NFL Power Rankings Week 8: Which Teams Are Heading in Reverse?

After tonight's matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars seven weeks of the 2011 season will be in the books, and man, it has been crazy. Several teams we all thought looked great early on have started to tumble and others that looked buried have suddenly sprung to life like characters from The Walking Dead. 

But two teams have all of a sudden fallen off after several weeks at the top, and now we should all be questioning their long-term viability as contenders. 

The Detroit Lions won their first five games and looked like one of the best teams in all of football. Now, in back-to-back weeks Detroit has fallen in home games they should have owned. In Week 6 the Lions allowed the San Francisco 49ers to come back and knock them off 25-19, and on Sunday the Atlanta Falcons pushed them around and pulled off a 23-16 win. 

While Detroit is undeniably talented, few players on the team's young roster roster had ever really experienced the kind of success the team was having through the first few weeks. Similarly, those players had never had to bounce-back after a tough, unexpected loss and put things back together. 

The Lions are not 5-2 and on both sides of the ball their issue has been the running game. They currently 27th in the NFL in rushing offense (92.7 yards per game) and 28th in the league in rushing defense (129.4 yards allowed per game).

If Detroit wants to compete this season long-term, those numbers need to improve. Experts always say that if you can't run the ball and you can't stop the run, you can't win championships. That could hold true for the Lions.

The Washington Redskins shocked people with a 3-1 start despite a muddled quarterback situation—led by an overweight Rex Grossman—and lots of questions all around the roster. The Redskins hit the bye week at 3-1, and since then have dropped consecutive games to the Philadelphia Eagles and Carolina Panthers. 

The Redskins lost to the Panthers 33-20 on Sunday, and lost starting running back Tim Hightower is likely done with a torn left ACL. On top of that, John Beck has replaced Rex Grossman as the team's starting quarterback and neither guy has exactly been stellar.

Washington probably isn't a contender because the roster really does not look like that of a playoff team. They have dropped precipitously over the past two weeks and we probably should have expected it.

NFL Power Rankings, Week 8

1. Green Bay Packers (7-0)
2. New England Patriots (5-1) 
3. New Orleans Saints (5-2) 
4. Baltimore Ravens (4-1)
5. San Francisco 49ers (5-1)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2)
7. Buffalo Bills (4-2)
8. Detroit Lions (5-2)
9. San Diego Chargers (4-2)
10. Houston Texans (4-3)
11. New York Jets (4-3)
12. New York Giants (4-2)
13. Atlanta Falcons (4-3)
14. Cincinnati Bengals (4-2)
15. Oakland Raiders (4-3)
16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-3)
17. Chicago Bears (4-3)
18. Dallas Cowboys (3-3)
19. Philadelphia Eagles (2-4)
20. Tennessee Titans (3-3)
21. Cleveland Browns (3-3)
22. Kansas City Chiefs (3-3)
23. Washington Redskins (3-3)
24. Seattle Seahawks (2-4)
25. Carolina Panthers (2-5)
26. Denver Broncos (2-4)
27. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5)
28. Arizona Cardinals (1-5)
29. Minnesota Vikings (1-6)
30. St. Louis Rams (0-6)
31. Indianapolis Colts (0-7)
32. Miami Dolphins (0-6)