NFL Power Rankings Week 11: A tale of two pretenders!

Week 10 sucked. Football sucks. It’s stupid and no one knows anything.

As will happen every Tuesday throughout the season, nine of our contributors — Zach Lyons, Mike Herndon, Justin Melo, Jimmy Morris, Robert Greenlaw, Wes Wisley, Austin Nelson, Josh Hong, and Justin Graver — have submitted their power rankings, 1 to 32. Below is the aggregate results of those rankings.

Biggest Risers: A dominant victory over the Baltimore Ravens saw the New England Patriots jump up six spots this week. Remember when everyone thought they were tanking?

Biggest Fallers: The Tennessee Pretenders– uh, excuse the Freudian slip… the Tennessee Titans are this week’s biggest losers– I mean fallers, tumbling eight spots.

Here’s where we landed with our rankings as we head into Week 10 of the regular season…

To see the full list of everyone’s individual rankings click here.

Mike: I’d like to join Zach (see below) in some Week 11 Pennsylvania team back-patting. Before the season, I said that the Steelers would win the AFC North and that a healthy Ben Roethlisberger would make them a contender.

Mike: In 2019, the Steelers very nearly snuck into the playoffs with Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph behind center thanks to a truly dominant defense (3rd in the NFL per Defensive DVOA). The defense will remain almost completely intact in 2020 with dynamic edge rushers T.J. Watt (the best Watt in the NFL right now) and the recently franchise-tagged Bud Dupree flanking a stout defensive line featuring stars Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt. On offense, of course, they’ll get Ben Roethlisberger back, giving Pittsburgh a massive boost at the game’s most important position. With rising talents in JuJu Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson (one of my favorite breakout candidates in the NFL), and James Washington to throw to, the Steelers offense should — at the very least — no longer be the glaring weakness that it was in 2019. If it jumps back anywhere near what it was in 2018 (6th in Offensive DVOA), that will make Pittsburgh a truly formidable force in the AFC North.

After a 36-10 drubbing of the Bengals (this is what you’re supposed to do with bad teams, Titans), Pittsburgh is 9-0 and three games clear of the Ravens in the North. If they can get a little help from the Titans in Week 11, they would have the opportunity to clinch their division before the end of the month.

Austin: Who is the best team in the NFC these days? I feel like I ask myself this question week after week. Yes, they struggled to beat the Jaguars, but it’s the NFL and it’s “any given Sunday”, right? I still think the Packers are the better NFC team at the moment. Green Bay now has a chance to stay atop the NFC with Drew Brees being out for New Orleans indefinitely.

Next up: A battle this week against a top Indianapolis defense.

Josh: After opening the year 5-0, the Seahawks’ season has started to fall back down to earth, going 1-3 in the past four games. In those three losses, Russell Wilson has thrown seven interceptions. You just can’t win turning the ball over that much.

On the opposite side of the ball, the Seahawks’ defense has been struggling mightily all season. They currently rank 24th in defensive DVOA and 28th in scoring defense.

I still believe that the Seahawks are one of the true contenders in the NFC, but Wilson will need to play a cleaner brand of football to carry the rest of his team. This upcoming division game against the Cardinals will be huge in regaining some momentum for the second half of the season.

Zach: While I am furious at Kliff Kingsbury for not kicking the extra point during Sunday’s game and costing me a parlay, I have to admit, I was wrong.

It does not happen very often, but I am a man of humility and I will admit when I’m wrong: I was wrong about the Cardinals and very wrong about Kyler Murray.

This is a fun and competitive team to watch. I think this team can play against anyone and win, and that even includes the Steelers and Chiefs. They never disappoint when it comes to compelling and exciting games.

However, calling my shot now, this time next year everyone but me will be wondering what happened to the 2020 Arizona Cardinals, much like people are wondering what happened to Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.

Also: DeAndre Hopkins is the MVP for this team, not Murray.

Jimmy: I tried to tell you three weeks ago this Dolphins team is for real. Everyone thought they were giving up on the season to see what they had when they put Tua into the starting lineup. Well guess what, Tua would have to lose the next three in a row to have the same record that Ryan Fitzpatrick did this season. Miami is only one game behind the Bills and might just end up winning the AFC East.

