2013 Week Eight NFL Power Rankings

By: Matt Harmon

32. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-7)
  • Jacksonville holds tight to their spot at the bottom of the Power Rankings. Gus Bradley seems like he will be a good head coach in the future, and no one is more enthusiastic, but it is sure hard to imagine anyone surviving an 0-16 season. Jacksonville needs at least one win for its head coach.

31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-6)
  • Everyone knew their offense was going to be a work in progress, but the last two games their defense has been a nightmare. Defensive coordinator got pretty defensive on a local radio show and sarcastically invited fans to come to the stadium and come up with better schemes and play calls. Perhaps someone should take him up on the offer. 

30. Minnesota Vikings (1-5)
  • The Vikings find themselves falling further down the power rankings after completely bungling the quarterback situation in an embarrassing loss to the Giants on Monday night. The problem is they cannot go back to Christian Ponder now. As soon as they put Josh Freeman into the starting lineup they closed he book on the Ponder era for good, and need to continue to roll with Freeman, unless he falls on his face again and again over the next few weeks. 

29. New York Giants (1-6)
  • The Giants gathered their first win last night, but given the competition, it is nothing to hand their hat on. If they can take one positive away from that game it is that their defensive line, and particularly JPP, finally disrupted an opposing offense. That trend needs to continue.

28. Houston Texans (2-5)
  • Case Keenum seemed to spark this team on Sunday, and it may be time to make a quarterback switch. At 2-5 the Texans are likely out of the playoff mix and at the very least the team should find out what it has in Keenum going forward. On the other hand, he could be just the thing this team needs to turn its season around and save some people’s jobs. 

27. Cleveland Browns (3-4)
  • Despite a better than or similar record to some of the teams ahead of them, the Browns deserve to be this low. Those two glorious wins under Brian Hoyer sure feel like they happened in a past season. Brandon Weeden has been an abject disaster and looks destined to see the bench sooner rather than later. 

26. Washington Redskins (2-4)
  • One win against a team with a backup quarterback does not buy you a lot of reason to move up in the power rankings, but you can see how this Redskins team can use that momentum to propel itself forward. With the state of that defense, the Redskins offense will need to score points in bunches as they did against the Bears. 

25. St. Louis Rams (3-4)
  • This low ranking is not just a reflection of where the Rams are now, but where they will be headed with Kellen Clemens behind center. Clemens has never been a good player in his career, and having him take over the helm of an already struggling offense does not paint a rosy picture for St. Louis season.

24. Oakland Raiders (2-4)
  • The Raiders were on a bye this week. Hopefully a weeks rest provided some time for the offensive line of this team to get a little healthier after a dreadful performance in Week Six against the Chiefs.

23. Arizona Cardinals (3-4)
  • The Cardinals are a bad offensive team right now, and are the perfect mix off bad personnel that is a poor fit for the current scheme. The protection problems and Carson Palmer’s lack of functional mobility provide the perfect storm for trouble in Bruce Arians’ downfield passing attack. 

22. Buffalo Bills (3-4)
  • The Bills continue to be a scrappy team that is a tough out under Thad Lewis. On the fourth quarter play when Lewis took a hit to the head, lost his helmet, and got up and kept jarring with the defense he showed exactly what teams need in the backup quarterback. Teams need a guy who is fiery and does not retreat into a shell when the stage gets bigger; the team responds to and feeds off that. 

21. Atlanta Falcons (2-4)
  • The Falcons disposed of a bad Buccaneers team, and Matt Ryan delivered a memorable performance given that he was missing his top two wideouts. We will need to see that against some better teams before the Falcons rise up anyone’s power rankings.

20. Pittsburgh Steelers (2-4)
  • The Steelers have had two solid wins in a row, but still are a hard team to figure out. They do not appear to be a team that is capable of winning a shoot out, but if they can manage to keep games tight, like they have the past two weeks, there is enough on offense for the Steelers to be a factor the rest of the way. 

19. Tennessee Titans (3-4)
  • The Titans seem to be slowly falling back down the rankings. Jake Locker probably was not completely ready to play, but his presence did not make much of a difference for the team on Sunday. The bye comes this week at a good time, as it will allow Locker to get completely healthy and return to the solid form that helped the Titans win some early games. 

18. Carolina Panthers (3-3)
  • The Panthers continue to throttle bad teams, and that is what good teams are supposed to do, but good teams are also supposed to win some close games every now and again. Until we see that, it is still anyone’s best guess as to where Carolina belongs in the power rankings. We will not find out any more about them if they beat the Bucs on Thursday. By the way, Steve Smiith is awesome, still one of my favorite NFL players. 

