Current power rankings
1st tier
Chiefs, Rams,
2nd tier
Lions, Eagles, Buccaneers, Colts, Broncos, Packers, Bills, Commanders, Seahawks
3rd tier
49ers, Chargers
The Chiefs and Rams are basically slightly ahead of those other teams, but right now I like them as the two teams going to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs have Mahomes, Andy Reid, and a good defense. They’re battle tested and battle-hardened to, which I think gives them advantage. The Rams seem like a contender that is good in almost every phase, but not necessarily great in one. I think McVay is great, too,
The Lions and Eagles could be in the 1st tier–their rosters are strong (although players have left and they have injuries). I do think both QBs depend a lot on their supporting cast. Buccaneers remind of Detroit in that they have an all-around good roster, but maybe not quite as good. But if Mayfield can continue to play at the level he has been, I’d give him the edge over Goff and Hurts. I like the Colts, especially their OL, run game, and Warren. I’m not sure if their defense is good enough, and in all these ways they remind me a little of the Lions. The Broncos have a defense that can make them competitive against any team, I think, although I was expecting them to be a little more dominant. Sean Payton gives them an advantage against most coaches. The Packers seem like they have a strong, all-around roster. I have doubts about Love, though, so maybe they’re too high. For the Bills, I just want to say that I’m feeling it’s time to move on from Sean McDermott. I think they need better coaching. I’m not sure what to make of the Commanders, so I’m leaving in there. The Hawks secondary is banged up, but when those players return, they could be one of the best defenses. Kubiak and Darnold are doing well, but that OL scares me, especially against really good defenses.
I’ll keep my first tier the same with the Lions, Rams, and Bills. If the Lions needs Goff to make plays to win (ie: They are behind two scores.), they won’t win. The Rams have the best balance in terms of offense and defense especially both lines, but their secondary cannot be trusted. The Bills seem to have these lags every year where they lose to teams they shouldn’t lose to, but they end up being a contender anyways. The way Atlanta was able to run the outside zone should be concerning for Buffalo, however.
Your list seems to be more about who can win the Super Bowl. Mine is more about who I think is playing the best right now. If it’s who can win it all, I would still keep my three teams, but I will have to add the Bucs who seem to have just about every skilled player hurt. Their defense might be sketchy though.
I feel like that’s a big deficiency. It’s not unlikely that they’ll be in that situation at least one time in the playoffs. I also don’t completely trust Goff’s ball security, especially if he gets smacked around a bit.
Yeah, then they just don’t play well, or they don’t play better than a team like the Chiefs. I expect to win a lot of games, but I’m losing faith in their ability to win the post-season. I wouldn’t be surprised if a team like the Broncos or Colts beat them. (One thing is that they seem schizophrenic when it comes to their offense. They seem like they want to build around the run game at times, but then at other times they want to build it around Allen. The OC and HC are not finding the right balance in my view.)
I would be concerned about their run defense in general, but to be fair, the Falcons may be the best outside zone running offenses.
Yes, I’m thinking more about who can win the Super Bowl. Why don’t you have the Eagles or Packers? I could be overrating the Packers, but they just seem to have a really good all-around roster. I don’t feel good about Love avoiding some miscue or turnover, but they look good on both sides of the ball. (Maybe their OL is not as good this year?)
I would include the 49ers if they weren’t decimated by injuries. Without Bosa and Warner, I think their chances drop, but if Purdy, Kittle and the WRs get healthy, they could make some noise.
Re Goff:
To be fair, Goff’s TD to INT ratio the last two years have been 3 to 1, but I think we are in agreement on him and his abilities. For the Lions in general, the reason I have them in tier 1 is that if the offense gets the ground game going, they are the best offense in the league.
Re Bills:
The Bills have played great in the post season, not only in their wins, but in their losses as well. In the playoffs, Josh starts the run the ball more and plays are called for him to run the ball, and their offense becomes so much more diverse. I am in agreement though, they should be more of a running team.
Re Eagles and Packers:
Man, the Eagles haven’t looked good all year so far. Their defense doesn’t look anywhere near the defense from last year and their offense isn’t running the ball either. They have the talent to turn it around, but I wouldn’t put them in the top ten right now.
The Packers lack explosiveness on offense (unless they play the Cowboys). I don’t think it’s Love either. He looks fine. If I was LaFleur, I would try just making them a ground and pound team and rely on defense. But he would never.
I think this is right.
I don’t get this impression, especially against the Chiefs. My sense is that McDermott and his coaching staff can’t beat Andy Reid and his coaching staff. The Bill’s roster would have to be vastly superior, and I don’t think that’s the case.
Carter hasn’t played every game though, so I think that’s a factor. But I agree about the run game…but it’s only when you mentioned this came to mind. You’re right though, they haven’t looked that great running the ball and the overall offense hasn’t looked that great, too.