Justin G: The Ravens seem determined to undermine their own offense and force Lamar Jackson to be a pocket passer. I get it, you want your young quarterback to develop, and you’re worried about injury, blah blah. The truth is, the Ravens offense when Jackson isn’t running is terribly inefficient. It feels like this team is floating through the season trying to find itself on offense, when this time last year they were steamrolling opponents and Lamar was barely playing in the fourth quarter.

The Ravens defense has carried them through this point in the season, but Sunday night, with Calais Campbell out and Brandon Williams going down during the game, the Baltimore run defense completely fell apart. This team still has a chance to make themselves into a serious contender, but at the moment, they are trending in the wrong direction.

Wes: Going into Week 10, the Titans had an opportunity to take control of the AFC South race. An unfortunate performance against the division rival Colts leaves them on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

The AFC currently has nine teams with at least six wins, the most going into Week 11 ever. If the playoffs started today, the Titans would be out. With plenty of football left to play, the Titans will need to figure out quickly how to right the ship.

There is plenty cause for concern with all three phases. Special teams is struggling in multiple facets, the defense still can’t figure out how to get off the field and the offense has not been able to sustain the type of success they were having earlier in the season. Their next three games are against AFC opponents with at least six wins each. This stretch could make or break their season. We will learn who this team really is after these matchups.

Robert: The Football Team is not very good, but they are easy to root for. Comeback Player of the Year candidate — and potential frontrunner — Alex Smith has passed for over 300 yards two weeks in a row. Antonio Gibson is electric with the ball in his hands. Terry McLaurin is one of the game’s best young wide receivers. Chase Young is a stud. Ron Rivera battled cancer. The storylines continue to write themselves for this team.

Out of all the teams in the NFC East, the worst division in the history of football, this is the one I most want to come out on top. Winning the division would be quite the storyline in a year full of them for the team with no name.

Justin M: Don’t look now, but the New York Giants have won two games in a row. Scratch that, two division games in a row. I’m not here to tell you that the Giants are actually good, because they’re not. But perhaps we shouldn’t completely count them out in the horrid NFC East.

They’ll ride this high heading into the Week 11 bye before returning to the field in Week 12 against a bad Cincinnati Bengals team. Daniel Jones probably isn’t a franchise QB, but I admire how hard he’s battling out there. The Eagles had no answer for him. It would be hilarious if this team makes the playoffs. I’m rooting for them!

Zach: The Philadelphia Eagles stink. However, let me shift the blame onto two people: Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz.

They’re trash and holding this team back from being good. Yet somehow they’re in the playoffs and the Titans are not. Wentz sucks. He is broken and it is time for the Eagles to move on from him and let the Jalen Hurts era begin.

They won’t though, because Pederson has too much hubris to make a QB change in the middle of the season. I hate this team. I almost ranked them below the New York Jets.

I would also like to pound my chest out a bit because while everyone else was high on the Philadelphia Eagles here at the Broadway Sports offices, I knew this would happen.

Zach Lyons: Why I put the Philadelphia Eagles the lowest at No. 17

Zach: I just think they’re overrated. They had the 6th-easiest schedule last year according to Football Outsiders and backed into the playoffs. Three of their top five receivers (Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, and Marquise Goodwin) are injury prone AND 30 years old or older. Is a 34-year-old DeSean Jackson really going to turn this offense around? They didn’t fix their pass defense either outside of trading for Darius Slay. Now they head into 2020 with a much harder strength of schedule (according to Sharp Football Stats), facing the NFC West, the Cowboys 2x, Ravens, Packers, Saints, and a much better Steelers team. Outlook: Not so good.

Joe Flacco is elite.

Who is too high? Who is too low? Drop a comment down below!

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Author: Zach LyonsWith over 17 years experience of losing Fantasy Football games, Zach has been a Titans fan since moving to Nashville in 2002. A die-hard Alabama fan, but he doesn't let that cloud his judgement of the Elite Players they have put in the NFL. Players like Derrick Henry, Julio Jones, and AJ McCarron. You've heard him on Football & Other F Words giving his Unfiltered Opinions as facts and that won't change. He's always 100% right even if he has to revise earlier statements. Lawyered.