USA TODAY International Edition
It’s a top 10 shake-up behind unshakable Saints
NFL power rankings, post-Week 10 edition: 1. Saints (Previous: 1): Hopefully for him, Brandon Marshall makes as strong an impression on his new teammates as Dez Bryant did. Marshall’s seventh team should be lucky for him given he never played a postseason game for any of his other six NFL employers.
2. Chiefs (4): Upcoming game against Rams shaping up as matchup of season, even though it won’t have an international flair after the NFL moved the game from Mexico City to Los Angeles due to poor field conditions.
3. Rams (2): O-line unfairly overshadowed amid pyrotechnics. Let’s hope LT Andrew Whitworth’s donation to Borderline Bar and Grill victims gets just due. 4. Steelers (6): Big Ben and Co. are scoring almost at will and basically masking resurgent defense ceding fewer than 255 yards per week over last month.
5. Chargers (5): This Sunday will mark their first game at home in six weeks, but they’ve bolted to six wins in a row nonetheless. However, injury bug returned to claim LB Denzel Perryman.
6. Patriots (3): Good news — remainder of regular-season schedule offers no showdowns with Eric Mangini, Romeo Crennel or even pushover Bill O’Brien.
7. Vikings (8): Better be rested out of bye because they have only two home games before Christmas. First stop: at Chicago in battle for NFC North lead.
8. Bears (12): As my colleague Nancy Armour would tell you, Mitch Trubisky could become first Chicago quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards and/or 30 TDs in a season. Crazy. 9. Redskins (14): If slow and steady wins the race, Washington is — ever methodically — building cushion that might be too much for Eagles or Cowboys to pop.
10. Panthers (7): Beating they took in Pittsburgh fresh reminder they haven’t won big road games under Cam Newton. And now starting to lose sight of Saints in NFC South. 11. Titans (19): Only person who loves facing Patriots more than Mike Vrabel is WR Corey Davis, who’s collected three of four career TDs vs. New England.
12. Texans (13): Tennessee, which beat Houston in Week 2, suddenly looms as clear and present danger in battle for AFC South supremacy. Rematch in Week 12.
13. Packers (15): They’re back at .500 but now head to their personal house of horrors, CenturyLink Field, a place where the Pack haven’t won in a decade.
14. Bengals (10): On pace to smash record for yards allowed in a season (more than 2,100 surrendered last four weeks), hence Teryl Austin’s dismissal.
15. Seahawks (17): It’s a formality anyway, but after being swept by Rams, Seattle could set up “Monday Night Football” clinching opportunity for L.A. by losing to Green Bay.
16. Cowboys (20): Maybe they won on trade front with Amari Cooper getting further involved in attack and field seeming to open up for Ezekiel Elliott.
17. Eagles (9): Maybe they lost on trade front with WR Golden Tate making little impact in his debut and obvious holes remaining at running back and in secondary. 18. Browns (24): With Baker Mayfield “feeling real dangerous,” Cleveland ensures it won’t lose more than a dozen games for first time since 2014. Progress. 19. Falcons (11): Julio Jones became fastest to 10,000 receiving yards — in Cleveland, where he never would have attained mark had Browns drafted him.
20. Ravens (16): Welp. If Lamar Jackson must be pressed into service, at least he’d get to make starting debut against league’s worst (ever?) defense — Cincinnati. 21. Colts (27): Dearest mother — Andrew Luck hasn’t come under enemy
fire once (sacked) in Indy’s last four engagements. 22. Dolphins (18): So no literal victory coming out of Green Bay, but at least Miami got a moral one given nobody on defense quit this week. Yay.
23. Buccaneers (23): Stats lie. We call into evidence Exhibit A — Tampa Bay’s offense, which is ranked No. 1 in the NFL. Sound and fury, signifying nothing. 24. Jaguars (21): Three months ago, we were really looking forward to them drawing the hated Steelers in Jacksonville. Now, no one cares. Especially NBC.
25. Bills (31): Maybe they once had dreams of landing Southern California’s Sam Darnold but are perhaps now better off with ex-Trojans QB Matt Barkley. LOLOLOL. 26. Jets (25): As horrendous as Sunday was, this will be fairly attractive job to some coach not named Todd Bowles. Young quarterback, talent on defense, loads of cap space. 27. Broncos (26): First order of business coming out of bye? Putting C Matt Paradis, one of league’s most underrated performers, on injured reserve. That kind of year.
28. Lions (22): It ain’t exactly the Curse of Bobby Layne, but Detroit has looked pretty lifeless since shipping former No. 1 receiver Golden Tate to Philly.
29. Giants (30): For one night, at least, their stars — Eli, Odell, Saquon — aligned to provide a glimpse of the team New York had hoped to be in 2018.
30. Cardinals (28): Who would be your all-time three-receiver set? Lots of interesting options and combos, but we’ll take Rice, Moss and Fitz in the slot.
31. 49ers (29): Not a very good reflection of your defense when it manages to sack Eli Manning only once and doesn’t get much pressure beyond that.
32. Raiders (32): Best offensive option is swift P Johnny Townsend. Let’s run more fakes, Coach Gruden, especially given Derek Carr’s fourth-down, uh, issues.