NFL Power Rankings Week 9: Locked In Edition

Short and sweet this week, folks. Most of the teams I had at the top won. Most of the teams I had at the bottom lost. So there’s not much movement this time around, aside from a few teams that had notable games. For a lot of teams there just wasn’t enough there to justify a winner moving past another winner or a loser dropping past another loser.

NFL Power Rankings, Week 9:

1. Philadelphia Eagles

Last Week: 1 (0)

Step 1: Start at the top.

Step 2: Win

Step 3: Stay at the top.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers

Last Week: 3 (+1)

3. Kansas City Chiefs

Last Week: 2 (-1)

I don’t know if their 10 point victory was closer than it really was or further apart. I suppose it depends on if you’re looking at their opponent’s passing game, or their defense and running game.

4. New England Patriots

Last Week: 6 (0)

5. Los Angeles Rams

Last Week: 5 (0)

6. Houston Texans

Last Week: 7 (+1)

The Texans actually rise up a spot for losing. Deshaun Watson engaged in a shootout with Russell Wilson and came close to winning- in Seattle. The simple fact that Watson got into a shootout with Seattle’s defense involved is notable enough to justify moving up a spot. It wasn’t anywhere near perfect, but it was extremely intriguing.

Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

7. Carolina Panthers

Last Week: 8 (+1)

8. Buffalo Bills

Last Week: 9 (+1)

The Bills are having an interesting and rather dominant season against the AFC West.

9. Seattle Seahawks

Last Week: 10 (+1)

10. Detroit Lions

Last Week: 6 (-4)

11. Dallas Cowboys

Last Week: 11 (0)

I wanted to move the Cowboys up for their win, but there was only so far the Lions were going to fall for a 5 point loss and no other team above Dallas was going to fall this week.

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

12. Minnesota Vikings

Last Week: 12 (0)

13. Jacksonville Jaguars

Last Week: 13 (0)

14. Atlanta Falcons

Last Week: 14 (0)

15. New Orleans Saints

Last Week: 16 (+1)

I’d wanted to adjust the Saints up a bit higher this week. But after an average win over a bad Bears squad in a weekend full of average wins, it’ll have to wait another week.

16. Washington Redskins

Last Week: 15 (-1)

17. Los Angeles Chargers

Last Week: 19 (+2)

The Chargers move up, as do the Buccaneers right below them, but not really of their own accord. They benefited from the Ravens laying waste to the Dolphins and the Bills thrashing the Raiders.

Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images

18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Last Week: 20 (+2)

19. Baltimore Ravens

Last Week: 26 (+7)

20. Oakland Raiders

Last Week: 18 (-2)

Lots of AFC West rival fans mocked the Broncos after they lost to the Bills by ten. So maybe it’s a shred of comfort in the face of the Broncos’ struggles that the Raiders’ margin of defeat was twice as wide.

21. Tennessee Titans

Last Week: 22 (+1)

22. Green Bay Packers

Last Week: 23 (+1)

23. Denver Broncos

Last Week: 21 (-2)

The defense absolutely balled out last night, people. Add Kareem Hunt to the pile of running backs who tried and failed to conquer Ground Control. They did more than enough to win the game, as did the offensive line and running backs.

Unfortunately, it only takes a little poop in the brownie to ruin it, and the man under center Monday night dropped a lot of poop in the brownie. Look, this defense dragged a badly declining Peyton Manning to a Super Bowl victory, or at least that’s the narrative. Maybe Manning had a (slightly) bigger chunk of that triumph than we thought, because this defense can’t drag the Trevor Siemian show anywhere.

Dumpster Fire of the Week Award again, Broncos Country. This time it’s not for the loss itself, but for the absurd decision to not bench Trevor Siemian when he so glaringly needed to be pulled. Same goes for the two spot drop. 95% of the team deserved to win. But their quarterback utterly failed them, as did their coach.

24. Cincinnati Bengals

Last Week: 25 (+1)

Look, everything down from here is bad teams that proved they’re bad. The Bengals should just count themselves grateful to be above my arbitrarily drawn line between patheticness and mediocrity.

25. Miami Dolphins

Last Week: 17 (-8)

26. Chicago Bears

Last Week: 24 (-2)

27. New York Jets

Last Week: 27 (0)

28. New York Giants

Last Week: 28 (0)

29. San Francisco 49ers

Last Week: 29 (0)

Welcome the newest San Francisco 49er:

Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images

30. Arizona Cardinals

Last Week: 31 (+1)

31. Cleveland Browns

Last Week: 30 (-1)

32. Indianapolis Colts

Last Week: 32 (0)

The Colts’ season in a nutshell: