NFL Power Rankings Week 9: Post-Thursday Night Football Standings, Review

The Atlanta Falcons took down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 43-28 fashion on the Week 9 edition of Thursday Night Football, which didn't change much in the realm of power rankings.

Call it business as usual after the Week 8 edition had a similar impact thanks to an encounter between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.

Fret not, though, as the rest of Week 9 promises to put Thursday in the rearview mirror in a big way. The slate offers plenty of high-profile matchups between teams such as the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.

Before those get underway, here's a look at the power rankings after Thursday:

Rank	Team
1	New England Patriots
2	Pittsburgh Steelers
3	Dallas Cowboys
4	Denver Broncos
5	Minnesota Vikings
6	Atlanta Falcons
7	Green Bay Packers
8	Kansas City Chiefs
9	Philadelphia Eagles
10	Oakland Raiders
11	Seattle Seahawks
12	Washington
13	New York Giants
14	Buffalo Bills
15	New Orleans Saints
16	Miami Dolphins
17	San Diego Chargers
18	Houston Texans
19	Baltimore Ravens
20	Arizona Cardinals
21	Cincinnati Bengals
22	Detroit Lions
23	Tennessee Titans
24	New York Jets
25	Carolina Panthers
26	Los Angeles Rams
27	San Francisco 49ers
28	Indianapolis Colts
29	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
30	Chicago Bears
31	Jacksonville Jaguars
32	Cleveland Browns

Again, no surprises here. Atlanta remains a contender with the potent arm of Matt Ryan guiding the way. He threw for 344 yards and four scores Thursday, furthering MVP whispers and keeping the Falcons atop the NFC South. Tampa Bay continues to flail as the talent around Jameis Winston fails to produce.

Going into the weekend, here are a couple of teams with major power ranking implications at stake in must-see matchups.

Eagles

Good luck figuring out the Eagles.

The Eagles were one of the biggest surprises to start the season, as rookie quarterback Carson Wentz led the team to a 3-0 start. The first two wins came against the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears, but then Wentz had the Eagles score a 34-3 blowout of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Not bad for a team going into a Week 4 bye. Except apparently the rest of the NFL figured out Wentz and the Eagles over the break—the team has lost three of its last four.

Wentz still has solid numbers at nine touchdowns to three interceptions while completing better than 65 percent of his passes, but the Eagles have gone from whipping a contender like the Minnesota Vikings 21-10 to losing to another in the Dallas Cowboys the week after.

This inconsistency makes a Week 9 game against the Giants critical, to say the least.

For head coach Doug Pederson, the answer to the problems might rest with how aggressive the offense plays.

"For me, staying aggressive, number one," said Pederson, according to ESPN.com's Tim McManus. "That’s been something that I’ve kind of prided myself on a little bit."

The Giants boast an identical 4-3 record, but unlike the Eagles, they have a win in the division. Eli Manning and wideout Odell Beckham Jr. will present the Philadelphia defense with plenty of problems, so Wentz's offense putting the pedal down against a defense allowing an average of just 20.1 points per game stands as the key.

If the Eagles avoid falling to .500 and manage a win in the division, it might hint at future consistency and will absolutely have the team climbing back up the ranks.

Vikings

Speaking of teams with consistency issues, the Vikings know all about it.

Minnesota's fall is much harder to explain. The Vikings started 5-0 under the guidance of new quarterback Sam Bradford, but they have since dropped two in a row. There was the Week 7 loss to Philadelphia, followed by an embarrassing 20-10 performance against the lowly Bears on Monday Night Football.

Good luck assigning blame. The defense went from never surrendering 20 points in a game to allowing it to happen twice. Bradford went from six touchdowns and no picks to two touchdowns and one interception over the two losses.

From the sounds of it, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer expects his team to weather this storm and get back on track, as captured by ESPN.com:

"

I do think that we hit a rough spot in the season and we need to get back on track. So, unfortunately this is just some of the things that go on over the course of a season. Obviously, the season is a long time and not everything is going to go smooth, as I've found out over the three years. So, we'll just keep trying to do the things we have to do to continue to get better.

"

Still, as the Vikings revealed, there have been some odd happenings around the team: 

Minnesota has to hope a change at the controls of the offense will spur the unit to wake up ahead of an encounter with the Detroit Lions. Those Lions are only a .500 team, but a Matthew Stafford-led offense speaks for itself.

The good news? Minnesota swept Detroit last year. With any luck, the team can do much of the same again this season and get back on track, which would lead to an obvious boon back into the contending ranks.

Stats courtesy of NFL.com. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus. 

Follow Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) on Twitter.