NFL Power Rankings

Seven weeks down and the tables are beginning to turn. This week showcased the strengths and weaknesses of almost every team. The façade may finally be fading away. Teams who were once thought dominant (Redskins, Raiders, Lions) seem to be slowly turning into the teams we thought they were. While on the other hand, teams with a slow start this year may finally be turning things around (Panthers, Falcons, Cowboys).

It’s still early in the season, but this week was one to remember, with a field goal battle in Cleveland, a come from behind overtime victory in Miami, and a slaughter in the Superdome. Oh, and don’t forget the Bears/Buccaneers battle across the sea.

Here are the Power Rankings heading into Week 8

The Packers and Vikings battle was closer than expected. Yet, the Green and Gold held on for a victory remaining undefeated, still proving that they are the top team to beat.

The Pats had a bye week. Even with Brady, Welker, Green-Ellis, and the rest of the explosive offense, the Patriots have a few gapping holes in the pass defense. Next week they take on Steelers. Should be an interesting match-up.

No words can describe the unbelievable hurting the Saints put on the Colts on Sunday night. The Saints are good, but they just exploded, taking vengeance from last week’s disappointing loss to Tampa Bay. The game was over at the half, giving injured head coach Sean Payton enough time to scarf down a hot dog.

With a bye week, the Niners remain in the same spot from last week. Next week, they host Cleveland. Let’s just hope that if San Fran wins, Jim Harbaugh will be able to contain his excitement until he reaches the locker room.

Awful offensive production led to a defeat by the struggling Jaguars. If the Ravens expect to be an elite football team, they need to play better football, especially in primetime and against a team that’s biggest offensive weapon is their field goal kicker. The Ravens need to take this seriously and learn from this game.

The Bills had a bye this week, next week taking on the John Beck led Redskins. The Bills have a solid team this year, they just need to play better and win on the road.

Once thought to have the typical Superbowl hangover, the Steelers have turned things around, at least for the time being. The Steelers haven’t had the hardest schedule with victories over the Titans, Jags, and Cardinals in the last three weeks. Next week’s match-up against New England will be a mighty test for this team.

With a miracle start, the Lions have become one of the most talked about teams this year. But, after a tough loss last week against the 49ers, and now falling to the mediocre Falcons, the Lions could be facing a tough road ahead. Matthew Stafford went down on the last play of the game this week and is now reported as day to day. This could spell trouble.

Coming off a bye week, the Bengals will travel to Seattle. Cincinnati has been a surprise sleeper this year and could continue to get better. Andy Dalton has been a spectacular leader for Cincy and continues to improve game by game. Looking forward to seeing what this team does. No more Bungles?

This team has always been notorious for starting out slow, but this year they got off to a better start than usual. This week they stumbled against the Jets when they should have held on for a victory. A couple unfortunate interceptions helped lead the Jets to victory. Next week, the Bolts are in prime time and are expected to get back on track.

Could this be the year? For the last several years, Houston has had high hopes of finally making the playoffs. This could be the do or die season for Gary Kubiak. The big win over the Titans helped, but the Texans remain short-handed and will need to step up if they want to live into late January.

Coming off a bye week, the Giants will play host to one of the leagues worst this week in the Miami Dolphins. They can only go up from here.

The Cowboys are a good team. They manhandled the Rams this week, and even held their own last week against a dangerous Patriots team up until the final minute or so. The Cowboys are looking to becoming a dynamic team once again. It all starts with putting trust in Tony Romo.

A tough come from behind victory this week may help spark this team who hasn’t been as consistent as they have been in the past. Plaxico Burress had a huge three- touchdown game. Maybe the Jets are back to their old habits. Well see about Rex Ryan’s Superbowl prediction.

A win in London propelled the Bears to over .500. They looked dominant enough over the Bucs, but lost their composure a little towards the end. The Bears are good when they want to be, but they have the potential to be so much better.

