Eagles look like team to beat in NFC, Bills beat Lions in potential SB preview
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the top storylines from Week 15 in the NFL.
Sports Seriously
NFL power rankings entering Week 16 of the 2024 season (previous rank in parentheses):
1. Buffalo Bills (3): They’ve scored at least 30 points in their past eight games – only the fifth team ever to manage that in a single season – while averaging 35 during that stretch. Per NFL Media, they’re also the only team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to score at least five touchdowns in three consecutive games without giving up any sacks or turnovers. The Bills play the Patriots twice and the Jets once over the final three weeks – which would suggest the AFC East champs will score a lot more points, wind up 14-3 and have a great shot at the conference’s No. 1 playoff seed – all while QB Josh Allen should produce another 12 TDs or so in the ongoing bid for his first league MVP award.
2. Philadelphia Eagles (2): After winning their club-record 10th straight game Sunday, they’re one victory shy of putting a Christmas bow on the NFC East. Now officially the league’s No. 1 defense in terms of points and yards allowed, opponents are only averaging 15.1 points during Philly’s heater. Hopefully the “little something” that began bothering RB Saquon Barkley on Sunday doesn’t turn into a more serious issue that could potentially derail another season.
3. Detroit Lions (1): In an autumn full of body blows, the combo punch of losing DL Alim McNeill and RB David Montgomery is at least as cruel as DE Aidan Hutchinson’s trip to injured reserve. Maybe this prideful but depleted pride can keep winning shootouts … and maybe it won’t even get a home playoff game.
4. Green Bay Packers (6): The Lions (twice) are the only team to beat them since Week 4, though the Pack are arguably peaking while their division rivals take broadside after broadside. Green Bay looks primed to be frightening playoff road warriors for the second winter in a row.
5. Minnesota Vikings (5): Like the Lions, they also control their path to the NFC North crown – one that could end with a winner-take-all game at Ford Field in Week 18 … and the way things are trending, the Vikes, who have won seven their last seven games, look increasingly poised to pillage.
6. Kansas City Chiefs (4): On the day QB Patrick Mahomes became the fastest player to generate 300 career TDs (282 passing, 18 rushing in 128 games), he also suffered an ankle injury … again. Some big decisions ahead for K.C., which could rest the three-time Super Bowl MVP – though the AFC West champs currently need to win two of their final three games, which are probably all against playoff teams (Houston, Pittsburgh, Denver), if they want to guarantee resting all of their players in the wild-card round.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (7): They haven’t lost at Baltimore in five years. Extend that streak, and the Steelers win the AFC North … though it’s become quite apparent they’re not gonna win a whole lot beyond that if they don’t get WR George Pickens back into the lineup.
8. Baltimore Ravens (8): However if they can finally beat the Steelers at home, they’ll at least secure a playoff berth – yet will have more work to do in order to reclaim the AFC North perch. Yet a win could also very much boost QB Lamar Jackson’s recently atrophying résumé for consecutive MVP awards … though he’ll have to overcome a 2-5 record and 66.7 career passer rating against Pittsburgh. Maybe bringing back WR Odell Beckham Jr. would help?
9. Los Angeles Rams (10): They have one turnover in their past five games, coincidentally in their lone defeat over that span. Barring major injuries, they have to be considered the favorites to win the NFC West at this point.
10. Denver Broncos (13): Nik Bonitto became the first linebacker since the merger to score touchdowns covering at least 50 yards in successive games – just one indicator of how dominant this defense has become, now tied with Philly for fewest points allowed this season.
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (14): WR Mike Evans is only the fifth player to catch at least 50 balls in each of his first 11 seasons … and after Sunday’s 159-yard day, he’s got a reasonable shot to notch his 11th straight 1,000-yard campaign, too.
12. Washington Commanders (9): They’ve been awfully unremarkable since Halloween, though – to a notable degree – that’s a function of heightened expectations following a 7-2 start. Still, quite a memorable year for Jayden Daniels, now the fourth rookie quarterback with at least 3,000 yards passing and 500 rushing. He needs 160 more on the ground to overtake former Washington star (and 2012 Offensive Rookie of the Year) Robert Griffin III for the most ever by a first-year passer.