I don’t trust his ball security or even his accuracy at times. I think he has bad habits with regard to his footwork, too. His arm strength, in terms of getting the ball downfield is impressive, though. Maybe I’m not paying attention, but I don’t think the they lack explosiveness.
As for being “ground-and-pound,” do you mean more conservative than they are? I feel like they’re a pretty balanced team. I guess, they could run more, but I’m not sure if that would lead to better results.
Packers:
I still think they lack explosiveness, but Tucker Craft gives them some of that. He is able to make big plays at time. I just don’t think of TEs as being playmakers, but I think he can count as one on this team.
As far as running the ball, I think they could be more like the Jets or maybe Atlanta in terms of running. Just pound it a little and punt if you have to. So yeah, more conservative than they are now.
After watching the Packers against the Cardinals, they would be lower on my tier. Maybe they had injuries on defense, but their defense was not good, and this was against a Jacoby Brissett lead offense. (I like Brissett, but he’s no more than a good backup.)
I think the Packers could run a bit more, but the RB after Jacobs doesn’t seem all that good.
Steelers@Bengals
Generally, both defenses were sieves, against the run and the pass. In the past, the Steelers have had trouble defending spread offenses (especially the Patriots). That’s what it looked like yesterday. It was pitch-and-catch; it looked too easy. (How many punts were there in the game?)
Certainly, if the Steelers didn’t turn the ball over twice, they might have won. However, they’re not a good team in my view. Their OL isn’t all that good, and their defense is really disappointing this year.
Raiders@Chiefs
The Raiders ST played well, the defense didn’t give up many explosive plays, and the offense protected the football (except for Pickett’s boneheaded fumble, when the game was already lost). I thought they would have a chance to win, if they did this, plus run well and give a turnover or big play on ST. They didn’t do the latter, and got shellacked. Ugh.
To be fair, I think Maxx Crosby didn’t play the entire game, Adam Butler, Brock Bowers and Kolton Miller didn’t play.
Chiefs look like the the best team in the league.
Falcons@49ers
The 49ers just kept running the ball up the middle over and over again, getting 4-6 yards. And Atlanta couldn’t stop them. (My sense is that Atlanta’s defense doesn’t like to defend the run. They just want to get after the QB.)
The 49ers defense, even without Warner and Bosa, looked solid. Man, they have two LBs, Winters and Bantham (or something like that), that look good. A part of me hopes they don’t have a bad record this year because I don’t want them to be able to add even more in the draft.
Colts@Chargers
Colts OL and run game stand out again. I feel like they’re an OL that can take over a game. In contrast, the Chargers are depleted on the OL and RB room, due to injuries. Those injuries seems to have ruined their season. (Their better off getting a bad record so that they can boost their roster through the draft. One really good draft and a few FAs and they can be a SB team. On a side note, I’m becoming less a fan of Justin Herbert.)
Seattle, Texans:
The Seattle defensive line dominated this game. They are an impressive group. I’m sure the Texans o-line made they look better than they are, but they are a good to great group. Seattle has to have a top five defense. CJ Stroud was pretty horrible. Yes, he was under pressure, but he missed some open receivers pretty badly.
Would you guys take Drake Maye or CJ Stroud?
The Seahawks DL looked good, but I must say they were gassed at the end (which wasn’t entirely their fault). I feel like coverage is a big reason they look good, though. They don’t have an really great edge-rusher–someone who can make a play in a two-minute situation. The defense is good though and could get better when they get back two of their best DBs, and another edge rusher.
Man, Stroud looked very uncomfortable, and I want to say “lost,” like a struggling rookie. I haven’t seen enough of Drake Maye. He looked shaky against the Raiders, but that was week one. I’m not sure who I would take.
What’d you think of the Seahawks offense and OL? I think they’re OL is suspect and some of the players as well as Kubiak are elevating the offense.
I didn’t feel a lot of it was coverage sacks. It seem like the Texans o-line had some huge pukas (not Nacua). However, I was more impressed with Seattle’s ability to stop the run. Did the Texans get any short first down conversions? Again, this is the Texans, but man the Seattle d-line dominated this game at points. The only thing the Texans could do was quick slants or passes to the RBs.
Seattle’s offense wasn’t all that great especially in the first half. What is surprising is how effective JSN can be. There doesn’t seem to be a valid other threat. He should be doubled on every play. The TE might be the second-best receiver.
While I think the coverage is slightly more important in terms of the Hawks’ pass rush, the DL dominated the Texan OL in the run game. The Texans don’t have a great OL, and the Hawks DL overwhelmed them in the run game. (I know how Texan fans feel because the Seahawk OL has looked like that in many seasons.)
On offense, JSN is a one-man wrecking crew. I was surprised how effective he was against the Texans who have a really good secondary. Also, the Texans were only putting 7 men in the box for most of the game. I’m a little disappointed the rookie, Tory Horton, isn’t more involved.