Is there still time to reconsider the deal they gave Carson Palmer? The Raiders looked revived this year with Jason Campbell and a pretty good defense, but with Campbell out, the Raiders turned to Kyle Boller and Carson Palmer who each threw three interceptions in this week’s game against the Chiefs. When should the Raiders hit the panic button?

Big win this weekend over the Lions who are beginning to play suspiciously dirty. The Falcons have always been a strong team, but have started 2011 sluggishly. This win may have lit a fire under their wings.

This team has seemingly lost the magic it had from last year. The Bucs aren’t as dynamic as they were and Josh Freeman looks more like a rookie this year throwing more interceptions than touchdowns. Tampa Bay needs to turn things around, while they show times of pure brilliance, they can also show times of pure stupidity. Hopefully things will change for the swashbucklers from the south.

Rex Grossman’s time is up in D.C. and the John Beck era has begun. Although this new era now has a once thriving team starting to question the competency of its starting quarterbacks, and it’s not looking good. The Skins got beat up by the Panthers and are looking to turn the season around considering such a promising start. Maybe the Shanahans will flip flop QB’s from week to week.

Dismantled by the Texans this week, Tennessee is hurting badly. Chris Johnson has not lived up to expectations this year and Matt Hasselbeck is not the answer on offense. If these struggles continue, don’t expect this team to do much more.

Bumped up a spot this week for their field goal victory against the Seahawks. The Browns have a decent team and are continuing to build towards becoming a contender in the AFC North.

Lets hope that with the bye week the Eagles will be prepared to play real football. If it takes interceptions to clear Michael Vick to play, then a week off should be plenty of time to have the dangerous Eagles we all know from last year return to action. They have division rival Dallas next week.

Despite running over the Raiders, the Chiefs still have a lot of concerns. They are injured and beat up and the offense barely had a hand in the win this week. Matt Cassel threw 2 interceptions alone bringing the total in this game to 8 combined with Boller and Palmer. I’m not convinced on the Chiefs just yet.

Cam Newton is one dangerous rookie quarterback and the Panthers really have played better than their record suggests. They are probably the best of the worst teams in the NFL. There’s always room for improvement, but Carolina looked good this week. A little more of that and the NFC South could be a fun division to watch.

Great win on Monday Night Football to take down a top- tier team. This will certainly help head coach Jack Del Rio’s chances of sticking around a bit longer. I mean how many chances will he get? This team is slowly improving, but relying on the leg of Josh Scobee is just not enough to win big football games.

Five minutes left and the Broncos miraculously pulled out an overtime victory against Miami. Tim Tebow’s first start in Denver had him non-existent for the first fifty-five minutes until he realized the game was almost over and led a couple of huge touchdown drives to force overtime. The win in overtime was thrilling, but maybe Tebow will learn that he needs to show-up for all sixty minutes.

The Christian Ponder era has officially begun and hats off to the young rookie who held his own against the Packers. Ponder looked like a hero compared to Donovan McNabb, and even though the Vikings lost, they may have found the next great QB in Ponder.

A measly three points against the Browns is just sad. This team needs a new quarterback and it may not be too late to “Suck for Luck.”

This team has never been the same since Superbowl XLIII and they continue to get worse. This team needs to rebuild on many levels and find a quarterback that can actually get the ball to their star receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

They scored seven points against the Cowboys and probably played better than the bottom two teams this weekend. I don’t know if it’s just me or not, but Josh McDaniels seems to be kryptonite everywhere he goes. The Rams have taken a huge step back from last year.

What an embarrassment this week. The Colts were done by the end of the first quarter. They played with no enthusiasm and lacked confidence overall. Giving up sixty-two points is unprecedented, an unbelievable display of ugly. Maybe the Colts can bribe Andrew Luck to play for them on Sunday’s.

To let Tim Tebow have his way in the last five minutes leading by 15 is just outrageous. The Dolphins let their first victory slip away from them and now Tebow is getting high praise. The Dolphins need to learn a lesson much like Tim Tebow does, play football for sixty minutes.