JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser's pre-Week 9 2021 NFL power rankings. And we all know how important these are …
Rank.Team (record) | Prev. | Comment
- Green Bay Packers (7-1) | 4 | Because he's still Aaron Rodgers
- Arizona Cardinals (7-1) | 1 | Still a lot of reasons to like this team
- Los Angeles Rams (7-1) | 2 | Little to separate three or four teams at top
- Dallas Cowboys (6-1) | 5 | Six consecutive victories since Week 1 loss to Tampa Bay
- Tennessee Titans (6-2) | 6 | Oh (no), Henry
- Buffalo Bills (5-2) | 7 | AFC East favorites – with maybe a little eye on the Pats
- New Orleans Saints (5-2) | 12 | Victories rarely come at so high a price
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-2) | 3 | Repeating is rarely easy – even for TB12
- Baltimore Ravens (5-2) | 9 | Bye
- Las Vegas Raiders (5-2) | 11 | Bye
- Cincinnati Bengals (5-3) | 8 | These things sometimes happen to ascending teams
- Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) | 14 | Remember these guys?
- New England Patriots (4-4) | 19 | Remember these guys?
- Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) | 10 | Life comes at you fast in the NFL
- Kansas City Chiefs (4-4) | 17 | Not all the way back, but still very much alive
- Cleveland Browns (4-4) | 13 | Suddenly last in a very difficult AFC North
- Carolina Panthers (4-4) | 21 | Won Sunday to snap a four-game losing streak
- Denver Broncos (4-4) | 22 | Won Sunday to snap a four-game losing streak
- 19.Seattle Seahawks (3-5) | 23 | May have saved their season versus Jaguars Sunday
- 20.Minnesota Vikings (3-4) | 15 | Tough schedule taking a real toll
- 21.Atlanta Falcons (3-4) | 16 | Up again, down again, up again, down again
- 22.Indianapolis Colts (3-5) | 20 | So, so, so close to tightening up the AFC South
- 23.San Francisco 49ers (3-4) | 24 | Clawing to stay in that "in the hunt" graphic
- 24.Chicago Bears (3-5) | 18 | Three consecutive losses after promising start
- 25.Philadelphia Eagles (3-5) | 26 | Got healthy in a big way versus winless Lions
- 26.New York Giants (2-6) | 27 | Looking better in recent weeks
- 27.Washington Football Team (2-6) | 25 | Another long year for the ol' WFT
- 28.New York Jets (2-5) | 28 | A couple real impressive victories …. and five losses
- 29.Houston Texans (1-7) | 29 | Seven consecutive losses after Week 1 victory over Duuuval
- 30.Jacksonville Jaguars (1-6) | 30 | Momentum lost Sunday in a big, big way
- 31.Miami Dolphins (1-7) | 31 | Seven consecutive losses after one-point Week 1 victory in Foxboro
- 32.Detroit Lions (0-8) | 32| Twelve consecutive losses dating to last season
