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Two of our top five teams from last week succumbed to losses that knocked them out of this week’s top five. The Patriots couldn’t find a way to stop Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers’ passing attack, and that pass defense looks like it’s going to be the weakness that keeps the Patriots from a deep playoff run. How are they going to stop the Steelers, Chargers or even the Bills in January? The more embarrassing loss came at the hands of the Saints, who were completely dominated by a zero-win Rams team on Sunday. The Rams defense looked dominant in this game, while Steven Jackson was unstoppable despite having A.J. Feeley at quarterback. How did this team start 0-6? It’ll be interesting to see how good they are once Sam Bradford is healthy again. Ditto for the Saints and Sean Payton.
| Rank | Previous | Team | Record | Week 8 | Week 9 |
| 1 | 1 | Green Bay Packers | 7-0 | Bye | at SD |
| After a nice week off, the Packers get to face a reeling Chargers team desperate to stay ahead in the AFC West. Should be an easy win. | |||||
| 2 | 2 | San Francisco 49ers | 6-1 | W, CLE 20-10 | at WAS |
| Cleveland had no shot against these 49ers, who now have the best scoring defense in the league. Washington could go scoreless again. | |||||
| 3 | 6 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 6-2 | W, NE 25-17 | vs. BAL |
| Huge win for a Steelers team that has a super-easy second half schedule. The AFC North is theirs for the taking this week. | |||||
| 4 | 7 | Detroit Lions | 6-2 | W, DEN 45-10 | Bye |
| The Lions wiped out some of the concerns from their previous two weeks (both losses) with a blowout win against a bad team. | |||||
| 5 | 5 | Baltimore Ravens | 5-2 | W, ARI 30-27 | at PIT |
| The Ravens played six awful quarters from Monday to Sunday, but they got back on track just in time to squeeze out a gimme win in Week 8. | |||||
| 6 | 8 | Buffalo Bills | 5-2 | W, WAS 23-0 | vs. NYJ |
| The Bills can run, they can pass, and now they can apparently shut teams out. Look out, NFL — this Cinderella isn’t nearly at midnight. | |||||
| 7 | 3 | New England Patriots | 5-2 | L, PIT 17-25 | vs. NYG |
| Injuries and roster cuts have left the Patriots with a pathetic defense, and unless Tom Brady can score 40 a game, this team may be doomed. | |||||
| 8 | 4 | New Orleans Saints | 5-3 | L, STL 21-31 | vs. TB |
| What was that? This wasn’t some fluky loss — the Rams dominated the Saints through 60 minutes. Was this just “one of those days?” | |||||
| 9 | 10 | Cincinnati Bengals | 5-2 | W, SEA 34-12 | at TEN |
| The Bengals have jumped out to a surprising 5-2 record by playing some lackluster competition; we’ll see if they survive the AFC North gauntlet. | |||||
| 10 | 11 | Atlanta Falcons | 4-3 | Bye | at IND |
| The week off vaults the Falcons into the top 10, and with Julio Jones coming back and the Colts on the schedule, odds are Atlanta is here to stay. | |||||
| 11 | 12 | Chicago Bears | 4-3 | Bye | at PHI |
| Two solid pre-bye wins give the Bears some momentum, but now they’ll have to contend with an Eagles team that found their legs against Dallas. | |||||
| 12 | 14 | New York Jets | 4-3 | Bye | at BUF |
| Undefeated at home, winless on the road, the Jets are going to have to find some road success to make the playoffs. Beating Buffalo would be big. | |||||
| 13 | 15 | Houston Texans | 5-3 | W, JAC 24-14 | vs. CLE |
| The Texans have a winning record at their halfway point, and they’re still waiting for the return of Andre Johnson. Could this team improve? | |||||
| 14 | 16 | New York Giants | 5-2 | W, MIA 20-17 | at NE |
| Ugly win for the Giants, keeping the worst team in the league around all game. They have a lot to prove, even at 5-2 on the year. | |||||
| 15 | 18 | Kansas City Chiefs | 4-3 | W, SD 23-20 | vs. MIA |
