JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser's post-Week 8, pre-Week 9 2017 NFL power rankings. And we all know how important these are:
Rank.Team (record) | Comment
1.Philadelphia Eagles (7-1) | 1 | NFL's hottest team … and maybe the best team
2.Kansas City Chiefs (6-2) | 2 | Best (barely) of a tight bunch atop AFC
3.New England Patriots (6-2) | 3 | Remember when they were "in trouble?"
4.Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2) | 4 | Three consecutive victories since Jaguars loss
5.Buffalo Bills (5-2) | 5 | Keeping pace with mighty Pats
6.New Orleans Saints (5-2) | 6 | For realsies? Apparently so
7.Seattle Seahawks (5-2) | 7 | Starting to flex again with four-game winning streak
8.Minnesota Vikings (6-2) | 8 | A real threat to pull away in NFC North
9.Los Angeles Rams (5-2) | 9| Have the look of a team that can push for playoff spot
10.Carolina Panthers (5-3) | 10 | Very important victory Sunday at Tampa Bay
11.Atlanta Falcons (4-3) | 11 | Boy, did they need that
12.Jacksonville Jaguars (4-3) | 13 | Enter Dareus
13.Tennessee Titans (4-3) | 16 | Used bye week to stay atop AFC South
14.Dallas Cowboys (4-3) | 20 | Needed Sunday in a big way
15.Detroit Lions (3-4) | 14 | Three-game losing streak has them looking way up at Vikes
16.Denver Broncos (3-4) | 12 | Offensive struggles are very, very real
17.Houston Texans (3-4) | 17 | Deshaun Watson looks better and better
18.Green Bay Packers (4-3) | 18 | Needed their bye in a big way
19.Baltimore Ravens (4-4) | 27 | Up again, down again
20.Miami Dolphins (4-3) | 15 | Fell oh-so flat in prime time
21.Washington Redskins (3-4) | 19 | Three losses in last four games
22.Arizona Cardinals (3-4) | 21 | On wrong end of a lot of one-sided scores this season
23.Chicago Bears (3-5) | 22 | Still well ahead of expectations
24.Oakland Raiders (3-5) | 23 | No way did Raiders expect this
25.New York Jets (3-5) | 24 | Starting to fade after surprising start
26.Los Angeles Chargers (3-5) | 25 | Still have a chance to get out of early-season hole
27.Cincinnati Bengals (3-4) | 28 | Up next: Jaguars
28.Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5) | 26 | Getting disappointing in a hurry by the bay
29.Indianapolis Colts (2-6) | 29 | Narrowly missed nice bounce-back game Sunday
30.New York Giants (1-6) | 30 | Top 5 selection starting to look likely for Blue
31.Cleveland Browns (0-8) | 31 | The long rebuild looks long indeed
32.San Francisco 49ers (0-8) | 32 | Optimism getting harder to find
