This week was a big week in the NFL. While there weren't a lot of good early games and some of the close ones were irrelevant in terms of playoff impact, we still had some major changes to the standings. The Patriots no longer have their Wild Card Week Bye game because of poor play by the Pats' offense. The Vikings seemed to have realized that if they just run the ball and take pressure off of Kirk Cousins then they will have a more effective offense. The Colts proved that their defense is as good as their offense. The Ravens and Lamar Jackson proved they may be for real! The Rams continued to struggle and the Saints proved that they can win a tough outdoor game against a division opponent. Each team showed us a lot to learn from this week...or did they? What if the Colts' defense isn't good and this week we just learned that the Cowboys' offense is bad? What if the Vikings' offense isn't fixed and it only looked good because they played the Dolphins? This is the classic age old sports debate question to ask. Did one team lose the game or did the other team win the game? Obviously, both happened, but in most games you can point to a few things that lean more toward one way or another. Take the Colts again for example. Yes their defense played phenomenally. But the Cowboys also had a blocked field goal on their first drive, a fumble later on, and a couple long drives that were killed by penalties. So, in cases like this, we need to look at the game like a judge looks at a case. We need to see the evidence presented and come to a conclusion based on it. However, like in most cases, two things can be true at the same time. For instance, the Patriots could have cost themselves the game due to poor play, but that doesn't mean the Steelers played well in response to that. Both teams did all they could to lose that game on Sunday afternoon. So as we go through the rankings today, I am going to make some declarations based on the results of Sunday's games and decide which team should receive more credit or blame for the outcome.
But before we get to that, there were so many irrelevant games this week, I thought I'd go ahead and declare the winner of the most irrelevant game of the week. We had some especially good candidates this week. The candidates, in no particular order are: Buffalo versus Detroit, Oakland traveling to Cincinnati, Washington at Jacksonville, Atlanta taking on the Arizona Cardinals and (even though the Titans are in playoff contention, I am throwing them in there anyway) Titans versus the Giants. All equally irrelevant games with basically all irrelevant teams. And the winner is...Buffalo winning versus the Detroit Lions. Both of these teams are absolutely awful. If the person I was playing in fantasy didn't have Joey Golladay on their team I would have never known this game took place. I'm 99.7% confident that the Redzone Channel didn't cut to this game once which speaks to the absolute irrelevance of it. Congrats to the runningback Josh Allen and the Bills for winning this game though. The runner-ups for this award are as follows: Oakland/Cincy, Atlanta and Arizona, Tennessee at NYG, and Redskins at Jaguars (because it had a dramatic finish). Now with that important award out of the way, we move on to the rankings.
32. Raiders. A familiar face here at the last place spot! They are the second team all year to make the Bengals look like a competent team on defense and as a result they get the last spot.
31. Cardinals. I advocated for Josh Rosen to play this season, I will not pretend I didn't. Now I think he needs to be benched. Not because he's awful or a bust (he may be...) but because he is getting hit too many times, and besides Larry Fitzgerald, he has no player on offense who can help him make a play.
30. Bills. Based on today's game, I am going to make two declarations. First, the Bills won this game more than the Lions lost it. Second, the Bills are one year away from being one year away from being good. I think that means they'll be good in one year.
29. Bengals. The Bengals won this week and they only surrendered 15 points! I look at this team and I still can't believe they started 4-0 to start the year.
28. Jets. Another victim of the Texans' magic that somehow allows them to win games in the craziest ways in the 4th quarter. Sam Darnold actually had a good game on Saturday too which would hurt even more as a Jets' fan. Although this could be the perfect scenario. You played a competitive game, Darnold showed promise, and you still lost ensuring a better draft pick. Silver Lining.
27. Buccaneers. Jameis wanted to be anywhere but Baltimore on Sunday and I don't blame him. It was cold as hell and the Bucs have nothing to play for. Plus across the sideline, every commentator was gushing over Lamar Jackson.
