We’re another week closer to the halfway point of the season and the level of parity in the NFL continues to show. All teams have played either seven or eight games, and in the AFC, the #15 seed (Broncos) are just one game out of a wild card spot. Elsewhere around the league, the 49ers dropped their third straight game, the Vikings lost their franchise quarterback for the season, and the Lions found yet another new toy on offense.
The rankings this week didn’t have as much movement as last week, but the 49ers took a big hit, falling eight spots and out of the top 10, while the Titans improved their standing the most, moving up five spots and into the top 20.
It was a great bounce back week for the Prime Time Pick’em, going 3-0 to move the overall season record to 18-8 (we won’t talk about how we did this week against the spread). The Thursday game this week is an interesting one, as the Titans travel to face the Steelers. Tennessee is exciting about what it saw from Will Levis in his first game, while the Steelers are anything but excited at the prospect of having to start Mitch Trubiski. I’m going to take the Steelers to get the win at home, but don’t be surprised if their defense scores more points than the offense. On Sunday night, we get a rematch of the Damar Hamlin game, as the Bills will once again travel to Cincinnati. I expect both teams to play well, but give the Bengals to win a close one at home. The Monday night game gives us an intriguing matchup as well, as the 3-4 Chargers travel to face the 4-3 Jets. This game is truly a toss up in my opinion. The Chargers are three-point favorites on the road, and as much as I love Justin Herbert, I’m going to ride the Jets defense in a low-scoring affair.
Here are the rankings as we head to Week 9. Teams’ previous ranking in ( ).
1. Philadelphia Eagles (1): At 7-1, it’s still puzzling how this team lost to the Jets, despite the great defense the Jets have. Nonetheless, there’s little doubt that the Eagles are the cream of the crop in the NFL through 8 weeks.
2. Miami Dolphins (4): Miami has played two good teams so far (Buffalo and Philadelphia) and has lost both of those games. They get a third test this week as they travel to face the Chiefs in Germany.
3. Baltimore Ravens (5): Baltimore has won three straight and the offense is really starting to click. They now get three consecutive home games as they look to bolster their lead in the AFC North.
4. Dallas Cowboys (6): Dallas came off the bye and the offense really got rolling. They now head into a matchup against the Eagles in which they really need to win if they have any hope of taking home a division title this season.
5. Kansas City Chiefs (2): Patrick Mahomes was dealing with an illness but even so, the Chiefs looked completely lost on Sunday against the Broncos, a team that he had not lost to in his entire career.
6. Jacksonville Jaguars (7): The Jags are the clear-cut favorites in the AFC South, as they have a 2.5 game lead heading into their bye.
7. Cincinnati Bengals (11): They may be sitting in last place in their division, but with wins over Seattle and San Francisco in their past two games, they have clearly gotten things straightened out. Another tough test awaits this week as they host the Bills on Sunday night.
8. Detroit Lions (9): The Lions found yet another new weapon, as they finally unleashed Jahmyr Gibbs. Between Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta and Jameson Williams (not to mention David Montgomery), this team may have the youngest, most-talented offense in all of football.
9. Buffalo Bills (10): They got the win against the Bucs but they had to survive a hail-mary attempt to do so. They’re 5-3 right now but have a brutal upcoming schedule that could seriously derail their playoff hopes (Bengals, Jets, Eagles, Chiefs and Cowboys are 5 of their next 6 opponents).
10. Seattle Seahawks (12): Don’t look now but this team has suddenly jumped into first place in the NFC West. This team rarely gets talked about but just continues to win games. Bringing in Leonard Williams at the trade deadline was a great move to bolster their defensive line.
11. San Francisco 49ers (3): This team is still great, but after three consecutive losses, it’s certainly time to worry at least a little bit. The injuries to Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel have had a much bigger impact on this team than I thought they would.
12. Cleveland Browns (8): To be 4-3, without DeShaun Watson for many of their games, and to have played as tough of a schedule as they have, is quite impressive. They finally get a game this week against Arizona that they should win easily – but then again this is the NFL and winning is never easy.
13. New York Jets (14): When Aaron Rodgers went down on the 4th play of the season, nobody thought the Jets had a chance. Here we are in Week 9 and if the playoffs started today, they would be tied for the #6 seed (but due to tiebreakers would fall to #8).
