A year can make a big difference in the NFL. Here's the latest proof: Five of last season's playoff teams, including the Super Bowl champion Ravens, currently have losing records.
Baltimore, at 3-4, is still a top-20 team (No. 15) in the eyes of our voters (John Clayton, Ashley Fox, Dan Graziano, Jamison Hensley, Mike Sando and Kevin Seifert). The rest of this struggling group -- Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota and Washington -- can't say the same. The Falcons, coming off an ugly loss at Arizona, slipped to No. 23. They're followed by Redskins at No. 24, the Texans at No. 28 and the Vikings at No. 30.
The falls of the Texans and Falcons look particularly jarring when you consider where everyone started. Atlanta, pegged by many as a viable Super Bowl contender, opened the regular season at No. 2. Houston, on the heels of consecutive AFC South titles, opened at No. 7. Now both teams are mired among the also-rans.
Can any of these teams right the ship? Anything's possible, but most of the signs say no. Houston, for instance, losers of five straight with a turnover-prone offense, hosts Andrew Luck and No. 3 Indianapolis in Week 9. Not exactly a great spot for a turnaround.
The moral of the story is this: No matter what your favorite team has done in the recent past, it's not easy to stay relevant in the NFL. The proof is all around us.
Note: The comments below are provided by ESPN Stats & Information.
<tbody>
</tbody>
Baltimore, at 3-4, is still a top-20 team (No. 15) in the eyes of our voters (John Clayton, Ashley Fox, Dan Graziano, Jamison Hensley, Mike Sando and Kevin Seifert). The rest of this struggling group -- Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota and Washington -- can't say the same. The Falcons, coming off an ugly loss at Arizona, slipped to No. 23. They're followed by Redskins at No. 24, the Texans at No. 28 and the Vikings at No. 30.
The falls of the Texans and Falcons look particularly jarring when you consider where everyone started. Atlanta, pegged by many as a viable Super Bowl contender, opened the regular season at No. 2. Houston, on the heels of consecutive AFC South titles, opened at No. 7. Now both teams are mired among the also-rans.
Can any of these teams right the ship? Anything's possible, but most of the signs say no. Houston, for instance, losers of five straight with a turnover-prone offense, hosts Andrew Luck and No. 3 Indianapolis in Week 9. Not exactly a great spot for a turnaround.
The moral of the story is this: No matter what your favorite team has done in the recent past, it's not easy to stay relevant in the NFL. The proof is all around us.
Note: The comments below are provided by ESPN Stats & Information.
| 2013 Power Rankings: Week 9 | |||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS |
| 1 | Chiefs 8-0 | -- Last Week: 1 | Jamaal Charles had 120 of the Chiefs' 331 yards Sunday. Charles has accounted for 38.5 percent of the Chiefs' yards from scrimmage this season, highest of any running back. |
| 2 | Broncos 7-1 | 1 Last Week: 3 | Peyton Manning was 1-of-8 for 16 yards with two interceptions on passes thrown at least 15 yards downfield Sunday. Four of Manning's six interceptions this year were on deep throws. |
| 3 | Colts 5-2 | 1 Last Week: 2 | On paper, the hard part is over. Indy has wins against San Francisco, Seattle and Denver in the books. A win in Houston could effectively end the 2-5 Texans' season. |
| 4 | Seahawks 7-1 | -- Last Week: 4 | Only the Chiefs have a better turnover margin than the Seahawks (plus-9), whose reward for surviving the feisty Rams is hosting the winless Buccaneers. |
| 5 | Saints 6-1 | -- Last Week: 5 | Drew Brees threw four touchdowns deeper than 10 yards downfield Sunday, his most in a game in the past eight seasons. |
| 6 | 49ers 6-2 | -- Last Week: 6 | Colin Kaepernick posted a career-high 99.8 Total QBR Sunday, the third-highest total since the start of 2006 among quarterbacks with at least 20 action plays. |
| 7 | Bengals 6-2 | -- Last Week: 7 | Marvin Jones! He joins Terrell Owens and Randy Moss as the only players with four touchdown catches in a game since 2007. Jones entered Sunday with three touchdowns on the season. |
| 8 | Packers 5-2 | 1 Last Week: 9 | Time to create separation in the NFC North. Sunday night's win against the Vikings kicked off a stretch of four games in six weeks against divisional opponents. |
| 9 | Patriots 6-2 | 1 Last Week: 8 | The Patriots' leading receiver over the past three games is not Gronk, Edelman or Amendola. Aaron Dobson has a team-high 13 catches and 157 yards in that span. |
