Sports

NFC East: Dallas Cowboys | New York Giants | Philadelphia Eagles | Washington Commanders
NFC North: Chicago Bears | Detroit Lions | Green Bay Packers | Minnesota Vikings
NFC South: Atlanta Falcons | Carolina Panthers | New Orleans Saints | Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC West: Arizona Cardinals | Los Angeles Rams | San Francisco 49ers | Seattle Seahawks
AFC East:Buffalo Bills | Miami Dolphins | New England Patriots | New York Jets
AFC North:Baltimore Ravens | Cincinnati Bengals | Cleveland Browns | Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South: Houston Texans | Indianapolis Colts | Jacksonville Jaguars | Tennessee Titans
AFC West: Denver Broncos | Kansas City Chiefs | Las Vegas Raiders | Los Angeles Chargers

Among the top six teams from last week's NFL Power Rankings, four of them lost, one had to win because the Bills-Chiefs matchup featured two teams from that group, and another had a bye. 

That's a pretty good snapshot of this season. Teams look great, but not for long. Through nine weeks of the season there have been six different teams at No. 1 in the rankings, and nobody has kept the top spot for more than two weeks: 

Entering Weeks 1 and 2: Eagles

Entering Week 3: Packers

Entering Weeks 4 and 5: Bills

Entering Week 6: Lions

Entering Week 7: Buccaneers

Entering Weeks 8 and 9: Chiefs

Entering Week 10: ?

Maybe the best team is the one attacking the trade deadline with the most aggression. 

The Eagles haven't been great all season but they're still 6-2 with a roster everyone would agree is one of the two or three best in the NFL. There have been ups and downs, and a loss to the Giants is baffling, but Philadelphia hasn't been any worse than any other team trying to claim supremacy. And the Eagles realized their needs, already trading for edge rusher Jaelan Phillips in a potentially impactful move and acquiring cornerbacks Michael Carter II and Jaire Alexander in low-cost deals that help depth at that position. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman probably isn't done either. 

The Eagles were on a bye last week, which meant they couldn't look bad. That wasn't the case for many of the alleged Super Bowl contenders in Week 9. In a weird first half of the season, the Eagles are as safe a pick as anyone for the No. 1 spot. 

Here are the Power Rankings after nine weeks of the NFL season: 

32 (previous ranking 31): Tennessee Titans (1-8)

The Titans are awful. We’d be talking about them going 0-17 if they didn’t get lucky at Arizona. Tennessee had an interception return and punt return for touchdowns and still lost at home. A 1-16 season is on the table.

31 (30): New Orleans Saints (1-8)

Tyler Shough wasn’t really the problem Sunday. He was reasonable, completing 15-of-24 passes for 176 yards. The big news for the Saints this week will be what they do or don’t do at the trade deadline. They’re often in denial about how close they are to being good, so we’ll see if they sell much.

30 (31): New York Jets (1-7)

Aaron Glenn is keeping his quarterback a secret again, and that act is going to get old. If it’s not Justin Fields after a good game at Cincinnati, it would be odd. We’ll have to see if the Jets still have Breece Hall to hand off to after the trade deadline.

29 (29): Miami Dolphins (2-7)

Trading Jaelan Phillips, after parting with GM Chris Grier, seemed to be the sign that the Dolphins will trade anyone and everyone. Jaylen Waddle seems to be one of the few players who should stay, but we’ll see how much Miami wants to clean house.

28 (28): Las Vegas Raiders (2-6)

Brock Bowers has the potential to be one of the greatest tight ends ever. He reminded us all of that on Sunday when he was finally healthy and had 127 yards and three touchdowns. The Raiders better not waste this generational talent.

27 (25): New York Giants (2-7)

Now that the buzz has subsided over the Jaxson Dart era, do we check in on whether head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen are in trouble? A 2-7 record, even with some excitement from Dart, doesn’t seem like much tangible progress.

26 (27): Cleveland Browns (2-6)

Kevin Stefanski gave up play-calling duties. Once a head coach known for his play-calling does that, the next question becomes what value he has to the franchise. Stefanski is far from Cleveland’s biggest problem, but that might not be a good sign.

25 (24): Cincinnati Bengals (3-6)

The defense is historically awful. Cincinnati is the first team since the 1966 Giants to score 38 or more points in consecutive games and lose both games, according to ESPN. The tackling effort on Colston Loveland’s game-winning touchdown was alarming. Major changes need to be made.

24 (20): Washington Commanders (3-6)

Jayden Daniels’ injury makes a bad season worse. The defense is very poor, and that’s something that needs to be addressed in the offseason. Washington had a really old roster this season. This won’t be the easiest fix.

23 (17): Dallas Cowboys (3-5-1)

The Cowboys can't be buyers at the trade deadline, right? It would be tough in an ideal situation to get back in the NFC playoff race, and the Cowboys' defense probably isn't good enough to lead a long winning streak. But would the Cowboys be sellers?

22 (26): Arizona Cardinals (3-5)

It's undeniable now that the Cardinals have played better with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback. That makes things very awkward. Can the Cardinals turn back to Kyler Murray, or see if Brissett can lead them back into the playoff race? It will be hard to bench Brissett after a nice win over Dallas.

21 (21): Atlanta Falcons (3-5)

The Falcons should have a winning record, but kicking matters too. A missed extra point ruined a pretty good effort. Drake London in particular was great, with three touchdowns. Seeing first-round draft pick Jalon Walker get two sacks, after one in his first five games, is encouraging too.

