How ‘bout them Cowboys! Dallas becomes the sixth team to top our weekly poll. The X’s and O’s Show breaks down the Power Rankings, the NFL and everything Broncos each Sunday at 9:00am on Mile High Sports Radio.
Check here for last week’s rankings.
1. Dallas Cowboys (2)
Has there ever been a more consequential offensive line? The Cowboys front five steamrolled Pittsburgh Sunday, and they have manhandled every opponent they’ve played. Not to take anything away from the dynamic rookie duo, but we will never know how Ezekiel Elliot and Dak Prescott would have fared behind an average or poor O-line. It may be more than a lucky coincidence that those two have both astonished the league with their rookie-year production.
2. New England (1)
The loss to Seattle Sunday night wasn’t a huge shock, if only because the Seahawks are a top-five team. But it did expose some weaknesses other teams will look to exploit. The Patriots are 19th against the pass and 25th in sacks. Against a poor Seahawks offensive line, New England could not generate consistent pressure on Russell Wilson. Meanwhile, Jamie Collins was tearing it up for the Browns. The third round pick Bill Belichick got for Collins won’t do a bit of good down the stretch this year if the Pats can’t generate more pressure on quarterbacks.
3. Kansas City Chiefs (6)
The Chiefs defense is fast becoming one of the best in the league, in no small part because they feast on turnovers. After falling behind the Panthers 17-0, Kansas City used two huge fourth-quarter turnovers to score four times in the final frame and steal a victory. In the final six weeks of the season, the Broncos and Chiefs play twice. It seems certain that those contests will have a huge playoff impact.
4. Seattle Seahawks (9)
Everyone knows that the Seahawks have the second best scoring defense. But now there are glimpses of how good this team might be. In his last two games (against Buffalo and New England), Russell Wilson has five touchdowns, no picks and a passer rating of 130. If he plays like that — and if his line will allow him to — this team will be in the Super Bowl again.
5. Oakland Raiders (4)
It doesn’t matter if you are in the crowd who believes the Raiders are a legitimate powerhouse, or among those who are skeptical, because Oakland’s remaining schedule will settle all debates. First, they have three tough home games in a row, with Houston, Carolina and Buffalo on the horizon — the “home” game with the Texans is actually in Mexico City. Then, they’ll have a brutal finish where they get the Chiefs and Chargers on the road, then a home game against the Colts, before finishing right here in Denver. If they are for real, we will know it by then.
6. Denver Broncos (3)
There’s nobody bad defenses like to see more than the Denver Broncos offense. For at least 60 minutes, these weakling units get to feel like bullies. Witness the Colts, Falcons, Raiders and Saints. All four teams have lousy defenses, and all four had their best or second best defensive outings of the year against the feeble Denver offense. Every unit on the Bronco offense has below-average talent, except the wide receivers. The Denver offense only has two good players, and one of those is Demaryius Thomas. When it’s Week 11 and the O-line continues to routinely leave defenders completely unblocked because of missed assignments or outright whiffs, every game is going to be a struggle.
7. Houston Texans (11)
You can focus on the outcome, or you can focus on the asterisks. Houston won.* They won on the road.* That makes them 3-0 in their division.* They are in first place.* For the first time all year, they didn’t have a turnover.* Now here are the caveats: They played the Jaguars; it was in Jacksonville; they haven’t played in Tennessee or Indianapolis yet; the division they lead is the AFC South; Osweiler couldn’t throw any interceptions, because so few of his tosses were catchable balls; he had nine straight incompletions at one point; and he connected on just 14 passes for a piddling 99 yards.
8. Atlanta Falcons (5)
Despite having the league’s best offense, Atlanta can’t shake free in the NFC South. And it’s looking more and more like the defense will keep this team from winning many big games in January. Sunday, the defense allowed Philadelphia to amass 429 yards, including a season-high 208 on the ground. They also allowed the Eagles to possess the ball for 38:00. A defense that bad won’t give your offense much chance.