| Huge win for a great defensive Chiefs team on Monday night, giving them a tie of first in the division. An easy win should be on tap this week. | |||||
| 16 | 9 | San Diego Chargers | 4-3 | L, KC 20-23 | vs. GB |
| Something looks wrong with Philip Rivers; I’ve never seem him throw this poorly. Are the Chargers in trouble of missing the playoffs? | |||||
| 17 | 17 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 4-3 | Bye | at NO |
| The Bucs’ last State-side game was against these Saints, and they came away with a win. A sweep puts them right in the thick of it. | |||||
| 18 | 20 | Tennessee Titans | 4-3 | W, IND 27-10 | vs. CIN |
| The Titans picked up an easy win thanks to the competition, but they still haven’t found the magical elixir for Chris Johnson. It ain’t money. | |||||
| 19 | 21 | Philadelphia Eagles | 3-4 | W, DAL 34-7 | vs. CHI |
| A performance the Eagles sorely needed, Sunday’s drubbing of the rival Cowboys could ignite this team to reach lofty pre-season expectations. | |||||
| 20 | 19 | Oakland Raiders | 4-3 | Bye | vs. DEN |
| Carson Palmer’s now had an extra two weeks to learn the Oakland offense: hand off right, hand off left, hand off right, hand off left … | |||||
| 21 | 13 | Dallas Cowboys | 3-4 | L, PHI 7-34 | vs. SEA |
| The defense was whipped, the star receivers were taken out of the game, and the Cowboys were handed an embarrassing loss. | |||||
| 22 | 28 | Minnesota Vikings | 2-6 | W, CAR 24-21 | Bye |
| Nice win by the Christian Ponder-led Vikings, who are finally getting Adrian Peterson involved in the passing game. They could make second half noise. | |||||
| 23 | 22 | Washington Redskins | 3-4 | L, BUF 0-23 | vs. SF |
| I know this is going to be a surprise to you, but it turns out that John Beck may not be a capable NFL starter. I know, it shocked me too. | |||||
| 24 | 23 | Cleveland Browns | 3-4 | L, SF 10-20 | at HOU |
| This Browns team really doesn’t have anything positive to work with right now — I fear they may need another organizational overhaul. | |||||
| 25 | 25 | Carolina Panthers | 2-6 | L, MIN 21-24 | Bye |
| It turns out that last year’s defense, paid a large sum of money to stay in Carolina in 2011, overperformed last year. Whoops! | |||||
| 26 | 26 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 2-6 | L, HOU 24-14 | Bye |
| The 2010 Panthers of 2011? The Jaguars defense looks pretty stout, but the offense has no chance at moving the ball consistently. | |||||
| 27 | 24 | Denver Broncos | 2-5 | L, DET 10-45 | at OAK |
| When Stephen Tulloched Tebowed Tebow after a Tim Tebow sack, my head almost exploded. Tebow’s at 14 minutes of fame and counting … | |||||
| 28 | 27 | Seattle Seahawks | 2-5 | L, CIN 12-34 | at DAL |
| Jackson was named the starter, didn’t start, then came on to throw for over 300 yards … and the Seahawks were still blown out. | |||||
| 29 | 30 | St. Louis Rams | 1-6 | W, NO 31-21 | at ARI |
| Big win for a team that looked like a complete mess. They have an easy matchup this week, and they have to prove that win wasn’t a one-off. | |||||
| 30 | 29 | Arizona Cardinals | 1-6 | L, BAL 27-30 | vs. STL |
| The Cardinals moved in the right direction by going up 24-3 on a good Ravens team in the first half, but then they Arizona-ed it up. | |||||
| 31 | 31 | Indianapolis Colts | 0-8 | L, TEN 10-27 | vs. ATL |
| If the Colts get the No. 1 pick, they have to take Andrew Luck. Sorry Manning, but you have about 2-3 good years left — can’t pass up Luck. | |||||
| 32 | 32 | Miami Dolphins | 0-7 | L, NYG 17-20 | at KC |
| So close to that unwanted first win; the Dolphins will have to work much harder to make sure they go 0-16 and land Laddy Luck. | |||||
R.J. White is the head editor at the Cafe, writes for FanDuel and Razzball and has previously written for FanHouse. Catch up with him in the forums under the name daullaz. Follow him on Twitter; don't follow him in real life.
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