Admin November 5, 2024
Packers may regret starting Jordan Love, Dolphins season likely over
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the top storylines from Week 9 in the NFL.
Sports Seriously
NFL power rankings entering Week 10 of the 2024 season (previous rank in parentheses):
1. Kansas City Chiefs (1): One hallmark of a championship organization? A willingness to take risks and leverage opportunities that maintain a focus on excellence. HC Andy Reid and GM Brett Veach have been as busy as any front office in recent weeks ahead of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET trade deadline – swinging deals for WR DeAndre Hopkins (2 TD catches in Monday night’s win) and LB Joshua Uche. And how about the returns they’ve already realized by re-signing RB Kareem Hunt, who scored the game-winning TD in overtime Monday, given the infamous end of his initial tenure in K.C. What does it all mean? The reigning champs remain on track to battle for the league’s first-ever Super Bowl three-peat, are still the NFL’s lone undefeated team and first with a 14-game winning streak (including playoffs) in nine years – that heater also establishing a franchise record. And they’re still not firing on all cylinders.
2. Detroit Lions (2): There’s no replacing injured DE Aidan Hutchinson. But will the NFC’s leaders add someone, maybe DE Za’Darius Smith, as a temporary patch before the deadline expires? Yet maybe it doesn’t matter much given how well this multi-faceted offense is clicking. QB Jared Goff and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown haven’t had a missed connection since Week 3, hooking up on 30 consecutive targets – tied for the longest streak for any wideout since 2016.
3. Baltimore Ravens (3): QB2 Josh Johnson had just as big a role in mop-up duty during a 31-point walkover against Denver as WR Diontae Johnson, acquired last week for some crab cakes before getting 17 snaps and zero targets Sunday. Diontae Johnson might serve as little more than a hood ornament on this offense – if one that other AFC contenders won’t have access to. Whatever dividends he pays, the real question now is whether this defense has enough juice … or if that’s irrelevant given Lamar Jackson and Co. are good for 30+ points weekly.
4. Buffalo Bills (4): WR Amari Cooper only has five grabs in the three weeks since he was obtained, missing Sunday’s game with a wrist injury. And that’s causing absolutely no stress for a herd stampeding toward a fifth straight AFC East crown yet will invariably need Cooper to come up big in mid to late January. Also, after Sunday, you can bet Buffalo has no interest in trading its previously struggling kicker. Probably.
5. Washington Commanders (7): Good as their Jayden Daniels-led offense is, the NFC East leaders probably can’t just rely on it to boat race opponents, a la Detroit and Baltimore. This D has shown steady improvement, yet it still too frequently allows an offense like the Giants’ to appear competent. Some reinforcements wouldn’t hurt.
6. Minnesota Vikings (5): This is no inconsequential bridge season with QB Sam Darnold. Management has sent a very clear signal it’s committed to winning now after importing LT Cam Robinson and RB Cam Akers to patch some holes. And getting T.J. Hockenson back into the lineup Sunday night is akin to making a major move … which Minnesota did for the Pro Bowl tight end two years ago.
7. Green Bay Packers (6): Tied for the league lead with 10 interceptions – despite missing two games to injury – Jordan Love would surely love to trade a streak that’s seen him picked off in eight straight games dating back to the Pack’s playoff loss at San Francisco. The Week 10 bye should nicely serve the banged-up quarterback, who wasn’t moving particularly well in Sunday’s loss to Detroit as he battled his groin injury.
8. Atlanta Falcons (8): No more home cooking for them until December. But they have a chance to really put a stranglehold on the NFC South if they can take care of business on the road against the bloodied Saints and Broncos.
9. Philadelphia Eagles (10): With WR A.J. Brown’s knee apparently OK, they evaded a desperate plunge into the trade market to shore up a thin position on their depth chart – an especially fortuitous turn with Dallas and Washington next up on the schedule.
10. Pittsburgh Steelers (12): Based on opposition winning percentage, only three teams have a harder schedule moving forward. Will veteran QB Russell Wilson truly prove to be the answer? Will GM Omar Khan get him another weapon in the passing game to assure Russ’ continued success? Stay tuned.
11. Arizona Cardinals (14): The NFC West leaders had 16 defenders generate at least one pressure in Sunday’s win, according to Next Gen Stats. So what’d they do Monday? Acquire OLB Baron Browning to add depth to this budding defense, which faces the pass-heavy Jets and Seahawks next.
12. Houston Texans (9): Over the past three weeks, C.J. Stroud has completed 52.3% of his passes with one TD and a 76.0 QB rating. Houston may have a comfortable lead atop the AFC South, but the Texans have only outscored their opponents 201-200 collectively. They might need a bigger shot in the arm than merely WR Nico Collins’ return from IR – especially with the Lions coming to H-Town on Sunday night.