9. New York Giants (17)
The Giants had been winning (more or less) without even a shadow of a running game. So when they ran for a season-high 122 yards against the Bengals, their chances were good. Still, they scratched out a one-point home win, which is how these Giants always seem to win. But with games against the Bears and Browns next, it will be a surprise if this team doesn’t get to 8-3.
10. Washington Redskins (13)
The Redskins are 5-1-1 since their 0-2 start, and they have been doing it with a balanced offensive attack that keeps defenses guessing. That offense racked up 388 yards against an excellent Vikings defense. They host a Green Bay team in freefall Sunday night before a huge Week 12 trip to Dallas.
11. Detroit Lions (16)
The 2016 Lions might be luckier in whom their divisional opponents are than any recent team, other than every Patriots team of the last 15 years. Right now, the two teams suffering the most precipitous plunges are Green Bay and Minnesota. All Detroit really has to do is step out of the way and let those teams go crashing into the Bears.
12. Philadelphia Eagles (7)
The Eagles have befuddled the experts this season. They began the year with low expectations, only to race out to a 3-0 record. Then, as everyone was ready to give Doug Pedersen the Coach of the Year Award and name Carson Wentz the Rookie of the Year, they dropped 4 out of 5, and everyone grabbed a shovel to bury them. But then Sunday they go and dominate one of the NFC’s best teams. But we may have spotted a pattern to help figure out which Eagles team will show up for the next game. Philly is 4-0 at home, where the defense is giving up just 9.5 points per game. On the road, they are 1-3 and the defense is surrendering nearly 25 points per game.
13. Miami Dolphins (21)
After playing their first road game since Sept. 29, the Dolphins will have two road games before they even get to go back home. They beat the Chargers last week and will head up the coast to face the Rams this weekend. Now with a four-game winning streak, they should be favored in their next five games.
14. Pittsburgh Steelers (8)
The good news is that the offense seems to have awakened. The bad news is that the defense has never figured things out. The Steelers are 25th in total defense, and looked overmatched by the Cowboys. Between his two TD runs and his 83-yard TD reception, Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliot racked up 129 yards and three scores without a single Steeler so much as laying a finger on him. At least Pittsburgh can’t blame it on bad tackling.
15. Baltimore Ravens (24)
The Ravens continue to hold first place by themselves in the AFC North. They looked shaky against the Browns, though, needing to come from behind to beat the league’s only winless team. Things will be a little different this week, however, as the team heads to AT&T Stadium to face the red-hot Cowboys.
16. Tennessee Titans (19)
The Titans dismantled Green Bay Sunday, racking up 251 yards in the first quarter en route to a 21-0 lead. The Packers vaunted run defense was steamrolled by the Titan ground game and Marcus Marriota threw for four touchdowns. This week they travel to Indianapolis, so we’ll see if they are ready to take control of this division.
17. Arizona Cardinals (15)
Half of Arizona’s four wins have come against the 49ers, and just barely at that. Carson Palmer had three awful second-half turnovers that kept San Francisco in the game. Having consistently disappointed thus far this season, now the Cardinals face the tough part of their schedule. Five of their last seven are on the road, and every remaining game will be a tough matchup.
18. Minnesota Vikings (10)
The Vikings have just two streaks this year—a five-game winning streak to open the season, and a four-game losing streak since. During the losing streak, QBSam Bradford has completed less than 40 percent of his passes, and the running game has completely disappeared. It’s still funny to think about how coach Mike Zimmer publicly ripped his team after their FIRST loss! If he had known what lay in store, he might have been more reticent.
19. New Orleans (18)
The Saints continue to improve, especially defensively, where they finally have a healthy defensive line. Four turnovers doomed them against the Broncos, but the team has a chance to rejoin the conversation quickly if they can knock off the Panthers in Charlotte Thursday night.
20. Indianapolis Colts (27)
After their best game of the season and a bye, the Colts should be ready for a home showdown with the Titans. Indianapolis won earlier this season in Nashville, but Tennessee is playing much better now.
