NFL Power Rankings: Week 14
Shake up at the top. The Eagles are back at #1 following a dominating performance where they topped 35 points for the 4th time this season. The Bills also had a dominant performance, but mostly due to their defense. The Chiefs continue to be owned by the Bengals, who have now won 4 straight and certainly deserve to be taken seriously as a contender. And the Cowboys scored 54 points! And it’s their defense that’s their best unit. Wow.
The Dolphins slide a bit here after being convincingly beaten by the 49ers and Brock Purdy. It looks like Jimmy G may be back at some point in the playoffs, which is huge for their chances. Still, despite this team not being reliant on the QB position and mostly being elite due to their weapons and their defense, the record speaks for itself for this team when they have Jimmy G back there vs. anyone else. So we’ll see how Purdy does. The Vikings got a nice win against a quality team, but once again it came down to the end. And the Ravens lost Lamar for a bit, but still managed to squeak a win out. I’m slowly getting off of this team’s bandwagon.
It was a disastrous loss by the Titans this weekend, who fired their GM immediately following AJ Brown torching them. Tough loss for the Jets who are facing a couple difficult matchups coming up. Mike White will certainly be tested this week. The Seahawks weren’t very impressive but still managed to get the W. The Chargers continue to disappoint week in and week out, but are still hanging around in the playoff picture. The Commanders have only lost 1 game since October 9th. I’m not entirely sure how. And the Lions are officially good. They have the 6th most points scored in the league, their defense is young and significantly improved over the first month or so of the season, and noone should want to face them right now. The only reason they’re not ranked higher is they’re still a longshot to get into the playoffs.
I hate having the Buccaneers here, but at 6–6 and atop their division, they are definitely relevant. That being said, they’ve had 2 of the least deserved wins I’ve ever seen. Solid win by the Packers to keep them relevant. Christian Watson has been a revelation for this team. The Giants are currently in a bit of a freefall, but had so much success the first half of this season that they’ll be relevant until the end. But they just have no talent. The Raiders and Steelers are trending up as they both continue to win. I’m not sure if either of them will realistically get into the hunt, but it’s possible. And the Patriots are relevant, I guess, but they have a terrible offense. And that’s tough to win with.
The Cardinals have a month left to show why their coach deserves to keep his job. This team is bad. The Falcons have had such an up and down season that may have finally settled on down. The Jeff Saturday-honeymoon phase may officially be over for the Colts, who got absolutely smacked on Sunday Night. I expected some rust from Deshaun Watson with the Browns, but I did not expect it to look that bad. The Bears continue to be an enigma, with Justin Fields looking so good and improved and them continuing to lose. Maybe that’s what they want? And what a disaster by the Jaguars who are still giving up scores as I write this.
The Saints need to put Jameis back in. It can’t get any worse. I’m genuinely curious to watch Sam Darnold this week for the Panthers. That may be the only interesting thing from this tier. The Rams fought hard this week, but it’s clear their season is over. The Broncos continue to be a laughingstock offensively and a juggernaut defensively. And the Texans are not a good football team.
