Power rankings system devised and compiled weekly by Stemshul. “Expert” analysis by paradroid.
It’s time once again to take a look at Week 8’s power rankings! Things are looking nicely symmetrical, with two teams (one from each conference) up top and two teams down in the F-tier. It’d be nice if it was one from each conference at the bottom as well, but it’s looking like the AFC is the stronger of the two this year, so it kinda makes sense. In between are four sets of seven, and I think the A and B tiers have a great chance at making some kind of run this year. We have a ton of, “well, they might be pretty good, we’ll have to see”, type of teams in A and B, and a few, “wouldn’t be surprised if they really get it going”, teams in C and D. Suffice to say, things are fairly tight in the middle. If you want to read about one of those teams, check out Stemshul’s look at the Jets.
Let’s leave the roiling mass of maybe good/maybe not so good teams to simmer for another week and take a quick glance at tonight’s match-up between the Bills and the Bucs. Buffalo had high expectations coming into this year and are in a slightly disappointing but position at the moment. They’re just a game behind Miami in the AFC East and own a dominant 48-20 win over those same Dolphins. After a weird loss to the Jets in the game that cost them Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles, the Bills looked absolutely unstoppable against the Raiders (38-10), the Commanders (37-3), and the aforementioned Miami Dolphins. A loss to the Jags carries no shame this year, but then they just barely scraped by the god-awful Giants (14-9). A win is a win, but to follow that up with a loss to the then 1-5 Patriots last week has to be causing concern. Buffalo is in Super Bowl or bust territory, and really needs to get on a roll.
Their opponent this evening is Tampa, and while they also have three losses, I think most Buccaneers fans would have taken 3-3 at this point. Tampa Bay’s expectations were quite a bit lower than Buffalo’s, so the current state of affairs should feel pretty darn good. Mind you, that 3-1 start may have convinced some people that the team was actually good, but those wins came against teams with a combined 8-13 record, while their losses were against teams who are 15-6. So they’re beating the mediocre and bad teams and falling short against the good ones. That’s actually not too bad considering how low the preseason hopes were, but it’s still hard to tell if Baker Mayfield is their solution at QB. A win against a good team would help convince the fans and coaching staff of just that (and, despite the wobbles, I believe the Bills are a really good team). The game is in New York, so it feels almost like a must-win for Buffalo despite it not yet being the halfway point of the season. If Tampa can pull off a win, it should give them a big shot of confidence going forward. Still, I predict a Bills victory.
Well, it happened. Detroit had their first bad performance in a year. And it was really bad. Terrible play on both sides of the ball led to a richly deserved 38-6 loss to the ascending Ravens. I got the loss I predicted last week, but I really expected a fairly close game at the very least. I hope this was just one of those games and the Lions can right the ship this week against a poor Raiders team. The coaching staff has been very good this year, but the Lions didn’t look capable of competing with Baltimore. I think they were playing hard, but things got out of control, and in a hurry. This is far from the first head scratching result across the NFL this year, so maybe this is just a blip. If I’m looking for a silver lining, the humbling blowout should provide a little fuel for the chip-on-the-shoulder attitude the Lions have been playing with under Dan Campbell. There was plenty of Super Bowl contender talk in recent weeks, and now maybe they can refocus after going 13-3 in their previous 16 games. I expect a win and a fairly comfortable one on Monday.
