Week 8 Power Rankings: Purple Reigns, Buffalo At a Limp, Chiefs Kingdom Rises
In today’s edition of the power rankings, I chose to stick to my roots and pointed out a stat about every team that I either find very interesting or that sums up that team’s season perfectly. Keep in mind that the movement of each team (up and down) of these power rankings is in reference to their pre-season placement. Not much else to say other than I hope you learn something new about every team!
32. Carolina Panthers (0-6, down 6)
Stat to know: Despite being 0-6 and having a point differential of -74, the Panthers have more first downs, passing yards, and snaps than their opponents.
31. Arizona Cardinals (1-6, up 1)
Stat to know: Before his injury, James Conner was 4th in the NFL with 5.4 yards per carry.
30. Chicago Bears (2-5, down 2)
Stat to know: Of all starting QB’s, Justin Fields is tied with Russell Wilson for the league lead in time spent in the pocket (2.7 sec), explaining why he is third in sacks and sack yards taken.
29. Green Bay Packers (2-4, down 7)
Stat to know: In the Packers’ last two games, Jordan Love is 1/8 with 2 interceptions when throwing the ball at least 20 yards. On passes of at least 10 yards in those games, Love was 4/16 for a touchdown and four picks. That’s also against two sub-par defenses in Las Vegas and Denver.
28. New York Giants (2-5, down 14)
Stat to know: In week 7, Tyrod Taylor completed three passes of over 20 yards against Washington that all had catch probabilities of below 37%. This type of production has not been seen out of Daniel Jones in 2023.
27. Denver Broncos (2-5, down 3)
Stat to know: Russell Wilson is taking the most time to throw of any quarterback in the NFL (3.05 sec) aside from Deshaun Watson. This is largely due to the fact that Courtland Sutton is only generating 2.9 yards of separation per play.
26. Tennessee Titans (2-4, down 6)
Stat to know: Derrick Henry is only playing 56% of offensive snaps for Tennessee. Since 2019, that mark has never been lower than 63%. Meanwhile, Tyjae Spears has played 51% of Titans snaps—the highest for a Tennessee backup RB in that span by 10%. This leads to me to believe that Henry will be a popular name in the trade market in a few weeks time.
25. New England Patriots (2-5, down 2)
Stat to know: The Patriots are still a middle of the pack team according to DVOA—they are ranked 17th in the stat. Much of this is due to their league best special teams DVOA. If all else fails, at least Bill Belichick has his special teams alive and well.
24. Las Vegas Raiders (3-4, up 1)
Stat to know: Brian Hoyer has lost his last 13 starts. If Jimmy Garoppolo continues to miss time, and Aidan O’Connell is unable to mature, the Raiders could go into free fall despite a soft next month of opponents.
23. Wash. Commanders (3-4, down 5)
Stat to know: Sam Howell has taken 40 sacks this year (second most is 28). He’s also lost 267 yards from sacks this season (second most in 150).
22. Indianapolis Colts (3-4, up 7)
Stat to know: Linebacker, Zaire Franklin is 4th in the NFL in tackles, and has been the driving force behind wins against the Ravens and Titans.
21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-3, up 6)
Stat to know: Rachaad White’s 3.2 YPC are is the worst yards per carry above expected in the entire league—part of the reason why the Bucs are second to last in rushing yards this season.
20. New Orleans Saints (3-4, down 1)
Stat to know: Michael Thomas is tied with DeVante Parker for a league-worst 1.9 yards of separation created per route. In Thomas’ prime years (2018 and 2019), he created 2.7 and 2.6 YOS, respectively.
19. Los Angeles Chargers (2-4, down 10)
Stat to know: The Chargers’ are allowing 310 passing yards per game—worst in the league. The gap between them and the 31st place Jaguars is the same as the gap beat the Jags and 23rd ranked Arizona.
18. Los Angeles Rams (3-4, up 12)
Stat to know: Puka Nacua leads the NFL in receptions, 20+ yard receptions, and is third in receiving yards. In my opinion, he and Cooper Kupp have been the best WR duo this year.
