NFL Power Cheahkings - Week 8 Edition
The people have asked for it and your voices have been heard. Here are Steven Cheah's Week 8 Power Rankings. This column will come out weekly on Tuesday mornings. Now let's get into it:
They’re the defending Champs and the one loss to Oakland Vegas doesn’t give me pause with putting them above undefeated Pittsburgh. They just have another gear that nobody else has.
In the battle of the Titans (and Steelers), Pittsburgh left as the only unbeaten left. Even with Devin Bush lost for the year, they’ve got a championship defense. As long as their offense can be above average, they’ll be having a bunch of Victory Mondays.
The Bears and the Seahawks both lost so hard to rank them this high coming off an L. The only other one loss team in the NFC is the Packers who the Bucs just dominated last week (38-10 if you don’t remember). And while they don’t have the best record at the moment, but they’re built for December, January, and February. And Antonio Brown is a heck of an insurance policy for their current stable of top Wide Receivers.
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They’ve had one big measuring stick game and gotten absolutely waxed by the Chiefs. I can’t in good faith put them in the top tier of AFC teams, but a win vs. Pittsburgh this weekend could make me rethink that one.
No Aaron Jones? No problem. The Texans aren’t a good team and the Packers did what you do to bad teams, beat the tar out of them. Aaron Rodgers looks better after getting beat up vs. Tampa Bay.
Despite the loss to the Steelers, this team remains top tier. And while I’m a fan of GM Jon Robinson, I cannot support the release of The Boy, Will Compton. Sad!
Yes, they barely lost to a very good Cardinals team in Glendale, but this team isn’t built for January. They can score with the best of teams, but Chris Carson worries me at RB due to his penchant for fumbling and they cannot rush the passer. Jadeveon Clowney left and now they’ve got L.J. Collier and Bruce Irvin? No sacks vs. the Cardinals on Sunday night.
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Not their best couple weeks after getting drudged by the Titans, losing to the Chiefs, only to eek out a win vs. the Jets.
Very big win at home vs. Carolina. They needed that. Now they need their star WR back. Oh where oh where is Michael Thomas?
Huge win vs. the Seahawks, but they could have lost it multiple times. Chandler Jones being out for the year hurts, but when stacking them up vs. big time teams, they have losses to Detroit and Carolina.
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Dominating performance on Monday Night vs. the previously 5-1 Bears. Their defense has big time star power in Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. Now the other guys around them are starting to blossom.
They went from being the #1 seed in the NFC after Sunday Night Football to not being in my top 10 of power rankings after that miserable showing on MNF. Since naming Nick Foles the starting Quarterback, the team is averaging 14.25 points per game on offense. And somehow despite having five wins, the Bears have a -2 point differential.
This team is a very predictable 5-2. They are a good, not great team. They beat up on the teams they’re supposed to (Cincinnati (twice), Washington, Dallas, and Indianapolis) and get destroyed by teams they aren’t (Baltimore and Pittsburgh).
Jimmy G is back, but this team is really ravaged with injuries. After Raheem Mostert went down, they handed it to Jeff Wilson Jr. vs. the Pats to the tune of 112 rushing yards and 3 TDs and now he’s hurt. The defense is picking it up though the past few weeks.
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Does anybody really believe in this team with Philip Rivers at QB? The defense is legit, but Rivers is too unpredictable and the offense has sputtered at times. And yes, I do remember when they whooped up on the #12 Bears.
This team is frisky. They were about a yard away from tying it up vs. the Saints in New Orleans on Sunday. Joey Slye missed a 65-yard FG by a few feet.
They’ve got some really quality wins (@ KC, vs. NO, vs. CAR), but they also got taken down a notch by the Bucs Sunday.
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They’ve been .500 with Ryan Fitzpatrick under center. Let’s see if Tua Tagovailoa can add some more juice to this offense coming off the bye.
I like Washington to win the division. They’re going into their bye at 2-5 but they’ve got a very soft schedule coming out of it (vs. NYG, @DET, vs. CIN, @DAL). They could certainly go 3-1 in those games. Kyle Allen is playing efficient football.
This team has a ton of injuries and they escaped vs. the Giants. Now they’ve got a big test vs. the Cowboys. If they pass, they’ll set themselves up well going into their bye to make a run at the division.
They didn’t exactly dominate the Jaguars, but Justin Herbert is the real deal. Their team is beat up, but they’re frisky.
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What is going on in Foxboro? Will Cam Newton go from being a potential MVP candidate after a few weeks to being benched??
The Lions are a Todd Gurley fall away from being 2-4, but an impressive finish. Matthew Stafford is back healthy and De’Andre Swift has looked pretty strong of late.
They’ve had just an absolute murder’s row of a schedule: @KC, vs. BAL, @PIT, vs. MIN, vs. JAX, @TEN, & vs. GB. Those are five games against teams I have in my top six! That doesn’t help, but Houston hasn’t looked downright awful vs. the Packers.
These guys are also frisky. A tough let down vs. their in-state rivals on Sunday, but Joe Burrow very much looks the part of a franchise QB and Tee Higgins has been a quick study.
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This team doesn’t have the talent to be a top 10 team, but they play with top 10 effort.
If they lose, they’re going down swinging. Gotta respect that. And now they’ve got their QB back.
Dalvin Cook is the engine that makes this team go, so hopefully he’s back soon. The Yannick Ngakoue deal shows they’re waiving the white flag on this season. Will they draft hometown kid Trey Lance?!
Remember when these guys beat the Colts in Week 1 ruining thousands of Survivor Pools before they even got started? What happened to that team? The Jags have lost six straight.
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I’m a big fan of their new HC Raheem Morris, but they just keep inventing new ways to lose.
Yes, a two win team at #31. They might have a guy named Ben Dinucci starting at QB vs. the Eagles on Sunday. Also, how great is Dak Prescott? He led this sorry team to two wins and averaged 32.6 points per game in doing so. Hard to imagine after the last two weeks.
Does Adam Gase make it to Thanksgiving? It’ll be interesting to see if anybody deals for Sam Darnold in the next week.
See you next week and a special thanks to Jeff D. Lowe on the awesome graphic!