21. Green Bay Packers (12)
We will stop bragging about getting Green Bay right. When people were picking the Pack to go to the Super Bowl, we kept saying they weren’t any good. Now that everyone knows we were right, we can move on. On Sunday against the 4-5 Titans, Green Bay gave up 251 yards in the first quarter and gave up touchdowns on the first four drives of the game. With the second quarter winding down, the Packers finally got a stop—only to fumble the ensuing punt return, setting up the fifth Titans touchdown of the half.
22. Carolina Panthers (22)
If this team fails to make a second-half run, they will probably look back to Week 10, when they let a victory slip away to the Chiefs. In reality, the game showed why it’s so hard to dig out of a 1-5 hole to start the season. Kansas City is a good team, and tough losses sometimes happen against good teams. But Carolina’s start gave them no room for error.
23. Los Angeles Rams (25)
The Jared Goff era has arrived. After tallying just three field goals against the Jets, the team has finally announced that the rookie Goff will take over at quarterback. The defense continues to play well, but with the offense failing to produce anything, this sub-.500 team should see what the kid can do.
24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26)
By far their best defensive performance and another solid outing from Jameis Winston allowed Tampa to blow out the Bears 36-10. But Kansas City on the road is a far stiffer test than Chicago at home.
25. Buffalo Bills (25)
The Bills can take solace from nearly beating the Seahawks in Seattle, but solace doesn’t get you into the playoffs. The team is on a three-game losing streak, but they really haven’t played a poor game at all during this stretch. As the schedule gets easier, and the roster heals up, this team should be in the thick of the AFC playoff race.
26. San Diego Chargers (14)
Sunday showed just why we think San Diego is a very good team, and also why that very good team is 4-6. The Chargers hung right with the red-hot Dolphins and did what they needed to against Jay Ajayi (79 yards on 19 carries). But a ridiculous FOUR fourth-quarter interceptions from Phillip Rivers doomed the team to another loss.
27. Cincinnati Bengals (20)
The Bengals’ five losses have been to the Steelers, Broncos, Cowboys, Patriots and Giants. Two of those teams are in first place, and two others were picked to win their division. Oh, and four of the five games have come on the road. They’ve done nothing to inspire confidence, but based on the difficulty of their past schedule, and the relative ease of their remaining games, it would be unwise to dismiss this team’s playoff chances just yet.
28. New York Jets (29)
Jets fans have been clamoring for Bryce Petty to get the start at quarterback, because after all, how could it be worse than what they were seeing from Ryan Fitzpatrick? But Petty is not a superstar rookie the team is delicately developing; he’s a second-year player who lasted until the fourth round of the 2015 draft. He looked like it against the Rams. The Jets scored once all day—on a gadget play — and then promptly missed the extra point.
29. Chicago Bears (28)
That’s the Jay Cutler we know so well! After an uncharacteristically good performance against the Vikings leading up to the bye, Cutler reverted to his old self, with three turnovers, a safety and a devil-may-care attitude. Now reports are that some Bears players have given up on him. Which players ever believed in him?
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (30)
This play is pure Jaguars: In the second quarter, Blake Bortles tried to set up a screen pass to the running back. Bortles saw that the defense had the play read perfectly, so he thought he’d throw it at the ground near the back’s feet and just take an incomplete pass. But the ball instead hit the back’s foot and bounced right into the waiting arms of Texans’ linebacker Whitney Mercilus for an interception.
31. San Francisco 49ers (31)
They played perhaps their best game of the season, but it wasn’t enough to stop the team’s eight-game losing streak. Colin Kaepernick looks to be the best option at quarterback, as he provided most of the offense for the hapless Niners.
32. Cleveland Browns (32)
The Browns have opened the season with 10 consecutive losses for the first time since they joined the NFL in 1950. For some reason, coach Hue Jackson decided to bench rookie Cody Kessler for veteran Josh McCown, who promptly threw a pick on his second pass.