26. Dolphins. The Dolphins have to be an all-time letdown team after beating the Pats the week before (although this isn't necessarily true, it sure feels like it). On a serious note, Ryan Tannehill seems to have absolutely no pocket presence and stays in the pocket way longer than he should. There were multiple sacks on Sunday that he was responsible for. He had the opportunity to escape and extend plays, but his inability to do so cost his team. First declaration, this loss will be attributed more to the Dolphins than the win will be attributed to the Vikings' gameplan!
25. Giants. Didn't play this week. Oh they did? I had literally no idea. They have absolutely no stats to prove otherwise. Even though they didn't win most irrelevant game, maybe they could have won most irrelevant team this week.
24. Jaguars. I have said this every week since Bortles has been benched. I don't understand what Kessler is doing for the Jags offense that Bortles couldn't do better. He threw for 54 yards and because of his poor play, the Jags couldn't get Fournette going on offense again. This is just truly the most disappointing team to watch this year.
23. 49ers. This was a game that the Niners should have had no interest in winning and no one would have blamed them if they just rolled over and coasted to a loss in this one. However, because of their tenacity and good coaching, they were able to pull off a crazy OT upset which put the Seahawks' playoff hopes in jeopardy! To reward them for their efforts, I have moved them out of the bottom five of my rankings.
22. Redskins. They were literally tanking this game and they still won. Second declaration, the Jags lost this game more than the Redskins won it! That is my takeaway from this game. Since both teams tried to lose and one team actually lost then by default the losing team lost more. This is also another game that I am certain was never on the Redzone Channel until they cut to the final play of the game.
21. Lions. Losers of the irrelevant game. At least Joey Golladay will end the season with some impressive stats and Matthew Stafford can cement his record as the greatest good stats, bad team player of all time.
20. Falcons. Man there were a lot of bad games this weekend. Maybe I should just power rank only playoff eligible teams. If you're looking for a takeaway from this game, at least Falcons fans know they can beat the team with the worst record in the NFL.
19. Packers. The Bears tried to give the Packers the game time after time, the Packers just didn't want to have it. Aaron Rodgers passing streak without an interception came to an end and I wouldn't be surprised if the Packers sit him the rest of the year because he has no reason to play anymore.
18. Panthers. A couple declarations I need to make this game. 1) Cam Newton is definitely hurt (that severely under thrown interception in the endzone at the end of the first half is all the evidence you need for that). 2) He also was doing a poor job of reading defenses presented to him. He didn't pick up blitzes like he should be doing at this point in his career and he's hurting his team as a result. There were multiple times last night when I predicted the zone or man coverage and Cam still made a bad throw. This is one of those instances where two things are true at the same time. Cam Newton is injured, but he's also doing a bad job of playing QB at the same time.
17. Broncos. Remember two weeks ago when the Broncos were alive and in playoff contention? Yeah me neither. I'm sure it was a nice story though.
16. Browns. The Browns blitzing on the final play of the game was both a predictable call and a bold one. It was exactly what they needed in order to prevent the Broncos from going deep, but it also severely compromised them downfield if it didn't work out. Either way, it's almost Week 16 and the Browns are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. That is an amazing turn around for a team that had only won 3 times in their past 30 games before firing hue Jackson.
15. Seahawks. The Seahawks were the hottest team in football two weeks ago when they beat the Vikings on Monday night. We had them locked in to win that 5th or 6th Wild Card spot and now even I'm not sure. They play the Chiefs at home on Monday night which will be the true test for the Seahawks. We'll know exactly how good they are then. They won't have any home games in the playoffs so they'll need to win convincingly in order to sway me.
14. Eagles. Carson Wentz is out and its deja vu all over again for the Eagles as Nick Foles started at QB and the Eagles beat the Rams convincingly in a must win game. Here begins there run. If the Eagles win again with Nick Foles next week and then make the playoffs I'd be terrified to play them if I was any other team in the National Football League.
