Power rankings
Who sits atop — and at the bottom — of the league entering this week’s matchups?
1. The Los Rams Angeles had trouble Rams (6-0) protecting | Last week’s QB Jared rank: Goff 1 in Denver the football but were to RB fine Todd as Gurley. long as they stuck to handing 2. The New Saints Orleans return Saints from (4-1) their | bye Last week week’s as rank: the clear 3 top challenger winning to the streak Rams and in QB the Drew NFC. They’re Brees is on the a NFL’s fourgame newly 3. New crowned England king Patriots in career (4-2) | passing Last week’s yards. rank: 6 Remember memory now. that The 1-2 Patriots start to have the season? totaled 119 It’s a points fading while winning their last three games. 4. Kansas City Chiefs (5-1) | Last week’s rank: 2 QB Patrick Mahomes is great and the offense was clicking with a 31-point second half Sunday night at New England. But the defense failed to do its part and the Chiefs lost the first 43-40 game in NFL history. 5. Minnesota Vikings (3-2-1) | Last week’s rank: 9 The Vikings are showing signs of becoming the excellent team they were supposed to be all along. 6. Los Angeles Chargers (4-2) | Last week’s rank: 10 Don’t look now but L.A.’s second-best NFL team is an honest-to-goodness contender. 7. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2-1) | Last week’s rank: 11 The Steelers enter their bye week with two straight wins, including Sunday’s key road victory over the Bengals. 8. Philadelphia Eagles (3-3) | Last week’s rank: 12 The defending champs play two of their next three games at home against the Panthers and Cowboys and meet the Jaguars in London in between. 9. Baltimore Ravens (4-2) | Last week’s rank: 14 This Ravens defense is looking positively fearsome after sacking Marcus Mariota 11 times in Sunday’s shutout of the Titans. 10. Green Bay Packers (3-2-1) | Last week’s rank: 16 The Packers made it tougher than it needed to be Monday night against the lowly 49ers. 11. Washington Redskins (3-2) | Last week’s rank: 17 The Redskins aren’t great. They aren’t terrible. There’s no way of knowing from week to week which version of their team will show up. 12. Miami Dolphins (4-2) | Last week’s rank: 18 Brock Osweiler was terrific filling in for Ryan Tannehill at QB in Sunday’s overtime victory over the Bears.
13. Cincinnati Bengals (4-2) | Last week’s rank: 5 The loss to the Steelers doesn’t knock the Bengals out of contention. But it does contribute to the notion that the Bengals simply cannot be trusted in games that matter.
14. Carolina Panthers (3-2) | Last week’s rank: 4
The Panthers managed to make their old friend, Josh Norman, look good during Sunday’s loss to the Redskins at FedEx Field. That hasn’t been easy to do lately.
15. Chicago Bears (3-2) | Last week’s rank: 8
The Bears had every chance to establish themselves as the NFC’s third-best team and the primary challenger to the Rams and Saints. But they somehow found a way to lose Sunday at Miami. 16. Dallas Cowboys (3-3) | Last week’s rank: 24
The Cowboys have alternated wins and losses all season.
17. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-3) | Last week’s rank: 7 That 3-1 start and the notion of having an overpowering defense dissipated with consecutive road losses to the Chiefs and Cowboys in which the Jaguars surrendered 70 points. 18. Houston Texans (3-3) | Last week’s rank: 19
The Texans have won three straight games to pull into a first-place tie in the AFC South. 19. Detroit Lions (2-3) | Last week’s rank: 15
The Lions return from their bye to prepare for a road game Sunday in Miami. 20. Seattle Seahawks (3-3) | Last week’s rank: 23 Beating the Raiders barely counts at this point. But the Seahawks have managed to win three of four games to climb back to .500. 21. New York Jets (3-3) | Last week’s rank: 25
The Jets have regrouped with wins over the Broncos and Colts since a 1-3 start. 22. Atlanta Falcons (2-4) | Last week’s rank: 28
QB Matt Ryan’s big numbers actually resulted in a win this time. Ryan is having a terrific season with 14 TD passes, two interceptions and a passer rating of 113.6.
23. Cleveland Browns (2-3-1) | Last week’s rank: 13 Bakermania can calm down for a little while after the Browns and rookie QB Baker Mayfield weren’t competitive against the Chargers. 24. Buffalo Bills (2-4) | Last week’s rank: 20 Josh Allen’s elbow injury could mean it’s back to Nathan Peterman at QB. 25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-3) | Last week’s rank: 21 The Buccaneers made the league’s first coordinator change Monday, firing Mike Smith as their defensive boss and elevating LB coach Mark Duffner to replace him.
26. Tennessee Titans (3-3) | Last week’s rank: 22 The Titans were about as feeble as it gets on offense in getting shut out at home by the Ravens and allowing QB Marcus Mariota to be sacked 11 times. 27. Denver Broncos (2-4) | Last week’s rank: 26 That’s now four straight losses since the 2-0 start and another season is coming undone. 28. Arizona Cardinals (1-5) | Last week’s rank: 27 The season is lost and all that matters now is the development of rookie QB Josh Rosen. 29. Oakland Raiders (1-5) | Last week’s rank: 29
Is it too late for Jon Gruden to go back to the broadcast booth? 30. New York Giants (1-5) | Last week’s rank: 30
QB Eli Manning, at 37, looks done and WR Odell Beckham Jr. is throwing temper tantrums. 31. Indianapolis Colts (1-5) | Last week’s rank: 31 There were signs of progress by the Indianapolis defense early in the season. That’s no longer the case.
32. San Francisco 49ers (1-5) | Last week’s rank: 32 Second-year QB C.J. Beathard was superb Monday night in Green Bay and the 49ers hung tough.