0 at home and 0-3 on the road. They will put that to the test Sunday when they travel to Jacksonville. If Houston can’t win there, they are in big trouble. This team remains in first place of a terrible division, but after the Jaguars, the schedule gets much tougher.
17. Cincinnati Bengals (20)
The Bengals’ bye week may have been their best week of the season. No, not because they didn’t lose, but because Baltimore beat Pittsburgh. Now Cincinnati is just a half game out of first in a division that looks more winnable by the day. Tyler Eifert returns this week to try to take some pressure off A.J. Green.
18. Green Bay Packers (12)
The Packers fell behind Indianapolis 31-10 before trying to rally at home Sunday. Now they hit the road for three straight, heading to Nashville, Washington and Philadelphia. Still, it seems likely that Green Bay’s season—and the divisional race—will come down to the last two weeks when the Packers host Minnesota before ending the season in Detroit.
19. Miami Dolphins (21)
The Dolphins have won three straight, and with eight games remaining, they won’t play a team with a winning record until the Week 17 game against New England.
20. Indianapolis Colts (27)
After falling all the way to No. 27 in our poll, the Colts turned in their best performance of the season. They went in to Lambeau and dominated the Packers. It’s true that Bill Reffel warned us that the Colts were dangerous and that Damien Veatch explicitly refused to join Reffel in any praise directed at an AFC South team. But it’s also true that the X’s and O’s Show has consistently been skeptical of the Packers, so it’s a win all around. Some bad team is going to win the AFC South. Why not this bad team?
21. Washington Redskins (13)
We will find out how legit the Redskins are now, as they emerge from their bye with two home games against Minnesota and Green Bay. These teams still sound scary, but both are reeling. A good team would dispatch each of them. A bad team could easily lose to one or both, allowing the troubled NFC North visitors to salvage their slipping seasons. We will soon see which kind of team the Redskins are.
22. Baltimore Ravens (24)
Don’t look now, but the Ravens are tied for first. They have ridden their defense and special teams, and that was enough against the Steelers. Baltimore still looks to us like the third best team in their division, but Pittsburgh and Cincinnati seemed determined to let the Ravens hang around.
23. New Orleans Saints (18)
Sean Payton’s offense is legit. Drew Brees continues to light it up, and they added 248 rushing yards against the awful 49ers defense. Their offense is good enough that they should be able to move the ball and score some points against Denver. Their defense remains lousy, but as we’ve seen with Atlanta, San Diego and Oakland, bad defenses have a way of looking a whole lot better when playing the Orange and Blue.
24. Philadelphia Eagles (7)
The Eagles have lost four of five and find themselves in last place after starting the season 3-0. Now they get Matt Ryan and the Falcons at home and then a trip to Seattle.
25. Carolina Panthers (22)
Carolina seems to have steadied the ship after losing four of their first five games, but a challenging schedule looms. If you believe the AFC West is the juggernaut it is suddenly purported to be, then the Panthers will have to play much better than they did in an uninspiring win against the Rams. Carolina has games coming up against Kansas City, Oakland and San Diego, as well as matchups with Seattle and Atlanta.
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26)
This team has similarities to the Dolphins and the Browns. All three teams have made complete overhauls the last two years. They all play hard, the coaches they hired all look like the right choice, and they have some young players or draft picks to envision a brighter day tomorrow. But none of these teams are good enough to actually win games. There are plenty of teams that are bad and going nowhere, but the fans in Tampa, like those in Miami and Cleveland, should be patient.
27. New York Jets (29)
Even the Jets’ top-ranked run defense couldn’t hold down Miami running back Jay Ajayi, who ran for 111 yards. Still, if the team got even a mediocre performance from Ryan Fitzpatrick, they could have beaten the Dolphins. But expecting Fitzpatrick to be mediocre is a lot to hope for.
28. Los Angeles Rams (25)
Four straight losses have the Angelenos calling for rookie quarterback Jared Goff and booing incumbent starter Case Keenum. The honeymoon is over. So is the Rams’ season. Now what about Jeff Fisher’s career?
29. Chicago Bears (28)
After Jay Cutler left Denver, X’s and O’s Show expert Bill Reffel stuck voodoo pins in a Cutler doll. The result was years of misery for Cutler and Bears fans. But when he was lobbying to get Cutler back to Denver the last two years, Reffel removed the pins. We saw the result last week as Cutler had his best game in years. So the question looms: Now that the trade deadline has passed, will the pins go back in the doll? The Bears’ hopes may be resting on that answer.
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (30)
Playing against a Chiefs team missing several starters, the Jags managed to find a way to lose again, this time using four turnovers to blow the game.
31. San Francisco 49ers (31)
The 49ers have surrendered more than 240 yards rushing in three straight games now. That’s something one would expect from, say, Iowa St. when the Big 8 was a thing. But not from a modern day NFL team. Of course, with San Francisco, we use that term lightly.
32. Cleveland Browns (32)
The Browns have had several close losses/moral victories this season. Sunday’s game against Dallas was not one of them. The Cowboys had a 2-1 advantage in first downs, total yards and time of possession. The Browns converted on third down exactly once all day, and had just 28 yards at halftime.
