Atlanta Falcons: NFC Power Rankings, Week 8
By John Buhler
Chicago Bears. 12. team. 57. . . Previous:
Fresh off their bye, the reason I don’t think the Bears are as bad as we thought is that John Fox and his coaching staff are only two years away from taking the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl. Unless OC Adam Gase is in it with Fox for the long haul, I think he might become an NFL Head Coach in 2016. He’s making the Bears’ offense look respectable.
Just because the Lions have imploded and so many other teams in the NFL have gotten off to horrid starts, it doesn’t mean that the Chicago Bears are a contending team by any stretch of the imagination. This feels like a 6-10 team that could end up picking in the back-end of the Top 10. However, the Bears do seem to find away to play hard for their coach. I like the John Fox hire in the Windy City for that reason.
54. . . Previous: . Philadelphia Eagles. 11. team
I don’t think there is one team in the NFC that yo-yo’s in these weekly power rankings more than the Philadelphia Eagles do. They were fourth last week after beating the New York Football Giants on Monday Night Football, temporarily taking sole possession of first place in the NFC East.
Sam Bradford is looking less like an improvement over Nick Foles at quarterback. DeMarco Murray is too good of an offensive player to not find his groove in this system. Their receivers are a mess to say the least. This team won 10 games in both 2013 and 2014 for HC Chip Kelly. No way that happens in 2015. The Eagles will need some luck and more importantly continuity if they want to win the NFC East.
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. Previous: . New Orleans Saints. 10. team. 15.
The Saints have won back-to-back games over two likely playoff teams in the Atlanta Falcons and the Indianapolis Colts. However, beating Atlanta at home on a Thursday Night game seemed likely and the Colts are the least bad team in a pitiful division. Their other win came against a Tony Romo-less Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
I’m not saying that the Saints are a bad team, I just can’t say that they are good just yet. They still sit three games back of the second-place Atlanta Falcons and 3.5 back of first-place Carolina Panthers in the NFC South. This team could navigate a soft division-wide schedule and make things interesting the South, but their slow start might cost them a chance at a surprise Wild Card berth.
Even at 3-4, part of me wants to believe that HC Jay Gruden has turned Washington around into a good football team. If QB Kirk Cousins didn’t throw a pick six in overtime versus the Atlanta Falcons in Week 5, we might say that the Redskins are the favorites to win the NFC East.
They have some strong components to their football team, especially on the line of scrimmage. Cousins can tip the scales in either direction for this Redskins team. What I think gives them the slight edge for the best non-contending team in the NFC over the New Orleans Saints is that they could potentially win their division. New Orleans is too far back of Atlanta and Carolina for me to see that happening. Enjoy the bye, Washington!
Next: Tier II: NFC Playoff Contenders