NFL Power Rankings Week 7: Updated Standings After Thursday Night Football

Fans knew the slate going into Week 7 might not offer much in the way of clarity when it came to NFL power rankings. 

Right on cue, the AFC West showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders on Thursday Night Football went down to the wire, with the Raiders escaping winners via a 31-30 outcome as both Derek Carr and Alex Smith combined for six passing touchdowns and no interceptions. 

Coming off a Week 6 slate in which several top contenders—including those Chiefs and Raiders—went down, the rise of the underdog and folks thumping the word "parity" will only increase and make power rankings even harder to figure out. 

Let's try to tackle them anyway to prep for what looks like another thrilling, if not confusing weekend slate.

2017 NFL Power Rankings and Super Bowl Odds

Rank	Team
1	Philadelphia Eagles (8-1)
2	Carolina Panthers (33-1)
3	Seattle Seahawks (10-1)
4	New England Patriots (9-2)
5	Denver Broncos (20-1)
6	Los Angeles Rams (50-1)
7	New Orleans Saints (66-1)
8	Oakland Raiders (50-1)
9	Kansas City Chiefs (13-2)
10	Detroit Lions (33-1)
11	Green Bay Packers (5-1)
12	Washington Redskins (66-1)
13	Pittsburgh Steelers (12-1)
14	Atlanta Falcons (12-1)
15	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (40-1)
16	Cincinnati Bengals (75-1)
17	Buffalo Bills (66-1)
18	Minnesota Vikings (33-1)
19	New York Giants (300-1)
20	Miami Dolphins (150-1)
21	Dallas Cowboys (20-1)
22	Arizona Cardinals (100-1)
23	New York Jets (150-1)
24	Houston Texans (40-1)
25	Jacksonville Jaguars (75-1)
26	Chicago Bears (1000-1)
27	Tennessee Titans (55-1)
28	Los Angeles Chargers (200-1)
29	Baltimore Ravens (55-1)
30	Indianapolis Colts (150-1)
31	Cleveland Browns (3000-1)
32	San Francisco 49ers (3000-1)

Carolina Panthers

It isn't wise to sleep on the Carolina Panthers. 

The above rankings don't, but a Week 6 loss featuring three Cam Newton interceptions might have some down on the team. 

Don't be. 

Newton had one bad game, but the loss happened to be a 28-23 disappointment against the top team in these power rankings, the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Again, the Panthers lost to the No. 1 team by five points, despite three interceptions on 52 attempts.

Otherwise, this is a Panthers team with four wins, including tough road victories against the New England Patriots and Detroit Lions. Newton, other than a slow start after coming back from surgery and the aforementioned bad game, has played like an MVP while backed by a defense allowing 83.3 rushing yards and 20.3 points per game. 

NFL Network put the numbers through five games into perspective: 

A quarterback playing at this level, backed by a defense and budding weapons around him, makes the Panthers a team to watch. 

On top of this, the Panthers still lead the NFC South. Two games against the Atlanta Falcons await, but with Newton playing like this, anything seems possible. 

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots don't have long to figure this thing out.  

The Patriots might be 4-2 and top in the AFC East, but a five-point win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and an escape of the New York Jets over the past two weeks while still struggling on the defensive side of the ball doesn't scream confidence. 

Make no mistake, Tom Brady is still his usual self at 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. Five different players have caught a touchdown, and new arrival Brandin Cooks leads the team in receiving. 

But the other side of the coin is the defense. Let's allow Only in Boston to help visualize the issue: 

For those keeping track, a rookie has now thrown for more than 300 yards on the unit (Deshaun Watson) and Josh McCown torched the unit for 354 passing yards in Week 6. This isn't a bend-but-don't-break approach when the defense is simply breaking. 

New England's slot in the rankings enters serious jeopardy in Week 7, when the struggling defense has to worry about slowing Matt Ryan and Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons. 

It's easy to brush this off, even after six weeks, and think Bill Belichick will find a way to figure this out. But the Falcons might have other plans. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

No team has been as erratic as the Pittsburgh Steelers so far. 

In order, the team has: 

• Escaped the Cleveland Browns by three points
• Lost to the Chicago Bears
• Got blown out by the Jacksonville Jaguars
• Upset the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs 

So what's next? The Steelers host the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals coming off a bye in Week 7, though good luck figuring out which Steelers team shows up. 

Offensively, Ben Roethlisberger has skewed his stats with a couple of terrible showings and sits on seven touchdowns against eight interceptions. Le'Veon Bell went from running for two touchdowns in a game to 3.1 yards per carry against Jacksonville to 5.6 against the Chiefs. Antonio Brown has had a ho-hum season, scoring twice. 

Defensively, at least, Pittsburgh has looked consistent, with 20 sacks and the top-ranked pass defense. Here's the full breakdown, via the team's media manager Dom Rinelli: 

On one hand, the schedule has been kind. Cleveland, Minnesota sans a starting quarterback, Chicago with one that got benched, Joe Flacco, Blake Bortles and finally the Chiefs doesn't equate to a tough road traveled. 

But then again, the Steelers have a big chance to silence such naysayers with a big performance against the Bengals, followed by a showdown in Detroit against Matthew Stafford. 

Should the Steelers emerge from those contests winners, it will be hard to keep them out of the top slot.

Stats courtesy of NFL.com. Odds courtesy of OddsShark.