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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/NFLPowerRankers on 2024-12-17 21:11:53+00:00.
Welcome to week 15 of the r/NFL Power Rankings! A Monday Night double header was the perfect way to cap off a great week of reruns that opened with De’Vondre Campbell’s Vontae Davis impression. Kevin O’Connell is shaping up to be a regular season Joe Gibbs, while Denver benefitted from Jonathan Taylor’s Desean Jackson impression. Contenders Kansas City, Minnesota, Green Bay, Baltimore, and Tampa all made wins look relatively easy, while Atlanta is doing everything but. Will the Eagles keep their steamrolling into the playoffs against the NFC North? Is Dan Campbell’s onside kick decision a learning experience or foreshadowing? Discuss! 30/32 Reporting
| # | Team | Δ | Record | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Bills | +1 | 11-3 | It turns out that scoring 40+ points is a sustainable strategy after all. The Bills were able to fend off arguably the best team in the NFL by bull-rushing them in the beginning scoring 3 straight touchdowns and getting to out a 14-point lead early in the third. The offense is playing at an absurd level (2nd in points per game) that can overcome a mediocre defense. Shoutout to Mack Hollins for seeming to come with a huge play every game and Josh Allen for looking to be the Bills’ first MVP winner since Thurman Thomas in 199. The Bills arguably have the strongest wins of any team ending a 9-game win streak by the Chiefs and an 11-game winning streak by the Lions. The Bills remain in good shape to hold on to the 2 seed and can still hope for the 1 seed as the Chief’s schedule becomes tougher and has to deal with a concerning injury to Mahomes. | |
| 2. | Eagles | +2 | 12-2 | The Eagles lead the NFL in time of possession by quite the margin, with an avg of 32:15. And the gap between them and the 2nd place team, Houston, is the same as the gap between Houston and the number 8 team, Washington. This was on full display on Sunday when the Eagles finally beat Russel Wilson and limited his offense to two possessions in the second half. The story for much of this season has been the defense keeping this team in every game, forcing short drives, and giving the offense ample opportunity to score. And the question going into this game was, “will the 2024 Eagles offense be able to beat a good defense”? This season, the Eagles underperforming offense (vs the talent they have available) has faced a historically bad slate of defenses with not a ton to show for it. If DVOA rankings hold, the Eagles will end the season having played 13 games against bottom 12 defenses. This is not normal! So when Pittsburgh rolled into town with a top 10 unit, it was time for the offense to prove they could answer the bell. And they did, while simultaneously proving that the passing game wasn’t broken. The drama of the week ended pretty instantaneously, and the team seems to be firing on all cylinders. Up next, a matchup to officially take the NFC divisional crown against Washington, that could also be a 2-seed vs. 7-seed playoff matchup if the Lions/Vikings win out. | |
| 3. | Lions | -2 | 12-2 | The Lions and Bills combined for over 1000 yards of offense on Sunday afternoon, as the Lions came within an onsides kick loose ball of completing a gritty comeback win in the face of four season-ending injuries to key contributors (David Montgomery, Alim McNeil, Carlton Davis, Khalil Dorsey) against the incredible team across Lake Erie. Jared Goff watched Josh Allen do Josh Allen things and thought to himself “oh! We can do that?” before going off for over 500 yards of offense and 5 touchdowns despite 10 quarterback hits and almost no running game to speak of. While Josh Allen is surely gliding towards the MVP at this point, Goff cemented himself squarely in the top 5 conversation on Sunday going blow for blow with Allen. The largest issue in this game for Detroit was the linebackers, who were constantly picked on by Allen in the passing game and just looked lost all day. Luckily, rumors are that Alex Anzalone might start his clock to get off IR as soon as this week, and Trevor Nowaske should be back for the Bears game next Sunday. They also signed ST stud and familiar face Anthony Pittman yesterday, and Ifeatu Melifonwu will be returning to practice this week to try to get on the field to repeat his late season heroics from last year. Onto Chicago, and wtf is Josh Allen. | |
| 4. | Chiefs | -1 | 13-1 | ||
