Power rankings system devised and compiled weekly by Stemshul. “Expert” analysis by paradroid.

Lots of things happened this weekend, so let’s do some random thoughts and observations rather than honing in on just a few teams.

Philadelphia is the only remaining unbeaten team, and even those high on them before the season probably wouldn’t have predicted that. I can guarantee nobody associated with 64tacos would have had the Giants at #2 this late in the season. A number two, maybe, but definitely not the second best team in our rankings. I still think this is smoke and mirrors. If not for the new playoff format, I would boldly suggest N.Y. doesn’t get in. I’m still not 100% sure they do. I think Philly and Dallas get in ahead of them. There’s a lot of decent teams, like the 49ers, the Cardinals, the Packers, and the Rams (and the Bears, maybe? I don’t think so, but they looked awfully good against the Patriots) competing for the remaining slots, and I think the Giants will fade.

And now for some QB scuttlebutt. Matt Ryan has been benched for the rest of the year(!) in favor of Sam Ehlinger, a sixth rounder from a couple of years ago. Nick Foles is also on the roster, so they either really like young Samwise, or they are giving up on the year (which I doubt since they’re only a game back of Tennessee). Ryan did suffer an injury, but the team says the change is for the long term and that they are impressed with Ehlinger. Either way, the offense had been terrible with Ryan at the helm, so we’ll see what the younger option can do. In New England, Mac Jones returned from injury and played like garbage, so Belichick put Bailey Zappe back in. Who’s the starter next week? Who knows! I know the Bill ain’t telling. Zappe has played better so far, but Jones set the bar pretty low.

Detroit bounced back on defense (only 24 points despite 5 turnovers and no offense is pretty good), and were on the one yard line in the 4th quarter in position to take a 13-10 lead when Jamaal Williams fumbled. This was only the third fumble of his career, and the first the opponents have recovered. That was the first of three 4th quarter turnovers, which made the final score look a lot worse than it should have. The offense, as I mentioned, did nothing again, but some of this has to do with a very good Dallas D and even more with the crippling skill position injuries (Swift, Chark, St. Brown, Cephus). There’s still time to have a successful season by improving on last year’s record, but a surprise playoff run is now off the table.

And finally, there’s an odd thing we noticed within our rankings. There are 18 teams with negative points, which is strange. There’s also no obvious worst team. The bottom nine are all within -10 and -17. The Texans only have one win, but only have four losses, thanks to a bye and a tie. And the other one-win team, Detroit, is ahead of four two-win teams and only a point behind a three-win team (Patriots). There seems to be more parity in the bottom half of the rankings this year. We’ll keep an eye on that.

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