NFL Power Rankings: Regular Season Week 8 From The Sports Mac

1.         New England Patriots (LW: 3): Anyone wanna bet they end up getting Randy Moss back at some point this week? It wouldn’t surprise me.

2.        Indianapolis Colts (LW: 4): They’re not quite ready to let go of the AFC South just yet, and it showed against the Texans.

3.        Baltimore Ravens (LW: 5): Hopefully rested well since a good road team in the Dolphins is invading M&T Bank Stadium this week.

4.        Atlanta Falcons (LW: 6): A big challenge for this team: huge divisional game on Sunday vs. Tampa Bay and then a quick turnaround for Baltimore.

5.        New York Giants (LW: 5): It will be interesting to see how they react off the bye, especially having to make the cross-country trek to Seattle.

6.        Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 1): The first bumps in the road for the offense since Ben’s return reared their ugly head in the loss to the Saints.

7.        New York Jets (LW: 2): Now the worries about Mark Sanchez start to creep up again after zero points and three turnovers against banged up Green Bay.

8.        New Orleans Saints (LW: 10): If they can play like they did against Pittsburgh, they definitely have a chance to repeat as champions.

9.        Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 9): If they want to be considered in the top group of AFC teams, they have to win in Oakland over an improving team.

10.      Green Bay Packers (LW: 11): They should consider themselves fortunate to get a win with almost no offense last week.

11.      Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 12): The same scenario for Tampa Bay as Kansas City: a prove-it division game on the road; theirs is in Atlanta.

12.      Miami Dolphins (LW: 17): What might be the toughest team in the league gets another tough test having to play at Baltimore against the Ravens.

13.      Tennessee Titans (LW: 8): They had a chance to end SD’s season and keep pace with Indianapolis, and failed on both counts.

14.      Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 14): Now it’s back to Michael Vick for the offense; Andy Reid hopes he stays healthy this time.

15.      Houston Texans (LW: 15): Once again, the opportunity is there to take the next step and they fail again; how many more times will this happen?

16.      Oakland Raiders (LW: 21): Their performance the last two weeks has replaced one P-word: Potential, with two other P-words: Possible Playoffs.

17.      Washington Redskins (LW: 15): The maddening thing for Skins fans is they’re not sure what team is going to show up from week to week.

18.      Detroit Lions (LW: 23): It’s a shame that this team hasn’t been healthy all season; they might actually be leading the division at this point.

19.      San Diego Chargers (LW: 24): Was the win last week the start of another comeback? We’ll find out when they travel to Houston this week.

20.      Chicago Bears (LW: 19): It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to have two cold weather teams playing indoors in Toronto. Oh well, what’re you gonna do?

21.      Seattle Seahawks (LW: 16): The roller coaster continues with this team; how do they come back against a good team in the Giants?

22.      St. Louis Rams (LW: 26): You’d probably have gotten a lot of money in Vegas if you had bet this team would be .500 halfway through the season.

23.      San Francisco 49ers (LW: 27): It was good for them to win last week; it’ll give a positive feeling through the bye this week.

24.      Minnesota Vikings (LW: 18): I think we can put Brad Childress on the hot seat and the short list of first coach fired this season.

25.      Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 20): It’s a shame that a team with obvious talent isn’t performing; it’ll probably cost Marvin Lewis his job.

26.      Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 31): This is a hard team to figure; you’d think they’re bad, but wins over the Colts and Cowboys suggest differently.

27.      Dallas Cowboys (LW: 22): It’s not a question of wholesale changes coming in Big D; it’s a question of how many changes Jerry Jones will make.

28.      Cleveland Browns (LW: 25): Will Eric Mangini be tempted to go back to a veteran QB or will he hitch his wagon to rookie Colt McCoy?

29.      Denver Broncos (LW: 28): Your Broncos team rushing update: They’ve been outrushed by 14 players so far this season; that’s why they’re down this far.

30.      Carolina Panthers (LW: 29): How can this team run for less than 60 yards against the Rams with the backs that they have?

31.      Arizona Cardinals (LW: 30): This might be the best chance they have to win in a while going to Minnesota.

32.      Buffalo Bills (LW: 32): They’ve been so close the last two weeks; a win has to be right around the corner.