This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/NFLPowerRankers on 2024-01-09 20:59:39.
Welcome to week 18 of the official r/NFL Power Rankings! The regular season comes to a close, teaching us one last thing about each team before the playoffs begin. The Eagles decided not to try after realizing they can’t win even if they try, the Chiefs have run out of time to work out some key issues, and Jordan Love might look to light up the playoffs. Can Tomlin work his magic past the regular season for the first time in ten years? Are the Texans strong enough to win one more game? Can anybody stop the Buccaneers dynasty? Thank you for reading, see you next season! Discuss! 25/32 Reporting
| # | Team | Δ | Record | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ravens | – | 13-4 | Bye Week | |
| 2. | 49ers | – | 12-5 | The niners will be watchers this weekend to see who will be coming to Levi’s in the divisional round. The team will look to get fully healthy, hopefully having Arik Armistead back for their first playoff game. | |
| 3. | Cowboys | – | 12-5 | Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transformed from one form to another. Hurt guys stay hurt. You do not talk about Fight Club. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. People are stupid. Always treat a weapon like its loaded. It is forbidden to touch the Other Side direct. There are plenty of examples of first rules and first laws, but there is one that stands above all others: No team can win the NFC East in back-to-back seasons. Now, coming out of Thanksgiving, that looked pretty shaky, with the Eagles heading into the cupcake stretch with a tiebreaker advantage and Dallas facing expected playoff teams in five of their last six, but the universe righted itself and all was well. Let’s look at the accomplishments of this team. They have the #1 QB by completion percentage among real starters. He’s also #3 in yards, #1 in touchdowns, #2 in QBR and Passer Rating. They have a 1000-yard rusher. They had the reception leader. They had the league leader in interceptions, who also set the league record for pick sixes. Top 5 offense and defense by yards, top 5 scoring defense, #1 scoring offense. If the 49ers could be so kind as to shit their pants in the Divisional Round, this team might be heading to Vegas. | |
| 4. | Bills | +1 | 11-6 | In week 14, the Bills were coming off the bye week at 6-6, sitting three games back in the division behind a then-surging Dolphins team, ‘in the hunt’ for the wildcard, and staring down the toughest stretch of schedule yet. At the time, the wildest hope might have been to get some help from other teams and fall into the 6 or 7 seed. Now, the Bills have won five in a row to secure their fourth straight AFC East championship, and home field advantage through at least the first two rounds. There are still concerns (mainly turnovers), but the defense has been stout, the offense is moving the ball well, and for the first time in a while, it feels like the Bills are peaking at the right time. | |
| 5. | Lions | +1 | 12-5 | The 2023-2024 NFL regular season ends as the second most successful campaign in Detroit Lions history, tying the most wins in franchise history (12) while having the second-best record, only behind 1991’s 12-4 effort. To cap it off, they have earned the 3 seed in the NFC playoff bracket, and a home meeting with the Los Angeles Rams, a franchise to which they are inextricably tied through the Brad Holmes acquisition and subsequent Stafford-Goff trade. The team is expecting a return from Brock Wright and Jameson Williams to the field on Sunday, while Sam LaPorta and Khalif Raymond both have an outside shot of playing, per Dan Campbell. Amon-Ra St. Brown has dyed his hair Honolulu blue. Playoff football in Detroit; it still feels absolutely surreal. | |
| 6. | Dolphins | -2 | 11-6 | ||
| 7. | Browns | – | 11-6 | With the Wild Card spot locked the Browns rested starters and helped the Bengals players get season performance bonuses. The Browns finish the season with a good chunk of starters on IR or not playing but who cares? Playoffs, baby. Kevin Stefanski should be a coach of the year candidate with what he has managed to do with this team. The Browns will face the Texans on Wild Card weekend hoping to go all the way. Go Browns! | |
| 8. | Chiefs | – | 11-6 | The most disappointing regular season in the Mahomes’ era has officially come to a close. Walking away from the first 17 games has shown that this is a flawed unit, but it is certainly not one that is incapable of going on a run in the playoffs. There’s little to no doubt that the best team in the NFL is Baltimore which is going to make back-to-back Super Bowl appearances incredibly difficult but honestly that’s fine. If at the end of the day the Chiefs were only able to win the AFC West for the 8th consecutive year, I’ll be alright. | |
