NFL Power Rankings: Week 7 Edition

Now that Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season is over, it’s time for everyone’s favorite meaningful exercise: NFL Power Rankings! Let’s take a look at how all 32 teams stack up. And don’t forget to hear me talking about the league’s landscape on my national podcast: The ODDcast!

BLG’S NFL WEEK 7 POWER RANKINGS

1 - Seattle Seahawks (Last Week: 1) - It was a solid bye week for the Seahawks with LAR and GB losing. They’ll return this Sunday with a game against an Arizona team coming off short rest. Good opportunity to increase their lead in the conference and division.

2 - Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 3) - You didn’t seriously think Patrick Mahomes was going to lose two games in a row, did you? It’s pretty unfair that the reigning Super Bowl champions were allowed to add Clyde Edwards-Helaire to their roster.

3 - Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 5) - It’s time to stop pretending like the Stillers only look good because they’ve beaten bad teams. Pittsburgh’s defense has allowed the fewest points in the league and their offense has enough weapons for Ben Roethlisberger to operate as a game manager. They’re a formidable foe.

4 - Baltimore Ravens (LW: 4) - The Ravens own the NFL’s best point differential but they’re not exactly firing on all cylinders right now. Lamar Jackson has kinda been “meh” in three out of his last four games. Certainly not in his 2019 MVP form. Will be very interesting to see how they fare against Pittsburgh after their Week 7 bye.

5 - Tennessee Titans (LW: 6) - Mike Vrabel is starting to get more credit as one of the league’s best coaches. It might not be long before Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith joins him in the head coaching ranks. Tennessee’s biggest test yet comes this weekend against an also-undefeated Pittsburgh squad.

6 - Green Bay Packers (LW: 2) - Yikes! Aaron Rodgers got off to a red hot start this year but he was terrible with just a 35.4 passer rating against the Bucs. A pick six sparked 38 unanswered points for Tampa Bay.

7 - New Orleans Saints (LW: 8) - The Saints return from their bye to host Carolina. Need a win to move back into first in the NFC South.

8 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 13) - The Bucs’ offense gets a lot of hype but it’s their defense that’s really impressive. Shutting down Rodgers like they did commands respect. Tom Brady doesn’t even need to be great if the run game and defense can support him like they did on Sunday.

9 - Los Angeles Rams (LW: 7) - Did we make too much of the Rams’ hot start? Their four wins have come against bad NFC East teams.

10 - Buffalo Bills (LW: 10) - Two straight bad games for Josh Allen after his red hot start. There goes the MVP hype. It’s not all his fault, though. Remember when the Bills were known for their defense? Buffalo allowed 245 rushing yards (5.3 average) on Monday night.

11 - Las Vegas Raiders (LW: 12) - The Raiders return from their bye to host the Bucs. Should be a good one. Big opportunity for Las Vegas to prove they belong in the top 10.

12 - Chicago Bears (LW: 16) - The Bears don’t score a lot of style points but that’s okay because Nick Foles Just Wins™. On a serious note, though, this team seems bound to regress at some point here. They only rank 13th in point differential and were 23rd in DVOA heading into Week 6. Not as good their 5-1 record indicates.

13 - Arizona Cardinals (LW: 15) - The Cardinals have proved they’re capable of beating up on some bad teams. Kyler Murray is going to need to be better for Arizona to beat the good ones. He only completed nine (!) of his 24 attempts on Monday night. Left a lot of throws on the field and yet the Cards won by 28 points anyway. Budda Baker’s kinda good, huh?

14 - Cleveland Browns (LW: 9) - Ugly game for the Brownies. You never wanna lose by a final score of 38 to 7. That’s the most kind of embarrassing defeat there is. With Pittsburgh being able to stop the run, the Browns needed Baker Mayfield to carry the team with his arm and he couldn’t answer the call. Concerning.

15 - Indianapolis Colts (LW: 17) - Philip Rivers still has SOME gas left in the tank. Not enough for the Colts to seriously scare anyone but maybe enough to get Indy to a wild card spot.

