1. San Francisco 49ers– The last undefeated team standing. I bet none of you were expecting this. I was happy they got a test last week against the Arizona Cardinals. Those divisional games are never easy. When their defense struggled at times, the offense picked things up. Jimmy threw four touchdowns in the win. They’ve had the long week to prepare. Now, they’ll get their first official test tomorrow night when they play the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football. Their schedule is about to get tough. Seattle twice, the Packers come to Levi and they’ll face both the Ravens and Saints on the road.
2. New Orleans Saints– They appear to look stronger by the week. They didn’t miss a beat without Drew Brees, he comes back then picks up where he left off before the thumb injury. At 7-1, they’re off to another fast start with the NFC South pretty much locked up for them at this point. This has been one of the more complete teams in recent memory. Their offense is balance, their defense has improved, and their special teams is top notch. Don’t be surprised at the end of the year if the Saints clinch home-field throughout the entire NFC playoffs again. A lot can happen, but at this point, I wouldn’t put this past them.
3. Baltimore Ravens– I think they’ve made people talk about them more after that convincing win last Sunday night over the New England Patriots. You truly never know what to expect from this offense. So much attention is always given to Lamar Jackson that it opens the field up for the other weapons on the offense. Remember during the off-season when everyone pretty much giftwrapped the Cleveland Browns the AFC North after the acquisition of Odell? All these months later, the Browns are 2-6, the Steelers are back in contention even without Ben Roethlisberger and the Ravens are on top of the division. Let’s see how Baltimore builds off the win last week.
4. Seattle Seahawks– They can do a variety of things to win football games. Russell Wilson is becoming one of the quarterbacks that I would want with the football in his hands when the game is on the line. Anytime the Seahawks were down last week to Tampa Bay, he put them in the perfect position to get back into the game. This is the best I’ve ever seen him look. At 7-2, they’re within striking distance of the 49ers. They have a big game coming up tomorrow night against those niners.
5. New England Patriots– For eight weeks, they were at the top of these power rankings. At least they’re still in the top five. They looked terrible last week. The way they’ve played defense this year, they couldn’t do that against Baltimore. They put so much attention into limiting Lamar Jackson that it hurt them. Despite that, they’re still in a great position. 8-1, first place in their division, seven games to play with another division title and home-field advantage looming once again.