| 10 | Lions 5-3 | 1 Last Week: 11 | So, that answers that question. Calvin Johnson more than quadrupled Dez Bryant's receiving yardage total and outgained the entire Cowboys offense Sunday in a thrilling win. |
| 11 | Chargers 4-3 | 1 Last Week: 12 | The only quarterback with more 400-yard games in a season than Philip Rivers' three is Dan Marino in 1984 (four). The Redskins defense looks capable of helping Rivers make history. |
| 12 | Panthers 4-3 | 6 Last Week: 18 | Cam Newton has been awesome lately. Newton's 88.2 Total QBR in the past three games is third best in that span, even if it came against the Vikings, Rams and Bucs. |
| 13 | Cowboys 4-4 | 3 Last Week: 10 | While Dez Bryant let off steam, Jason Witten had the real cause for frustration. Witten was targeted twice in Sunday's loss. Facing the Vikings defense next could solve some problems. |
| 14 | Bears 4-3 | 1 Last Week: 13 | Bears-Packers on "Monday Night Football" would seem a lot more interesting if Jay Cutler played instead of Josh McCown. Still, both teams are above .500 heading into a huge game. |
| 15 | Ravens 3-4 | 1 Last Week: 14 | Baltimore has to take care of business against divisional rivals. A Week 7 loss to the Steelers hurt, but not as bad as going 0-2 against the Browns would. |
| 16 | Jets 4-4 | 1 Last Week: 15 | As Geno goes, so go the Jets. Geno Smith has a plus-3 TD-INT differential in wins and a minus-8 differential in losses, like Sunday's debacle in Cincinnati. |
| 17 | Cardinals 4-4 | 7 Last Week: 24 | Andre Ellington had 154 rushing yards Sunday, 130 of which came before contact. That's the third-highest yards-before-contact total by any player this season. |
| 18 | Titans 3-4 | 1 Last Week: 17 | Tennessee is right in the hunt for the second AFC wild-card spot, especially facing the Rams, Jags and Raiders in three of the next four games. |
| 19 | Dolphins 3-4 | 3 Last Week: 16 | Over the past four games, Ryan Tannehill has no touchdowns and five interceptions on throws deeper than 10 yards downfield. The Dolphins are 0-4 in that span. |
| 20 | Bills 3-5 | 1 Last Week: 21 | There's no time to lick the wounds from a 35-17 loss in New Orleans. Buffalo returns home to face the Chiefs, the last of the league's undefeated teams. |
| 21 | Browns 3-5 | 1 Last Week: 22 | Jason Campbell is the first quarterback this season to throw for multiple touchdowns against the Chiefs defense, as well as the first not to be sacked multiple times. |
| 22 | Raiders 3-4 | 6 Last Week: 28 | It wasn't exactly traditional quarterback play, but it was effective. The Raiders had a season-high 132 yards on zone-read rushes Sunday, including a franchise-record 93-yard touchdown by Terrelle Pryor. |
| 23 | Falcons 2-5 | 3 Last Week: 20 | Just a brutal Sunday for Matt Ryan. Cardinals defenders caught more passes (four) than Falcons receivers (three) on Ryan throws at least 15 yards downfield. |
| 24 | Redskins 2-5 | 1 Last Week: 23 | Give the man some time! Robert Griffin III was sacked or put under duress on 42 percent of his dropbacks Sunday, the highest percentage of his career. |
| 25 | Rams 3-5 | 2 Last Week: 27 | Robert Quinn and Chris Long combined for six sacks against the suspect Seattle line Monday night. The Rams sacked Russell Wilson a career-high seven times. |
| 26 | Eagles 3-5 | 7 Last Week: 19 | Eagles quarterbacks completed only four passes against the blitz and the Giants defense disrupted six of Philly's 12 dropbacks (interception, sack or pass defended) against at least five rushers. |
| 27 | Steelers 2-5 | 2 Last Week: 25 | Just when it looked as though they had turned a corner, the Steelers turned in a poor effort in Oakland. A matchup with the Patriots is next. |
| 28 | Texans 2-5 | 2 Last Week: 26 | Losers of five straight, Houston hosts Indy after a well-timed bye. Step 1 on the redemption trail is figuring out if Case Keenum can thrive at QB. |
| 29 | Giants 2-6 | -- Last Week: 29 | A solid defensive effort paced Sunday's road win against a divisional rival. Don't look now, but Big Blue is (somehow, some way) two games out in the atrocious NFC East. |
| 30 | Vikings 1-6 | -- Last Week: 30 | The Vikings and Falcons are the only teams that have allowed at least 23 points in every game this season. |
| 31 | Buccaneers 0-7 | -- Last Week: 31 | Calling Greg Schiano's seat "hot" might be an understatement. The 0-7 Bucs have allowed 31 points in three straight and have Seattle next. How much worse can it get? |
| 32 | Jaguars 0-8 | -- Last Week: 32 | Thirty-one players have more total touchdowns than the Jaguars offense (seven), including six non-quarterbacks. A stat like that isn't uncommon at the beginning of a season, but it's Week 9. |
<tbody>
</tbody>
