1. Philadelphia Eagles – Bye week nothing to report. No one did anything or could do anything to unseat them.
2. Kansas City Chiefs – See above.
3. Miami Dolphins – Another team in a bye that benefited from a lot of losses ahead of them. They get the three spot for consistency. They may not beat tough teams but they beat the teams they should which can’t be said for most teams.
4. Dallas Cowboys – Another huge win against the Giants a bounce back after their loss in Philadelphia. Aside from their puzzling loss to Arizona Dallas is in the same boat as Miami. Beating the teams they should and losing to the ones they should.
5. Detroit Lions – Game of the year candidate last week and the second-best record in the NFL lands Detroit at five. They’re semi interchangeable with Dallas and possibly better but Dak’s ceiling is higher than Goff’s to me.
6. Baltimore Ravens – Every time I give this team credit they pull a boneheaded loss. Up 14 in the fourth quarter to a one-armed quarterback and their backup running back off the street, you can’t get beat. I don’t care what crazy things happen. They continually happen to you. It’s a problem.
7. San Francisco 49ers – Are their struggles over? I think so. I’m not ready to catapult them back to the top just yet. We’ll see in the next few weeks what they are made of. A scrappy Tampa team, at Seattle and Philly will be the test of where they stand after three ugly weeks.
8. Seattle Seahawks – A last-second win at home against Washington following that ugly loss to the Ravens doesn’t instill a lot of confidence. The next five weeks will really tell us what the Seahawks are. Four games against the other cream of the NFC crop.
9. Jacksonville Jaguars – Home cooking does Jacksonville no good. Their three losses have come at home. It’s weird to say but you need to win at home to be elite. Jacksonville couldn’t beat two good teams at home they probably won’t do it on the road.
10. Cleveland Browns – The news of Watson going down isn’t ideal but they’ve already shown they can do it without him. This defense has been historic. They’ve got their work cut out for them.
James