13. Cowboys. As I mentioned in the introduction, this game is a prime example of who won/lost this game more. And now I have finally reached a verdict. I officially declare that...the Cowboys lost this game, but the Colts won it more than they lost it. I have a few reasons for this conclusion. The first. is that the Cowboys didn't need this game so a letdown was fairly predictable. Secondly, the Colts' defense played an early perfect game and was the ultimate example of bend, but don't break defense. They allowed long drives, but when it mattered most they got the stops they needed. The Colts also blocked a field goal and protected Andrew Luck. Finally, we already knew the Cowboys' offense was bad, so them losing in this fashion isn't necessarily a shocker (is Amari Cooper worth a first round pick this week?) Thus, the Colts deserve more credit for the win than the Cowboys deserve more credit for the loss. Nonetheless, the Cowboys still drop multiple spots this week.
12. Vikings. Run the ball and take pressure off of Kirk Cousins. No one could have seen that as a winning formula for this team.
11. Patriots. The Pats killed themselves with penalties today and even though they lost this game, the Steelers did not deserve to win it either. For the Patriots, Tom and Gronk both looked old and for the Steelers, they made mistake after mistake in an attempt to lose. I wish this game would have ended in a tie because that would have been the only fitting end to this. Neither of these teams are better than KC or LAC and if they somehow both meet in the AFC Championship game I'll be very upset.
10. Steelers. See Patriots just above here. ^^^ On another note, Samuels is just another good running back that the Steelers found. Imagine drafting a running back in the first round or paying a runningback like a quarterback. Crazy thought right?
9. Ravens. You can see the improvement in Lamar Jackson week after week. This week he was making more accurate, precise passes in addition to running. I'm glad the Ravens finally decided just to go with Lamar Jackson for the rest of the season. He greatly improves their offense and gives them a better chance in the playoffs against the Patriots or Steelers in the first round than Flacco would.
8. Titans. Derrick Henry is playing like he's back at Alabama again. All of the sudden Henry has become the strongest and fiercest runningback in the NFL after teetering on mediocrity the first 3 quarters of the year. His performance was complete contrast to that of Saquon Barkley's who was bottled up by the Titans suffocating defense.
7. Colts. Marlon Mack smoked the Cowboys today and like I said before: "Imagine drafting a running back in the first round or paying a runningback like a quarterback". For more on the Colts' play, see Cowboys.
6. Rams. Losers of two in a row now, Jared Goff was looked worse and worse each week. This last game was maybe his worst of the year. He missed easy throws and seemed to be thinking way too much on every pass he made. On top of that, Todd Gurley once again was limited and had too few carries to be effective. The Rams lack of depth is starting to show itself as well. Because they are such a top heavy team, one injury to any of those players and their chances of winning go way down. This was the case again this week as their defensive secondary and receiving core both looked thin.
5. Bears. They finally slayed their demon! They beat Aaron Rodgers and eliminated the Packers from the playoffs. With that win, I can finally feel good about moving the Bears into the top 5.
4. Texans. Another close, pull it out of nowhere win. I feel like each week I watch the Texans and think they can't be this good. They lead the league in sacks given up (52) yet they continue to win games and keep every game close no matter who it's against.
3. Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes is still unreal as usual. Despite a loss at home, I still feel like the Chiefs are one of the two best teams in the AFC because of Mahomes' ability to make plays out of nothing. In addition to that, when he does have time he is unstoppable. On one of this passes Thursday he had six seconds to throw the ball! The Chiefs' offensive line and pass protection scheme may be just as good as Mahomes is. To give you context, the Chiefs have given up only 25 sacks this year. This is bottom five in the league (in terms of sacks given up) and is half of what both the Cowboys and Texans have given up
2. Chargers. They beat KC on the road so they get to be one spot ahead of them. The Chargers' pass rush impacted Mahomes decision making and time in the second half (yes I just said the Chiefs' line is good, but the Chargers' pass rush is good too). Mike Williams was a beast on Thursday and Phillip Rivers has officially thrown his hat into the ring for the MVP discussion so he was able to beat the MVP front runner on the road.
1. Saints. The Saints proved they could win a tough outdoor game on the road Monday night, and after watching how well their defense played against the Panthers I can't help but put them Number 1. The reason for this is that the playoffs in the NFC (barring a major collapse) will go through New Orleans which means the Saints will not have to worry about weather on their way to the Superbowl.