16 - Miami Dolphins (LW: 20) - The Dolphins rank sixth (!) in point differential and 10th in DVOA after winning three of their last four. The one loss in that stretch was a one possession defeat to the No. 1 team in these power rankings. Maybe Miami can actually the playoffs?!

17 - New England Patriots (LW: 11) - They lost despite the fact their opponent didn’t even score a touchdown. Rough look. Cam Newton struggled in his first game back.

18 - Carolina Panthers (LW: 14) - Teddy Bridgewater is a quarterback the Panthers can sometimes “win with” but he’s not a quarterback they can “win because of.” His two interceptions proved costly in Carolina’s third loss. The Panthers need a better answer under center.

19 - San Francisco 49ers (LW: 25) - Hard to know exactly what to make of this team. They get destroyed by Miami last week just to come back with a big win over their division rivals this week. Jimmy Garoppolo looking healthy and better obviously improves their outlook.

20 - Los Angeles Chargers (LW: 19) - The Bolts will return from their bye to host Jacksonville. Good chance for Justin Herbert to pick up his first NFL win.

21 - Detroit Lions (LW: 24) - There was talk that the Lions might fire Matt Patricia if they lost to the Jags. He’s safe for at least one more week but he’s hardly out of the woods just yet.

22 - Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 22) - The Eagles are riding a two game moral victory winning streak, if you believe in those. In seriousness, Philly’s offense has done some good things against two of the NFL’s best defenses. Carson Wentz still has room to improve when it comes to cutting down on turnovers but he doesn’t look as bad as he did earlier in the year. Despite this team being incredibly injured for the billionth season in a row, they’re in reasonably good position to win the truly awful NFC East.

23 - Houston Texans (LW: 23) - The Texans aren’t total trash. Their last four games: one possession loss, one possession loss, two possession win, and one possession loss in overtime. But their defense is pretty garbage. Houston has allowed the sixth most points in the league.

24 - Denver Broncos (LW: 28) - Don’t look now but the Broncos have won two in a row. It sure wasn’t pretty with Drew Lock throwing two interceptions and finishing the game with a mere 34.9 passer rating. But thanks to their running attack and a strong defensive outing of their own, the Broncos were able to kick six field goals for the win. Game ball obviously goes to Brandon McManus.

25 - Dallas Cowboys (LW: 21) - They should really be even lower. The defense is truly dreadful; Dallas is allowing a league-worst 36.3 points per game. The offense clearly has a lower ceiling with Andy Dalton replacing Dak Prescott. The offensive line is in bad shape and now it’s even worse with Zack Martin dealing with a concussion.

26 - Atlanta Falcons (LW: 29) - The Falcons experienced that classic “play better with the head coach fired” bump immediately after firing Dan Quinn. With DET, ATL, and DEN up next, it’s not impossible the Falcons could go on a little winning streak here.

27 - Minnesota Vikings (LW: 18) - The Vikings signed both Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins to contract extensions in the offseason. Not exactly money well spent! The Vikings are 1-5.

28 - Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 26) - The Bengals raced out to a 21 to 0 lead … only to blow it. On the bright side, Cincy has graduated from being THE league’s very worst team to merely a bad team instead.

29 - Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 27) - The roster offers hope for the future since it’s the youngest and least expensive one in the league. But it’s clearly time for a regime change with David Caldwell and Mike Marrone needing to go.

30 - New York Giants (LW: 31) - The first win of the Joe Judge era involved the G-Men barely beating a team that’s even worse than them. Daniel Jones finally threw a touchdown pass for the first time since Week 1. Hooray.

31 - Washington Football Team (LW: 30) - Five straight losses after starting the season with a win. Washington is the worst team in the worst division in the league. They could very well end up with the No. 2 overall pick for the second year in a row.

32 - New York Jets (LW: 32) - The NFL’s only remaining winless team fittingly ranks 32nd in DVOA and 32nd in point differential. Their -110 point differential is nearly twice as worse as the next closest team (Jacksonville at -56). At least they have ruining Trevor Lawrence’s career to look forward to.