13. Houston Texans (15): RB Joe Mixon has averaged fewer than 2 yards per carry in three of the past five games – with 51 attempts spread over those three contests. Just another reason that it’s hard to believe the two-time-defending AFC South champs will do much damage in January.
14. Seattle Seahawks (11): Like the Rams, if they win out, they win the NFC West. However Sunday night underscored how difficult that will be to do if QB Geno Smith can’t post – especially for a team so reliant on the pass and with its final two games on the road.
15. Arizona Cardinals (16): TE Trey McBride has more receptions (89) than the Cards’ top two wide receivers (Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson) … combined, those two teaming for 88 catches. Yet MHJ and Wilson have 11 TD grabs, which are 11 more than McBride has.
16. Los Angeles Chargers (12): After surrendering no more than 20 points in their first nine games, they’ve allowed at least 27 in three of the past five, including a forty-burger to the Bucs in Sunday’s loss.
17. Cincinnati Bengals (17): QB Joe Burrow needs four more TD passes to become the first Bengal to throw 40 in a season … and, at his current pace, that will likely happen Sunday.
18. Atlanta Falcons (21): A lackluster effort against a lackluster opponent with another lackluster performance from QB Kirk Cousins. But a win in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas when you can still somehow earn a home playoff game.
19. San Francisco 49ers (18): They had 191 yards in their latest loss, the fewest in a regular-season contest since HC Kyle Shanahan was hired in 2017.
20. Dallas Cowboys (26): Though it’s been widely suggested for most of the season that they can’t run the ball, in actuality, they just weren’t using RB Rico Dowdle sufficiently. After posting his first three 100-yard rushing games over the past three weeks, he’s now on pace for more than 1,300 yards from scrimmage and has set himself up for a nice payday in 2025.
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21. Indianapolis Colts (19): It’s very tempting to count them out. But their final three opponents (Titans, Giants, Jags) have a combined eight wins, so …
22. Miami Dolphins (20): Seems like having a player such as OBJ might have helped in a must-win affair like Sunday’s?
23. New England Patriots (22): The league’s worst passing offense has yet to net 260 yards in a game this year and has failed to crack 200 10 times.
24. Chicago Bears (24): On the losing end of eight in a row, QB Caleb Williams is in the midst of the coldest stretch of a rookie quarterback drafted No. 1 overall in the Super Bowl era … save Hall of Famer Troy Aikman, who dropped 11 straight with the 1989 Cowboys.
25. Carolina Panthers (23): Did you know that WR Adam Thielen is the fourth undrafted player in the common-draft era (since 1967) with at least 8,000 career receiving yards?
26. New Orleans Saints (25): RB Alvin Kamara has a shot to join Lydell Mitchell as the only players to lead their teams in rushing and receiving yards on more than one occasion in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).
27. Cleveland Browns (27): Little has gone right this season, but they appear to at least have found a long-term No. 1 receiver in Jerry Jeudy – he just eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards for the first time.
28. New York Jets (28): Very exciting win … over a zombified Jags squad on Sunday. And, given the wealth of veterans and soon-to-be-paid youngsters on this roster, also a reminder of what a tricky rebuild/reset this will be as owner Woody Johnson’s search for his next GM begins in earnest.
29. Jacksonville Jaguars (30): Brian Thomas Jr. is 44 yards away from being the Jags’ first 1,000-yard rookie receiver. Now if they can only find a way to pair him with Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter …
30. Las Vegas Raiders (29): With DE Maxx Crosby bowing out for season-ending ankle surgery, not much to look forward to the rest of the way … though Brock Bowers is now 109 yards shy of the rookie receiving record for a tight end.
31. Tennessee Titans (31): Still a chance they could tie for the best record in AFC South intra-division games … if they sweep their rivals over the final three weeks. (Yes, it’s definitely not easy finding any silver linings here.)
32. New York Giants (32): Hard to figure how QB Tim Boyle keeps getting hired – didn’t the Giants see him play for the Jets in 2023? – but this franchise seems determined to make its 100th season its worst.
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