| 5. | Vikings | – | 12-2 | For a wire-to-wire 30-12 win, the Vikings’ MNF victory over the Bears didn’t feel like a true beatdown. In fact, the Bears had the same amount of yards per carry, even better yards per pass attempt and had the same number of sacks and turnovers. The big difference was execution on critical downs – Darnold (and TJ Hockenson) were surgical, helping to convert 7/14 third downs, while heavy pressure, some exotic looks and a few rookie mistakes from Caleb Williams kept the Bears to just 1/12 on third down. It hasn’t always been pretty, but this Vikings’ team that was once predicted to be the worst team in the NFL now finds themselves in the driver’s seat for the division crown and #1 seed. | |
| 6. | Packers | +1 | 10-4 | I’ve felt all year that the Packers have been pretty well positioned to make a postseason run for a pretty simple reason: we’ve been missing players all year but no real major injuries. The Packers have had their starting QB, WR, WR, RG, C, DT, LB, LB, CB, S, and NB all miss time with injuries, and we’re still sitting pretty at 10-4. Importantly, almost none of them are supposed to be season enders. We should have a pretty full slate of starters ready for the postseason while also have experience playing with them missing if any of them hit a season ender. I’m highlighting this point right now because this week the Packers put on full display the type of players that have continually missed games, with Romeo Doubs catching two touchdowns and Edgerrin Cooper snagging a pick and a sack in their first game back from injury. I’m not gonna act like we’ve been as injured as other teams but we haven’t quite seen this team at full strength just yet (we’re still missing Jaire!) and fingers crossed we’ll finally be able to put it all together come January. If someone on our teams breaks a kneecap next week I’m truly sorry for jinxing it | |
| 7. | Ravens | +1 | 9-5 | Coming off the bye a well rested Ravens team did exactly what they should. They moved the ball up and down the field at will, Lamar added 5 TDs to his gaudy totals for the season, and they thoroughly outclassed the Giants to the point they rested many key starters most of the 4th quarter. Short week with the West Pennsylvania Jagoffs coming to town. Home game, healthy Lamar, and overall rest/health factor strongly in the Ravens’ favor. Absolutely no excuse not to put up or shut up Saturday afternoon. | |
| 8. | Steelers | -2 | 10-4 | The major story of Sunday was actually written on November 5th, which was the trade deadline. And it wasn’t what the Steelers did, it was what they failed to do, which was acquire the right WR to compliment George Pickens. With Pickens out, it clearly showed that the Steelers cannot beat elite teams. It’s not just a testament to how good Pickens is. No, it’s more of a reckoning, because the Steelers need to figure out an identity as a team when they don’t have a dangerous WR that teams have to commit significant resources to stop. Whether or not the team played well or not was not the main point. The Eagles had a solid gameplan and executed it. The Steelers really struggled to adapt, and surprisingly didn’t make the halftime adjustments needed. One could look to injuries as being key, but both teams suffered injuries to key players, so that’s not it. What it all boils down to is that for the Steelers to be a championship team, they have to figure out how to elevate other players in critical moments of critical games. They can’t fumble against the Eagles or any other top-tier team. They can’t commit penalties. They can’t fail to cash out and take a 3rd downs. They have to do all of those little things, but also find people who can step up and be superlative like Pickens. | |
| 9. | Broncos | +1 | 9-5 | The Broncos’ hopes are more sky high than all those drones above the New Jersey shoreline. Some might say they’re…Mile High. YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAH. This is where I would put a page break if Reddit could handle them. Look, we’re at over 90% to make the playoffs now. Bo Nix threw several picks but didn’t freak out and managed to reel himself back in and play a great second half. The defense looked great and although PS2 re-aggravated his injury, we could potentially rest him until our playoff game. If we draw the Steelers for that game, we will even have a fun narrative to talk about going into it. Things are good over here. I think you can count us among the top ten teams in the league for the season which is a stark opposite from where many of us thought we’d be. I have no expectations for our post-season performance. 1 and done is a major improvement over the past decade’s football slop show. Go Broncos. Can’t wait to get out from under some of this dead cap and draft some depth for this defe… |
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