17. Philadelphia Eagles (3-4)
  • The Eagles squandered a chance to be considered a legitimate team when they lost to the Cowboys in epic fashion. The offensive machine that Chip Kelly hoped to build found some of its gears were a little rusty on Sunday as they scored a three measly points. With Nick Foles’ poor showing, and his concussion, it is time to go back to Michael Vick if he is healthy. The Eagles better hope they do not have to see Matt Barkley head out on the field after he tossed three interceptions in three drives.

16. Miami Dolphins (3-3)
  • With three straight losses, the Dolphins are losing ground in the AFC playoff picture. The Dolphins traded for Bryant McKinnie but are kidding themselves if they think his presence will be much of an upgrade to their terrible offensive tackle situation.  

15. New York Jets (4-3)
  • It feels foolish to rank the Jets this high, but that was a really impressive win over the Patriots on Sunday. We know who that Jets are at this point; their front seven is dominant force, but with a rookie quarterback they can be very Jeckle and Hyde. Could the Jets come out and lay an egg in their next game and make this ranking look silly? For sure. 

14. Baltimore Ravens (3-4)
  • The Ravens are another team that we can probably say we have a good read on. When their defense plays well, they can be in every game, but their offense prevents them from winning too many battles in which a lot of points are required. 

13. San Diego Chargers (4-3)
  • The Chargers did away with Jacksonville with relative ease, and record wise, are poised to enter the AFC Wildcard discussion Mike McCoy really deserves some coach of the year discussion, though he will probably never beat out Andy Reid for it. 

12. Chicago Bears (4-3)
  • The Bears could even fall farther than this with injuries to Jay Cutler and Lance Briggs. The Cutler injury makes you wonder if the Bears are going to consider moving on from him after this season is over; his contract is up and he is set to hit free agency.

11. Detroit Lions (4-3)
  • The Lions played the Bengals tough, but unfortunately could not pull out a win at home, mostly due to their punter shanking a punt for 28 yards late in the game. It stinks when the little things hurt teams like that. 

10. Dallas Cowboys (4-3)
  • Sunday hopefully put to rest any notion that the Cowboys can be challenged in the NFC Least. The way things are looking now, Dallas has that division well within its grasp, and if they do not come away with that division championship, heads should roll.

9. New England Patriots (5-2)
  • The Patriots injury situation of defense, especially up the middle, is brutal right now and the Jets really exposed that. If teams can run on the Patriots and Tom Brady is off his Hall of Fame level game, the Patriots could struggle to win games in the winter months late in the season. 

8. Cincinnati Bengals (5-2)
  • This is another team that clearly looks poised to run away with their division. It feels unlikely to happen, but the Bengals would greatly benefit from a first round bye. Andy Dalton has struggled on the road in the playoffs, and putting him in the most comfortable position possible would be a good option.

7. San Francisco 49ers (5-2)
  • The 49ers did not do much to fall here, but they are one of the best teams that I could actually see losing to the Chiefs in an odd numbered game series. Their offense still has holes, and while still good, their defense is not playing at the same level of the past two seasons. 

6. Indianapolis Colts (5-2)
  • The Colts dealt the Broncos their first loss, but that does not mean they should automatically launch to the top of these rankings. This is still a team that was completely, physically dominated by the Chargers on Monday Night Football two weeks ago. These rankings try to take the entire season into account.

5. Kansas City Chiefs (7-0)
  • The Chiefs offense still leaves tons of room for questioning, and it is hard to imagine them keeping this pace against better teams, and especially in the postseason. For now, the Chiefs can probably best any of the teams below them in the power rankings simply based on their defense, but it is very unlikely they could hang with any of the juggernaut offenses ahead of them.

4. Green Bay Packers (4-2)
  • Aaron Rodgers continues to make music despite missing more and more receivers each week. The Packers are probably the team that has been most interrupted by injuries, but hey, that is how it was in the 2010 season when they won the Super Bowl.

3. New Orleans Saints (5-1)
  • The Saints were on a by this week and they better hope it was enough time to get superstar, Jimmy Graham, totally healthy.

2. Denver Broncos (6-1)
  • If a team can stop the Broncos run offense without dedicating extra men to the task, and can get to Peyton Manning, the Broncos can be had. The Broncos will be better in protection when Ryan Clady and Orlando Franklin return to this team from injury. 

1.    Seattle Seahawks (6-1)
  • When Russell Wilson is playing at his absolute best, the Seahawks are pretty hard to stop. Percy Harvin has returned to practice for this team, and when he makes his return on game days, just look out NFL. 




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