14. Los Angeles Chargers (16): They did what they were supposed to do against a bad team. Now let’s see if they can figure out how to beat teams that have a winning record, as they have the Jets, Lions and Ravens in three of their next four games.
15. Pittsburgh Steelers (13): How this team has a winning record with such an abysmal offense is truly remarkable. I don’t think Mike Tomlin’s job is in jeopardy but how they continue to stick with Matt Canada as the offensive coordinator is mind boggling.
16. New Orleans Saints (20): The Saints may finally be figuring things out on offense, and if that’s the case, they may begin to pull away in the NFC South, as their next three games are against the Bears, Vikings and Falcons – all of which have questions at quarterback.
17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (15): After a surprising 3-1 start, they’ve now lost three straight and have averaged just 12 points per game during that stretch. They have some winnable games coming up, but the offense is going to have to pick up the pace.
18. Minnesota Vikings (17): Just when the Vikings looked like they were about to make a serious run in the NFC North, Kirk Cousins tears his achilles and is done for the season. During the writing of this article, the Vikings have traded for QB Joshua Dobbs from the Cardinals – though I still think the Viking’s season is essentially over.
19. Los Angeles Rams (18): They’ve lost three of four but get the reeling Packers this week and should be able to get back on track, but that may depend on the availability of QB Matt Stafford.
20. Tennessee Titans (25): At 3-4 and three straight road games coming up against good teams, it feels like Tennessee might be in trouble, but with Will Levis throwing four touchdowns in his first game last week, perhaps we should hold off on judging them until we see if he might be the real deal.
21. Atlanta Falcons (19): The Falcons have alternated wins and losses for their past five games. I see that pattern continuing this week resulting in a win against the Vikings.
22. Houston Texans (21): After a surprising 3-3 start, losing to the only winless team in the NFL, while coming off a bye, is not what DeMeco Ryans had in mind. But all young teams are going to have growing pains – I am curious to see how they respond this week as they host the Bucs.
23. Washington Commanders (22): For a team that is 3-5, they sure do seem to have Philly’s number. Not only did they hand the Eagles their first lost last season, they have given the Eagles two of their toughest games this season as well.
24. Indianapolis Colts (23): The Colts sit in last place in the division but could look to get back to .500 as they have games against the Panthers and Patriots in their next two weeks before the bye.
25. New England Patriots (24): New England has the worst record in the AFC, though they did somehow beat the Buffalo Bills. It’s hard to find very many more wins on their schedule this year, but perhaps this week against Washington could be one of them.
26. Denver Broncos (29): Don’t look now but the Broncos have suddenly won two straight, including an impressive win at home over the Chiefs. There’s still a lot of football left to be played – if they can travel on the road to Buffalo this week and get a win, maybe it will be time to take this team a little more seriously.
27. New York Giants (26): They played overtime this week against the Jets, which means they played MORE than the usual 60 minutes. Despite that, their two quarterbacks went a combined 6-14, for seven yards. Yes, an NFL team finished the game with seven yards passing (this does not include yards lost from sacks, in which case they finished with negative passing yards).
28. Las Vegas Raiders (27): Davante Adams is learning the grass is not always greener on the other side. As a lifelong Packers fan, I must admit I don’t feel sorry for him.
29. Chicago Bears (28): They may be 2-6 but the possibility exists they could finish the season ahead of the Packers in the standings, and you have to think Bears fans everywhere would call that a successful season.
30. Green Bay Packers (30): Five consecutive games without scoring a touchdown in the first half. Two consecutive games where they nearly went the entire first half without recording a first down. This team actually has talent, believe it or not. Whether or not Jordan Love has the talent to be a starting quarterback is still up for debate – but what is not up for debate is that the entire coaching staff should be fired before the season ends.
31. Carolina Panthers (32): They got their first win of the season which had to feel good, but don’t expect this team to get hot; they will still finish the season as a bottom five team.
32. Arizona Cardinals (31): It appears this team is actually considering having Kyler Murray play this season, which makes no sense to me because after this week, they’re going to be 1-8 with absolutely no shot at the playoffs.
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