NFL Power Rankings Roundup Week 15: Eagles back to falling

With Week 14 of the NFL season in the books, it’s time look at how various media outlets have ranked the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in their NFL power rankings. It’s always interesting to see how the Eagles stack up from an outside perspective. But first, let’s start by revisiting mine.

Bleeding Green Nation

18 - The Eagles got screwed. Also, they’re not very awesome. (LW: 15)

ESPN

15 - Top wish list item: To defy the odds. A loss to the Cowboys on Sunday dropped the Eagles’ chances of making the playoffs to 8 percent. With back-to-back games at the Rams and home against the Texans coming up, it’s not looking very promising. One more loss and the Eagles will become just the 11th defending Super Bowl champ to finish with a non-winning record the following season. (LW: 17)

NFL.com

14 - If the Eagles were in just about any other division but the NFC East, they would not be in fine shape. Not at 3-4, with five of their nine remaining games on the road. Granted, one of those is in London against a reeling Jaguars team. Yet, there is no way Philadelphia, one year after winning the Super Bowl with its backup quarterback, should lose at home with a 17-0 lead and Carson Wentz under center. Even after Wentz was bailed out on that flutter ball Eric Reid intercepted in the red zone, the Eagles couldn’t close the deal. A corner was NOT turned in New York, apparently. (LW: 12)

CBS Sports

17 - The Super Bowl hangover looks to be complete. The loss to Dallas all but ends their chances to repeat. (LW: 15)

Pro Football Talk

16 - The playoffs continue on Sunday. (LW: 14)

Yahoo! Sports

17 - It was a little surprising that Doug Pederson, whose calling card last season was being aggressive, didn’t go for a two-point conversion after the Eagles scored with 1:45 left. He kicked the extra point and played for overtime. It wouldn’t have been a bad call to go for the win there, given that the Eagles were underdogs on the road. “I felt at the time that we were still going to win that football game,” Pederson explained, via WIP 94. “And our defense was gaining momentum, we were beginning to put pressure on Dak [Prescott], and doing some things that way.” Instead, the Eagles tied the game, lost in overtime, and their season is on life support. (LW: 13)

Washington Post

18 - It’s not looking good for the defending champs after the near-miss loss in Dallas. Now it’s off to L.A. to face the Rams with the Eagles clinging to fading wild-card hopes. (LW: 13)

Bleacher Report

19 - Turn out the lights. The party is over. When a tipped pass found Amari Cooper for the game-winning score in overtime, any real hope the Philadelphia Eagles had of defending their championship went down the tubes. They aren’t mathematically eliminated from playoff contention yet, but it’s an uphill climb. For starters, the Eagles would have to win three straight to close the season. Philly has won two straight all of once in 2018. That would include beating the Rams next week in L.A. and the Texans after that. With the way the Eagles are playing defensively, that ain’t happening. That the Eagles were even in the game in Dallas was a miracle, as the team was outgained 576-256. You read that right. There’s no way to win consistently in the NFL with a defense that bad. (LW: 16)

Sporting News

19 - The Eagles’ equal defensive problems against run and pass keep dragging them down, and the Rams are about to deliver the final nail. What a difference from last December when these two teams played. (LW: 14)

Pro Football Weekly

16 - Pederson’s logic on end-of-game decision actually made sense. (LW: 14)

USA Today

19 - Super Bowl hangover is real. Philly about to become fourth defending champ in past seven years to miss playoffs in subsequent campaign. (LW: 14)

Talk of Fame Network

18 - The Eagles are clearly not the same team that won an NFL championship last season. Especially on the ground. Philadelphia finished third in the NFL in rushing a year ago with Jay Ajayi and LaGarrette Blount pounding away at defensive interiors. But Blount left in free agency and Ajayi is on injured reserve. The 6-7 Eagles now rank 28th in the NFL in rushing and are one of only two teams still without an individual 100-yard rushing game. Jacksonville is the other. (LW: 15)

Reddit

16 - The Eagles lost to the Dallas Officiating Crew, effectively ending any playoff hopes. What was once thought to be a team situated for years of success may well have just been a one-hit wonder. (LW: 16)

Mile High Report

17 - And the losing continues. (LW: 15)

Sports Illustrated

12 - No explanation (LW: 12)

Rotoworld

16 - The Eagles absorbed another gut punch in Week 14, falling to division-rival Dallas in heart-breaking fashion. At least Alshon Jeffery decided to show up for once, putting a stop to his five-game scoreless drought by nabbing a two-yard touchdown in Sunday’s defeat. Zach Ertz annihilated the Cowboys (14-145-2 on 16 targets) in his first meeting with them this year, but didn’t have the same success the second time around, managing only five catches for 38 yards. Darren Sproles has scored in both games since coming back from a three-month hamstring injury. (LW: 15)

The Athletic

16 - For the first time since 2012, the Eagles will finish out their year without a regular season win against the Cowboys. And man, did this one hurt for them. While they have reasons to be frustrated with the refs about the opening kickoff call (and they certainly voiced those frustrations after the game), it was the first play of a game full of questionable calls against both teams. As Sheil Kapadia noted, the bigger blame falls on the offense’s inability to replicate what it had last year — the Eagles’ first six possessions resulted in five punts and a fumble. As Kapadia writes: “The truth is the Eagles had no business winning. Dallas had twice as many first downs (32 to 16) and 320 more yards (576 to 256). The Eagles were in the game because (Dak) Prescott turned the ball over three times. Yes, the Eagles had a chance to steal a victory but in no way did they deserve to win this game.” They don’t deserve to win the NFC East this year, either — and they did everything but officially confirm that they won’t on Sunday. (LW: 14)

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ANALYSIS

The rankings range from as high as 12 to as low as 19. The most common ranking is 16. The average ranking is 16.6, which is down more than two spots from last week’s average of 14.3.

Most of these rankings came out before the Carson Wentz injury news was revealed. The Eagles’ stock should be even lower.