20 (18): Houston Texans (3-5)

The Texans probably win Sunday if C.J. Stroud hadn’t been out with a concussion, which he got when he was hit while sliding. The Texans' offense is certainly not good enough to overcome that. The Texans can’t afford many more losses, but Stroud might not play next week vs. Jacksonville.

19 (16): Jacksonville Jaguars (5-3)

It’s hard to be impressed by the Jaguars after they held on for dear life to beat the Raiders. Will the Jaguars be trade buyers? They could talk themselves into it at 5-3, but this team is not as good as its record.

18 (23): Carolina Panthers (5-4)

Beating the Packers in Lambeau was impressive. Rico Dowdle, who had 130 rushing yards, has made a massive impact on the Panthers' season. Two of the Panthers’ final three games are against Tampa Bay, and perhaps they can remain in the NFC South race until then.

17 (22): Minnesota Vikings (4-4)

That’s the Vikings team that we saw most of last season. They controlled the whole game in a win at Detroit. J.J. McCarthy had a promising start. The NFC North is more wide open than expected, and maybe Minnesota isn’t dead yet.

16 (19): Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3)

The Steelers' defense has mostly been bad, but good performances against the Patriots, Vikings and Colts make you wonder why we’re not seeing that level more often. It’s still hard to trust this team, but that was a huge win over Indianapolis.

15 (15): Chicago Bears (5-3)

The Bears got one of the more bizarre wins of the NFL season over Cincinnati, and while there is some concern about the defense, seeing Caleb Williams come up huge in that situation will propel Chicago. The Bears are just a half-game out of first place in the NFC North.

14 (13): San Francisco 49ers (6-3)

The 49ers lost yet another defensive player. FIrst-round rookie Mykel Williams has a torn ACL. The 49ers are hanging around and that’s a credit to them, but they need some help at the trade deadline to stick around in the NFC West race.

13 (12): Los Angeles Chargers (6-3)

We’ve seen the Chargers line without Joe Alt this season and it’s not pretty. His season-ending injury is a big problem for the Chargers. And there’s usually not many decent offensive linemen available on the trade market.

12 (14): Baltimore Ravens (3-5)

Lamar Jackson looked just fine in his return, and now the Ravens’ season really begins. They have a stretch of winnable games coming up. They might have to sweep the Steelers to win the division, but there should be renewed hope for a very good team.

11 (11): Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-2)

The Buccaneers’ first three games out of the bye are all tough: vs. Patriots, at Bills, at Rams. We’re going to find out in a hurry if the Buccaneers are a legit threat to steal the No. 1 seed in the NFC this season.

10 (6): Green Bay Packers (5-2-1)

The Packers’ loss to the Panthers was bad but losing Tucker Kraft to a torn ACL is worse. Luke Musgrave could come to the rescue, but he hasn’t played anywhere near a level that Kraft was at this season. Kraft’s injury lowers Green Bay’s ceiling this season; he was their best pass-catcher.

9 (10): Los Angeles Rams (6-2)

Davante Adams scored touchdowns from 3 and 4 yards out, and now he has an NFL-best eight TDs this season. He is one of the best receivers of this era near the goal line, and that has tremendous value to a Rams offense that keeps humming along.

8 (9): New England Patriots (7-2)

DeMario Douglas had a good game, but the Patriots still need more at receiver. Stefon Diggs is probably best in a secondary role at this point in his career. New England has the resources to make a strong move before the deadline.

7 (2): Detroit Lions (5-3)

It’s easier said than done, but if you can take out the Lions’ running game, they’re a different team. The Packers shut down Detroit’s run game in Week 1 and Minnesota did it Sunday. Those are the two worst games the Lions have played this season. It won’t happen often, though.

6 (7): Denver Broncos (7-2)

The Broncos keep winning, but once again the offense has been sluggish. That’s somewhat excusable against a good Texans defense. Denver can win the AFC West, but only if the offense starts to play better and more consistently.

5 (8): Seattle Seahawks (6-2)

The Seahawks are good. Sam Darnold is good. Jaxon Smith-Njigba might be the best receiver in the NFL this season. The defense is fantastic. Maybe Sunday night’s blowout of the Commanders will lead to more deserved recognition of how strong Seattle is this season.

4 (3): Indianapolis Colts (7-2)

Daniel Jones shouldn’t be downgraded because of one bad game, but plenty of his critics will point to that as the reason they’ve been slow to warm up to the Colts as a Super Bowl contender. One thing the Colts probably have to do is add at cornerback before the trade deadline.

3 (1): Kansas City Chiefs (5-4)

Losing at Buffalo isn’t a terrible outcome. But now the Chiefs have two more losses than the Bills and won’t have the head-to-head tiebreaker either. Kansas City has and can win in January at Buffalo, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy assignment.

2 (5): Buffalo Bills (6-2)

Defensive end Michael Hoecht’s Achilles injury doesn’t help the Bills. They’re getting thin up front. Quality defensive linemen aren’t plentiful or cheap in the trade market, but Buffalo has to try to get at least one. That’s becoming a soft spot.

1 (4): Philadelphia Eagles (6-2)

The Eagles haven’t played their best game every week, but we know their best is really good. And presumably that will happen more often as the season goes on. This is still a championship-level roster, during this season in which it’s hard to trust any team.