NFL Power Rankings Week 8: They Are Who We Thought They Were

There's been some serious normalizing over the last couple weeks in the NFL. All those preseason contender teams that got off to bad starts have started winning. Atlanta and the Jets have each won two straight and played themselves back into contention. The Chiefs are back at .500 and the Texans are showing signs of life... Meanwhile, so many of those teams that surprised us with their start are beginning to come back to earth. The Lions have now dropped two straight at home and there's legitimate questions to be asked about them. The Raiders were blown out this week and Carson Palmer might have had the worst week of any QB in the NFL, rivaled only by Oakland's other QB Kyle Boller.

The week ahead is a big one for the latter teams. I think most of us expected teams like Philly, Atlanta and New York to finally figure things out because we're used to see them winning. We're not used to seeing Detroit and Okland rack up victories and therefore people could be quick to write them off when they falter.

Here are your week 8 NFL power rankings.

1) Green Bay Packers - They're humming along at 7-0 heading into their bye. That means I need to alter my fantasy football strategy of just starting any random guy on the Packers offense.. LW (1)

2) New England Patriots - They travel to Pittsburgh this week for what should make for the most intriguing matchup of this Sunday. LW (2)

3) New Orleans Saints - It may have been against the worst team in the league, but anytime you put up 60+ on a team, that's impressive. (LW 8)

4) San Francisco 49ers -  Held their place in the ranks during the bye as several of the other top teams around them lost. (LW 4)

5) Pittsburgh Steelers - They face Baltimore, New England and Cincy in the next three weeks. We'll know a lot about this team at the end of that stretch. (LW 9)

 

6) New York Giants - Had a bye last week and now get the Dolphins at home before starting a brutal stretch for the rest of the year. (LW 10)

7) Baltimore Ravens - Honestly I wasn't sure how far to drop them after that shocking performance against the Jags on Monday night. They were bad and Joe Flacco is struggling. (LW 3)

8) Detroit Lions - The Lions have now dropped two straight at home and have been exposed after their great start.  (LW 5)

9) San Diego Chargers - It wasn't a terrible loss to the Jets this week, but did affirm my fear that this Charger team is just kinda ok. (LW 6)

10) New York Jets - Two straight wins and the Jets are showing some signs of life. (LW 13)

 

14) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Just as some teams like Atlanta and the Jets are starting to get consistent, the Bucs are still erratic. (LW 7)

15) Cincinnati Bengals - Did you know the Bengals are 4-2? Probably not right? This was another team many saw as a #1 pick contender. But before Bengals fans complain too much about the lack of respect, three of their wins have come against teams with a combined 3-13 record. (LW 14)

16) Houston Texans - I sure hope you didn't have to face Arian Foster in fantasy last week. (LW 19)

17) Dallas Cowboys - Playing the Rams at home with AJ Feeley at QB is almost like a free win. (LW 21)

18) Oakland Raiders - They completely fell apart at the QB position and Carson Palmer looked every bit like a guy who hadn't played football in a year. (LW 12)

19) Philadelphia Eagles - After a bye week, they get Dallas at home in a game that can really be a signal that they've turned things around. (LW 18)

20) Kansas City Chiefs - The Chiefs have won three straight and seem to have righted the ship after their awful start. They could actually find themselves in first place next week.  (LW 27)

21) Tennessee Titans - Their good start to the season is fading away as they've lost two straight and got blown out by the Texans on Sunday. (LW 20)

22) Washington Redskins - No team has fallen faster in the power ranks over the last two weeks than the free-fallin Redskins. (LW 17)

23) Cleveland Browns - They won ugly at Seattle and I mean ugly. Like, hideously. (LW 26)

24) Jacksonville Jaguars - You have to be impressed by the way they played defense against the Ravens Monday night. The Baltimore offense has been good this year and the Jags nearly shut them out. (LW 25)

25) Denver Broncos - Tim Tebow played awful for three quarters, but they managed to squeeze out a win at the end against arguably the worst team in the league. There's excitement in Denver! (LW 24)

26) Carolina Panthers - Good win over the Redskins this week. I don't know how confident we can be in this team week to week, but they're growing. (LW 28)

27) Arizona Cardinals - They've now lost five straight and the early returns on the trade for Kevin Kolb are really bad. (LW 23)

28) Seattle Seahawks - There probably won't be a worse game this season than their 6-3 loss to the Browns. They were awful, the game was awful... Just awful all around. (LW 22)

29) Minnesota Vikings - Not a particularly good first start for Christian Ponder, but it was against the best team in the leauge. Plus, they might as well have him go through growing pains now. (LW 29)

30) Miami Dolphins - Of the three winless teams so far, Miami needs Andrew Luck the most. (LW 30)

31) St. Louis Rams - Even without Sam Bradford, they still only scored 2 points below their season average. As to make you a bit concerned about him in his sophomore year. (LW 31)

32) Indianapolis Colts - Peyton Manning is great, but he doesn't make up 55 points. This team wouldn't be a contender even with him. (LW 32)