NFL Week Nine Division Power Rankings

The division with the strongest showing in Week Nine of the NFL season was the AFC North. The Steelers snapped their 0-2 skid against the NFC East by defeating the Redskins on Monday Night Football , and the Bengals achieved their first win of the season by defeating the Jaguars.

These two teams that the AFC North teams defeated were both in some of the top divisions in the NFL. Unfortunately for the AFC North, they still have a sub-.500 record in non-divisional games on the season.

The NFC East remains the top division in the NFL on the heels of their strong performance in Week Eight. NFC East teams went 1-1 in non-divisional games in Week Nine. The Eagles earned an easy win over the Seahawks to offset the Redskins loss to the Steelers.

On the season, the non-divisional game record for the NFC East stands at 18-6. Perhaps even more impressive is that NFC East teams score, on average, more than a touchdown greater than their non-NFC East opponents.

Here are the updated conference standings for non-divisional games after Week Nine (Rank, Team, Record, Average Scoring Difference):

1.  NFC East:  18-6 (7.21)

2.  NFC South:  16-7 (6.26)

3.  AFC East:  14-8 (2.73)

4.  AFC South:  12-8 (2.85)

5.  AFC North:  9-10 (0.05)

6.  NFC North:  7-13 (-1.80)

7.  NFC West:  6-16 (-8.09)

8.  AFC West:  5-17 (-8.95)

No teams shifted positions in the rankings from last week. Both of the western divisions continued to perform terribly, as they went a combined 0-4 in Week Nine. The AFC West and NFC West have won only 25 percent of their games combined. Both divisions also record average scoring margins of losing by well more than a touchdown in their non-divisional games.

Some of the key non-divisional pairings for Week 10 to look forward to are:

Panthers vs. Raiders

Dolphins vs. Seahawks

Jets vs. Rams

Titans vs. Bears

Jaguars vs. Lions

Texans vs. Ravens

Colts vs. Steelers

The NFC East teams do not have any non-divisional games this week, and the NFC South teams only have one. Since these are the top two teams in the standings, this gives the AFC East and AFC South a chance to gain some ground if they can perform well in Week 10. 

The only game for the NFC South is the Panthers vs. Raiders, which looks to be an easy win for the Panthers. With a win here, the NFC South would move within a game of the NFC East in the standings going into the next week. There is no doubt that the NFC East is the best division in football, but the NFC South should certainly not be overlooked.

The AFC South has several tough non-divisional games this week, including two against the streaking AFC North, who is eager to pass them in the standings. If the AFC South can perform well this week, then they can move a lot closer to the top two divisions, but if they don’t, then they will have to start worrying about being surpassed by the AFC North.

The AFC East looks to be in good shape for this weekend, as both of their non-divisional games come against the very weak NFC West. Assuming the Dolphins and Jets can both win, the AFC East would move to only two games behind the NFC East for next week’s standings.