NFL Power Rankings, Week 8

It seems as though some teams are changing their fortunes, just not all of them were hoping for such a drastic shift. Denver and Dallas and continuing to struggle, while St. Louis and Cleveland are taking big steps in erasing the mediocrity of the beginning of their seasons. And what a week for back-up runningbacks. Melwelde Moore and Sammy Morris seemed to love having “Morr” of a role. (Sorry, couldn’t help it).

So here's my take:

TEAM
1. Tennessee Titans (6-0)	Funny, I don’t even think anybody has thought about Vince Young since Week 2 of this season. The Titans just continue to roll and are one of the toughest running teams in the league.
2. NY Giants (5-1)	Well, it was never gonna be fun for the team that came to the Meadowlands to play the Giants after last week’s loss. Jacobs looked very strong again carrying much of the offensive load.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-1)	The depth they have in the backfield is just absurd. Melwelde Moore had another great game as the Pittsburgh starter and the Steelers are looking as dominant as ever.
4. Tampa Bay Bucs (5-2)	Didn’t look as dominant as the week before, but did enough to put away lowly Seattle. They are a much more solid offense with Garcia under center.
5. Washington Redskins (5-2)	Squeaked out a win a week after falling to St. Louis. The win is a good end result, but only mounting 14 points against Cleveland’s D is a bit concerning. Certainly wasn’t Portis’ fault though.
6. Philadelphia Eagles (3-3)	With Dallas struggling and Washington looking vulnerable two weeks in a row, the Eagles can come off the bye and put themselves in good shape to get back in the NFC East race.
7. Arizona Cardinals (4-2)	It’s their division to lose right now. After knocking the Cowboys off their pedestal last week, Arizona is primed to make some serious noise in the NFC.
8. Buffalo Bills (5-1)	Went into SD and came away with a victory against a talented, but under-performing Chargers team. They are really beginning to click on all cylinders.
9. Carolina Panthers (5-2)	Another team that rebounded after a brutal loss. They just manhandled the Saints and Jonathan Stewart is beginning to look like a star in the making.
10. Dallas Cowboys (4-3)	What a difference from the first four weeks. They are clearly not a dynamic offensive team without Romo. They bring in a huge weapon in Roy Williams, but lose his name brother, and possibly Pacman for the season. No good for that defense
11. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-3)	With Indianapolis still proving to be an enigma, the Jags can take a firm hold of second place with a win over Cleveland coming off the bye week.
12. GB Packers (4-3)	Ryan Grant has continued to look better each week after starting the season on a really bad note. If he starts running like he did last year, this team is going to get hot, fast.
13. Indianapolis Colts (3-3)	Certainly not the way to build on the momentum of last week. Manning looked very ordinary against the Packers D and the Colts couldn’t stop the run.
14. Baltimore Ravens (3-2)	Willis McGahee may finally be regaining a little bit of strength in his knee, which would add another weapon to the offense for rookie Joe Flacco.
15. New England Patriots (4-2)	Well, it wasn’t Maroney, but the Patriots found a running game, gaining about three games worth of yardage against the Denver defense in the win.
16. SD Chargers (3-3)	Phillip Rivers looked a little sloppy and the INT he threw in the end zone was huge. They are running out of time to try and right the ship.
17. Atlanta Falcons (4-2)	They were starting to get hot, so the bye may not have come at the best time, but if they can keep the momentum going they may force people to take them seriously.
18. Denver Broncos (4-3)	You would think that after SD lit New England’s pass defense up, Denver would be able to do the same. Maybe the problems in Denver are bigger than initially thought.
19. Chicago Bears (3-4)	They are losing some heartbreaking games, but Kyle Orton has really opened some eyes. They need to get healthy in the secondary, or they are going to have problems stopping anybody.
20. New Orleans Saints (3-3)	Colston and Shockey were supposed to play, but didn’t and the Saints probably could have used them. They are really gonna need them now after possibly losing Bush for the majority of the remaining weeks.
21. Minnesota Vikings (3-3)	The defense certainly didn’t inspire much confidence, but Gus Frerrote has been good since becoming the starter. And with Peterson in the backfield, he only needs to be good.
22. Houston Texans (2-4)	Matt Shaub has started to settle in again under center, which is good news for a young team trying to rebound from a slow start. With Shaub, Johnson and Slaton, they can put up some points.
23. Cleveland Browns (2-4)	Just a few breaks away from winning their third game in a row. They can still make some noise, but they are going to have to go on a serious roll. They have the talent to do it.
24. NY Jets (3-3)	Losing to Oakland is never good for a team’s morale. It’s even worse when that team continues to lose ground in their division. The Jets need to hope Cotchery is not hurt.
25. St. Louis Rams (2-4)	Two games and two wins for Jim Haslett. And against two talented opponents. With Bulger, Holt and Jackson, the offense has the pieces to succeed if they can be used right.
26. SF 49ers (2-5)	Maybe its time for me to give up on them like everybody else. Or, maybe Josh Morgan will continue to blossom and add another weapon for J.T. O’Sullivan…
27. Oakland Raiders (2-4)	JaMarcus Russell played mistake-free football and the Raiders pulled out a close win on the strength of their defense. That’s a sentence that fans in Oakland want to start hearing more of.
28. Miami Dolphins (2-4)	New Yorkers used to say that Chad Pennington may not have been pretty doing it, but he won football games. Well, now he’s not playing pretty and not winning games. Chad Henne time.
29. Seattle Seahawks (1-5)	No healthy WRs and now Seneca Wallace starts at QB instead of Matt Hasselback. They are certainly not moving in the right direction right now.
30. Cincinnati Bengals (0-7)	Without Palmer and with no running game, this once prolific offense has been seriously grounded. Will they actually be the last winless team?
31. KC Chiefs (1-4)	Really saw the talent discrepancy between them and Tennessee this week. Brodie Croyle is out now, but he wasn’t really making much of a positive impact beforehand anyways. This is going to start getting ugly very soon.
32. Detroit Lions (0-6)	They put a lot of pressure on Calvin Johnson when they traded Roy Williams, but he certainly responded with a big game. At least one of their WR draft picks worked out.

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NFL Power Rankings, Week 8