NFL Power Rankings Week 7: Oakland Raiders and 3 Teams That Will Keep Rising Up

The NFL is nearing the midpoint of the regular season, and several teams are going to continue to get better.

There have been a few disappointments in the NFL this year, but also some big-time surprises that nobody really expected. The question is, how long will these surprise teams stick around? 

Some will surely fall because of difficult schedules, but other will continue to climb the rankings. Here are three teams that will continue to impress.

Oakland Raiders 

The Raiders aren't dominating teams, but they're doing enough to win the close games, which is what good teams do. Their defense needs to improve, but as long as their offense stays healthy, they will contend in the AFC West. 

Toss in the fact that the Raiders just picked up Carson Palmer to be their starting quarterback, and Oakland is going to make some noise this season. The Raiders may have traded away too much for Palmer, but they realized they could win now, so they went for it. 

We'll soon find out if Palmer can be as good as he once was, but since Oakland has a relatively easy schedule in the next month or so against teams like Kansas City and Denver, these Raiders will steadily inch their way up the power rankings.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

 Once it was announced that leading rusher LeGarrette Blount would be sidelined with a knee injury, not many expected the Buccaneers to hang with the New Orleans Saints. 

They surprised everyone earlier in the year by hanging on and beating the Atlanta Falcons, and they did the same to the Saints to take a nice lead in the NFC South. 

Josh Freeman continues to grow as a great quarterback in the league, making the big throws needed to win crucial games. 

Tampa Bay has a challenging schedule moving forward that starts with hosting the Chicago Bears this weekend, but the Bucs will continue to shock people and do enough to stay in the top half to the power rankings.

San Francisco 49ers

Nobody expected Jim Harbaugh to do this well in his first season as head coach, but he's gotten the 49ers to a 5-1 record with their only loss coming in overtime to the Dallas Cowboys.

Alex Smith is playing far better than most expected, and Harbaugh definitely deserves credit for that.

San Francisco jumped into the top 10 by shocking the Detroit Lions last week, and in the next month, they should easily contend with the Browns, Redskins, Giants and Cardinals.

The NFC West is very weak division, but so far the 49ers are making their case as runaway favorites in the division.

If the 49ers can stay healthy the rest of the season, then they will certainly keep winning.

Eric Bowman’s 2011 NFL Power Rankings  

1. Green Bay Packers

2. Baltimore Ravens 

3. New England Patriots

4. Pittsburgh Steelers

5. New Orleans Saints

6. Detroit Lions

7. San Diego Chargers 

8. New York Jets

9. San Francisco 49ers 

10. Chicago Bears

11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

12. Houston Texans

13. Buffalo Bills

14. Oakland Raiders

15. Atlanta Falcons

16. Dallas Cowboys

17. New York Giants

18. Tennessee Titans

19. Philadelphia Eagles

20. Cincinnati Bengals

21. Washington Redskins

22. Carolina Panthers

23. Cleveland Browns 

24. Minnesota Vikings

25. Seattle Seahawks

26. Denver Broncos 

27. St. Louis Rams

28. Arizona Cardinals

29. Kansas City Chiefs

30.  Jacksonville Jaguars

31. Miami Dolphins

32. Indianapolis Colts