13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13): Was Cade Otton the best tight on a field he shared with Travis Kelce on Monday night? Maybe. Bigger picture, the Bucs just need to hang on for their Week 11 bye. But Otton and a cavalry led by injured WR Mike Evans could reignite this team on the other side of the break given Tampa Bay faces six (significantly) sub-.500 squads over the final seven weeks.
14. Chicago Bears (11): The offense is slipping – 24 points during the current two-game skid – and so might confidence in HC Matt Eberflus. A three-game homestand starting with the Patriots is a major opportunity … and maybe a make-or-break stretch for a team that has, by far, the league’s toughest remaining schedule, including all six of its brutal divisional matchups.
15. Los Angeles Rams (15): Three of their next six games are under the lights, the prime-time stage appropriate for a Hollywood team pushing its way back onto the marquee.
16. San Francisco 49ers (16): The next four weeks include road trips to Tampa, Green Bay and Buffalo. Pretty ideal time to get RB Christian McCaffrey back, assuming he can do something most of the offense hasn’t managed to do – hold up physically.
17. Los Angeles Chargers (18): As well as they’re generally playing – albeit against a fairly soft schedule – it’s probably premature for this ascending program to delve into the trade market. But at least the NFL thinks enough of the Bolts to trade them into Week 11’s Sunday night slot.
18. Cincinnati Bengals (21): As well as they’re generally playing – albeit against a fairly soft schedule – it’s probably unrealistic for this rebounding program to renounce its philosophy and wade into the trade market. But at least the NFL thinks enough of the Stripes to trade them into Week 11’s Sunday night slot.
19. Denver Broncos (19): They got a nasty reality check in Baltimore and became sellers (Browning) a day later.
20. New York Jets (27): It took a few weeks for that Aaron Rodgers-Davante Adams connection to begin paying off – i.e., their first TD hookup in nearly three years in Thursday night’s much-needed win. Glass half full, the NYJ are back in second place in the AFC East and two games out of the conference’s final wild-card spot. Glass half empty, they need more Thursday games given they’re 1-6 the rest of the week this season.
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21. Indianapolis Colts (20): What they wouldn’t do to trade this years-long quarterback dilemma, the Joe Flacco promotion leading to zero offensive TDs and Indy’s first loss of the season by more than six points on Sunday night.
22. Seattle Seahawks (22): Losers of five of their last six, they’re now in last place in the NFC West … yet just one game out of first. Yet no single trade is going to resolve their issues in the trenches or wildly imbalanced offensive approach.
23. Miami Dolphins (24): They’re averaging 27 points a game since QB Tua Tagovailoa returned two weeks ago. They’ve also lost both games in a stark reminder they tried to remediate their defensive issues on the cheap during free agency.
24. Cleveland Browns (23): Maybe it was fitting that new QB1 Jameis Winston made his 100th NFL appearance Sunday and threw his 100th career INT … and 101st … and 102nd. It seems like Smith is on his way out of Cleveland, but it will be interesting to see if the Browns do a broader fire sale.
25. Jacksonville Jaguars (25): Amazing how close this 2-7 outfit is from being 7-2, but that’s the NFL. Seems like the Jags need a philosophical reset more than anything, but it’s hard to broker a deal for that. Whether RB Travis Etienne or someone else follows Robinson out of Duval County remains to be seen.
26. Dallas Cowboys (17): Just when you think they’ve hit rock bottom, turns out they’re only changing drill bits. Three of the next four games are against NFC East foes, and the other is a Monday night home game against the Lone Star State’s best team, the Texans, that you just know owner Jerry Jones doesn’t want to concede. Yet it seems quite possible QB Dak Prescott’s hamstring injury will force him to miss all of those dates.
27. New England Patriots (26): Valiant effort by rookie QB Drake Maye and Co. in Sunday’s overtime loss in Nashville. But it feels like the Pats are starting to chart a course – perhaps including a stop atop the 2025 draft – and that it might be short-sighted to strip this team of any low-level assets that might otherwise contribute to Maye’s development down the stretch.
28. Carolina Panthers (30): They’re starting to build just a little bit of momentum with sophomore QB Bryce Young and could get a jolt if rookie RB Jonathon Brooks is activated this week, as expected. What more could the NFL fans in Munich ask for?
29. New York Giants (28): They’ve got almost zero momentum as they seemingly run out the clock on QB Daniel Jones yet could get a different kind of jolt if empowered GM Joe Schoen sells off part of the roster. What more could the NFL fans in Munich ask for?
30. Tennessee Titans (32): Looks like second-year QB Will Levis might return just in time … to face the Chargers’ unforgiving defense on the road.
31. New Orleans Saints (29): On the heels of a league-worst seven-game skid, their longest since 1999, they traded in HC Dennis Allen on Monday. Hard to say what they hope to reap from such a move at this juncture.
32. Las Vegas Raiders (31): On the heels of an AFC-worst five-game skid, their longest since coming to Las Vegas, they traded in OC Luke Getsy and others on Sunday night. Hard to say what they hope to reap from such a move at this juncture.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.