17. Minnesota Vikings (3-4, down 1)
Stat to know: The Vikings have fumbled the ball away nine times. That’s two more than any other team this season, and when you’re 3-4 in one-score games after going 11-0 last year, you immediately point toward turnovers.
16. Houston Texans (3-3, up 15)
Stat to know: C.J. Stroud has the 6th highest QBR for a rookie of all time.
15. Atlanta Falcons (4-3, up 6)
Stat to know: The Falcons are 20th in yards per carry with 4.0. At the start of the year, Arthur Smith made it clear that the Falcons’ DNA would be pounding he ground, but that has not been the case. Tyler Allgeier’s 3.1 YPC have not helped matters.
14. New York Jets (3-3, down 4)
Stat to know: New York ranks last in TD% in the redzone with just a 29.41% success rate.
13. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2, no change)
Stat to know: The Steelers are the only team with a winning record that has a negative point differential (they are 23rd with 103 points scored and 127 points against). They also have the highest luck rating in the league.
12. Cincinnati Bengals (3-3, down 9)
Stat to know: The Bengals have been out-rushed in every game this season. They have been outgained by a total of 438 yards on the ground in six games.
11. Seattle Seahawks (4-2, no change)
Stat to know: Quandre Diggs, Devon Witherspoon, and Tre Brown have all allowed passer ratings of below 75 when thrown against, solidifying the Seahawks secondary as one of the best units in the NFC.
10. Dallas Cowboys (4-2, down 4)
Stat to know: The Cowboys haven’t made the Conference Championship in 28 years. Sorry Cowboys fans, but else nothing matters while this record still exists.
9. Buffalo Bills (4-3, down 4)
Stat to know: In Josh Allen’s career, the Bills are 28-20 (0.583) when he throws at least one interception, and 32-11 when he doesn’t (0.744). It’s safe to say that Buffalo is a contender when Allen takes care of the ball, and a pretender when he doesn’t.
8. Cleveland Browns (4-2, up 9)
Stat to know: The Browns’ 1,002 total yards allowed through five weeks were the fewest by any team in over 50 years. However, of all starters, Deshaun Watson is 24th in QBR, PJ Walker has the worst QBR among all QBs with multiple starts, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson has the worst single-game QBR in the league this year.
7. Detroit Lions (5-2, up 5)
Stat to know: Jared Goff leads the league in completions of over 20 yards—a fine representation of how explosive Detroit’s offense has been this season.
6. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-2, up 9)
Stat to know: Travis Etienne is 4th in the NFL in total rushing yards. With this level of production from Etienne coupled with Trevor Lawrence’s improved play, Jacksonville has been elite offensively in the last four weeks.
5. Miami Dolphins (5-2, up 2)
Stat to know: Miami has not beaten a playoff team in 395 days. Though their offense has reached historic heights this season, Dolphins fans should still be concerned about their lack of competition faced.
4. Baltimore Ravens (5-2, up 4)
Stat to know: The Ravens lead the entire NFL in DVOA with 40.1%. This makes sense—Baltimore’s two losses this year have been two of the worst in the whole league (they had a 88.7% win expectancy against the Colts with 2:03 left, and a 90.2% win expectancy against the Steelers with 5:29 left), meaning Baltimore could be 7-0 right now.
3. San Francisco 49ers (5-2, up 1)
Stat to know: In weeks 1-5, San Francisco was 48.1% on third down—3rd best in the league. In weeks 6 and 7, they are 38.1% on third down—good for 21st. They, of course, won their first five games and lost their last two.
2. Philadelphia Eagles (6-1, down 1)
Stat to know: The Brotherly Shove/Tush Push has converted on 41 of 44 attempts. As Nick Sirianni put it, the Eagles basically start each series with 1st and 9, which is practically unfair for the rest of the league.
1. Kansas City Chiefs (6-1, up 1)
Stat to know: The Chiefs defense is top-7 in total yards per game, passing yards per game, sacks, and points allowed. In the points department, KC has never been better in the Patrick Mahomes era.
Hopefully this statistical perspective on the league was interesting to you, because it’s my favorite type of writing. Stay tuned for Panel Picks later tonight!