| 9. | Rams | +1 | 10-7 | What’s not to love? On a day where the Rams rested starters, they locked in the 6th seed, finally got a regular season win against SF, avoided major injuries, and Puka broke rookie WR records. Now, onto the playoffs, starting with the first ever playoff matchup between starting QBs who both are facing their former team. This season has had ups and downs but should be viewed as a smashing success given the dismal preseason expectations of this young and unproven squad. There’s still plenty of potential noise left to make (as long as all kicks are made) — watch out Jared Goof. | |
| 10. | Texans | +1 | 10-7 | Fun fact, if you put money on the Texans to win the division at the beginning of the year, I’m pretty sure you’re a millionaire now. With an assist from the Titans, the Texans completed the worst to first season with a prime time win over the Colts. With the lights at their brightest, CJ Stroud went 20/26 for 264 yards while Nico Collins solidified himself as WR1 catching 9 balls for 195 yards. Next up is a rematch with the Browns in the wild card round after the beat down that was given in NRG two weeks ago. We’ll see if the additions of Stroud and Anderson who missed that game will be enough to make round 2 more competitive. | |
| 11. | Eagles | -2 | 12-5 | Since 1978, when the NFL switched to a 16-game season, 47 teams have started 10-1 or better. Only the 1986 Jets and the 2023 Eagles ended the year with fewer than 12 wins. And the Eagles had an extra game (h/t James Nagle on Twitter). An all-time collapse. Just a month ago, the first quarter against SF looked like it was going to be a blowout in the Eagles’ favor. Then, everything came crashing down. The Eagles eked past the Giants on Christmas to avoid a six-game skid to end the year, but got completely embarrassed this past week against them while they were practically jockeying for draft position. Optimists will point to the fact that the Eagles “get” to play a flawed Bucs team in the Wild Card round, but no one should be betting on this team to turn it around. Unless the return of Big Dom is the Eagles’ Gandalf the White moment. Or maybe more appropriately, the Eagles on Mt. Doom. This metaphor is awful, and so are the Eagles. | |
| 12. | Steelers | +1 | 10-7 | Rather than dwell on TJ Watt’s injury, look at how he finished this regular season. 19.0 sacks got him into 1st in the league, with 96.5 since 2017. Bruce Smith and Reggie White both played at least 15 years to get ~200. If he can stay healthy and be productive at a similar level, he could challenge the legends. This was the real bright spot of the Steelers season, because even with the majorly radical peaks and valleys, when TJ was playing, he was at the redline. He’s a truly special player to watch and his absence in the playoffs is going to be felt. But all is not lost! Whether it was Josh, Patrick, or Tua, all of them were going to put a ton of pressure on the defense even with Watt in there. Without him? Well, since Myles Jack and Eric Rowe have been playing, the Steelers are undefeated. Patrick Peterson at safety makes a lot of sense, and Minkah should be back. Suddenly, the defensive backfield is starting to come together and get healthy at the same time. Rowe might be too good to take out. He has 29 tackles, 1 INT, and 1 FF in the past 3 weeks. From the safety position. On the offensive side, Mason Rudolph has dominated time of possession since the shift in defense. The run game has benefited from judicious and efficient QB play, and the defense has backed the offense up by making plays as well. Which is all to say, it isn’t just that the Steelers are getting hot at the right time, it’s that they’re getting chemistry at the right time. The Baltimore game was backups vs backups and they had nothing to play for but pride. Yet the Ravens still fought hard and really got after the runners and kept popping balls out. Pittsburgh still won the ground game and TOP. The Steelers will make a short trip to Buffalo to face a team that is also tenacious and very clutch. Both teams are very tough in closing out games, and both are very hot right now. Hopefully the Steelers won’t hit one of those valleys… | |
| 13. | Buccaneers | +2 | 9-8 | Well, here we are. Last power ranking list of the season. Buckle up, if you like reading long… |
Content cut off. Read original on old.reddit.com/…/official_rnfl_week_18_power_rank…